Nisha Agrawal
Chief Executive Officer
Oxfam India
We are very pleased to be launching our new four-year strategy for Oxfam India for 2016-2020 entitled “Demanding Rights and Creating Opportunities: The Next Steps”. As in the first strategy, the focus of the new strategy is on closing the gaps between the two Indias.
We are living in a time where we are seeing extreme inequality exploding, not only at a global level but within India as well. New data based on the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) allows us to calculate inequality on the basis of household income rather than household consumption. It shows that inequality in income in India is extremely high (in the 50s as measured by the Gini coefficient) and that puts us ahead of Brazil and only second to South Africa amongst countries that have comparable income data available. Oxfam’s own research shows that such high levels of inequality are likely to have significant negative economic, political and social impacts. Most importantly, high and rising inequality will lead to a slowdown in the rate of poverty reduction. We estimate that if we can arrest the increase in inequality and prevent it from rising further from current levels, by 2019 we will be able to pull another 90 million people out of poverty in India.
Through our Even it Up campaign, we aim to raise awareness of the rising inequality in India and its likely damaging impacts and engage people in a dialogue and discussion about what can be done to arrest it. We are also very excited about launching a campaign on gender equality in November 2016 that would engage the public in discussions on the social norms that lead to high levels of acceptance and incidence of violence against women, and solicit ideas on how to transform those norms. In addition to our campaigns, the Mumbai and Bengaluru Trailwalkers will also remain important ways for us to engage with the young and middle class in those cities.
Through our Even it Up campaign, we aim to raise awareness of the rising inequality in India and its likely damaging impacts and engage people in a dialogue and discussion about what can be done to arrest it.
I would like to thank our Board members for providing a clear vision and direction through their extensive engagement with the new strategy and for their support in helping realise that vision during our seven year journey so far. I would also like to thank Oxfam International and all the Oxfam affiliates for their continued support. And finally, I would like to thank the management team, the staff, our partners and our donors for all their support and contribution during the last seven years. Each of you can and has made a difference. I am sure with all of your continued support, we will continue to move forward towards achieving our dream of living in a truly inclusive society that provides every Indian with an equal opportunity to live a life of dignity.
Nisha Agrawal
Chief Executive Officer
Oxfam India
