Oxfam GB is unlikely to make a quick return to its previous size and scale following last year’s restructure, according to its chief financial officer.
Jane Cunliffe also signalled that the charity would move away from heavily-branded humanitarian work and would do more in partnership with civil society groups overseas.
Cunliffe was interviewed for the February issue of Charity Finance magazine, published by Civil Society Media, which is out today.
‘Slim down’
Cunliffe said that Oxfam GB’s organisational restructure, along with the impact of Covid-19 and the loss of government funding after safeguarding scandals, had led the charity to “slim down” its work, especially in UK campaigning.
“We are not anticipating [the scale of this work] growing back,” she said, although she stressed that long-term decisions depended on future income.
Oxfam GB recorded a deficit of £24.5m in 2020-21, with year-on-year income falling by more than £30m. The charity cut more than 350 jobs, while its reserves shrunk substantially. Cunliffe said that rebuilding savings was a key priority.
Around 1,800 staff were placed on furlough at some point in the year.
Avoiding the ‘colonial model’
Cunliffe also said that the charity would also change its approach to some humanitarian work, to relieve logistical pressure on Oxfam GB but also to avoid what she called “quite a colonial model” of delivering aid.
Global development should not be structured with “lots of white people in the global north, and lots of country programmes in the global south, often run by people who are from that country”, she argued.
She said: “We have historically had the big country programmes with everyone in Oxfam t-shirts and the Oxfam logo on the water tanks. We will still do that in humanitarian situations, but [while also] trying to work more through charities and other civil society organisations in that country.”
There will be much less of what she called “NGOs sweeping in, setting up a refugee camp, and then leaving”.
The full interview with Jane Cunliffe is published in the new Charity Finance magazine for February.
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