Although I thoroughly enjoy my fair trade coffee, the real day I’m waiting for is when I can fill up with fair trade gasoline. Oxfam and other humanitarian organizations are receiving a lot of glitter over the Haiti crisis, but I think it’s important to recognize some of the other campaigns they have been working on – campaigns that (coincidentally) identify a viable market for social enterprises to step in.

For example, the Oxfam Right to Know, Right to Decide Campaign highlights the government and corporate abuse that is prevalent in the extraction of natural resources in poor countries. In places like El Salvador, Nigeria, Cambodia, Ghana, and the rarely mentioned U.S. Native American reservations, companies partner with governments in the extraction of oil, gas, and minerals. In most cases, the permission to drill in your backyard is not requested nor are you offered a job or given any compensation for your property. More often than not, you are left off worse – with water contamination, health problems, or infertile soil.

Oxfam is working to demand transparency and fair compensation to residents affected by natural resource extraction. After watching their animated short “Follow the Money”, it’s hard to fathom how we can complain about the price of gasoline at the pump when there are people “paying” for the price of gasoline by the slow deterioration of their lives. Obviously, oil companies are where the most brutal and baddest of big business tycoons are moored, but I think social enterprise can (and should) get their foot in the door. It would be nice to one day pull up to the pump and be able to read: “Corn-based and fair trade. Pick me!”

Oxfam International is 14 organizations working together to find lasting solutions to poverty and social injustice.

• Organizatio n Type: Non-Profit
• Website: http://www.oxfam.org/
• Founder(s): a group of Quakers
• Founded: 1942
• Location: Global headquarters located in Oxford, UK
• See complete company list here

Contributor Profile: Ashley

Ashley is a friend of anyone who is fighting the good fight for social change. She currently resides in Bilbao, Spain where she is teaching English and researching the history of the Basque conflict. Personal blog
Twitter: @socialearth

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