Why we’re watching: International NGOs have had a challenging few years, beginning even before the COVID-19 pandemic. But none have faced an existential crisis quite like Oxfam International. How this storied international NGO reemerges this year could hold lessons for the entire sector.

Leadership: Gabriela Bucher, executive director.
Staff: Over 10,000.
$: €916.7 million ($1.04 billion) in revenue for 2019-2020.
HQ: Nairobi.
Follow: David Ainsworth and Will Worley.

Analysis: Oxfam came into the pandemic hobbled by a scandal that cut to the core of why people question the role of international NGOs. It was a case of aid workers paying for sex work amid relief efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and it brought up issues of power abuses, colonial mindsets, and unaccountable Western leadership that many NGOs have been grappling with for years — and that have grown even more important since, particularly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter and the #AidToo movements. In 2020, Oxfam laid off almost a third of its program staff and pulled out of 18 countries. Then another scandal hit, involving allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying, and nepotism in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and once again Oxfam was no longer eligible for British aid funding. By this point, the pandemic was in full swing and Oxfam had to temporarily shutter its U.K. retail stores, furloughing hundreds of workers and cutting deep into Oxfam’s budget. Now, under a new global strategic framework and as the pandemic hopefully allows for uninterrupted retail business once again, Oxfam is working to enter a new chapter. It says early results for Oxfam GB, its largest member, are positive. It’s a story all NGOs will be paying close attention to. — RK.

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