Oxfam loses its way

The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief was established with a simple and clear purpose: to help feed the starving people of Nazioccupied Europe. Its admirable aims were outlined very clearly in its name. But in recent decades, Oxfam’s mission to relieve hunger has expanded dramatically, as have the resources of time and money that it calls upon so many millions to donate. Now, for example, it declares that it is intent on holding the powerful to account, and campaigns on issues from climate change to UK arms sales. Arguably, in the process of growing ever larger, it has lost its way.

Of course, when it comes to some relief work, there is an obvious advantage to scale. Only truly vast agencies, of which there are few, can deliver food and shelter to thousands made homeless and destitute overnight by tempest or conflict. But the suspicion is that there is a thriving charitable competition to become one of those leaders, and that rather than focusing intently on delivering the right help where they can, too many institutions suffer “mission creep” and lose sight of their original purpose.

With mission creep, it is inevitable that accusations of a fundraising arms race follow. But raising more money does not necessarily mean doing more good. Thoughtless expansion is a failure of leadership, and can result in failures of oversight. As more and more is revealed about the appalling behaviour of Oxfam workers, including the sexual abuse of those they were meant to help, its leaders must be able to convince government, and private donors, that they remember their original mission, and are able to vouch for each and every person they hire to achieve it.