May 16, 2018
From the article:
At an Oxfam shop in Haringey, north London, a volunteer was rearranging the window display. “People have been very nice and supportive,” she said, looking back on a week that has left the charity in turmoil. “The negative effect will be on the people we support.”
The mood of her response – slightly defensive, fearful and full of foreboding – will be shared in Oxfam and other charity shops up and down Britain this weekend. To call the last 10 days hellish seems like an understatement. In no time at all, the reputation of one of Britain’s major charities has been shredded. The question now is whether a venerable, well-intentioned organisation has been damaged beyond repair.
Sweden, a high-profile donor, has already suspended funding to Oxfam pending an investigation – a move that will hit programmes in Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Central African Republic. Oxfam has agreed to withdraw from bidding for UK government funding until the Department for International Development is satisfied that it can meet the “high standards” expected. Last year the UK government gave £31.7m to Oxfam, almost 10% of the charity’s funding.
...Sweden’s decision to suspend payments was an extremely worrying development, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Centre for Global Development. “It creates political pressure on other donors who then have to justify to their political masters – why are you continuing funding Oxfam when Sweden isn’t?” he said. “What’s driving this right now is impulse – there’s a really ugly story dominating the headlines and there’s an urgency to show action.”