Oxfam, the World Bank and heavily indebted poor countries

Oxfam International’s statement of its mission in pursuit of global poverty reduction is explicit in its commitment to addressing the structural causes of poverty. This places OI’s advocacy at the heart of its strategy, central to which is its Washington Advocacy Office (WAO), which coordinates Oxfam’s advocacy globally. OI’s first advocacy office was located in Washington, DC in 1995 because of the priority then attached to influencing the World Bank and IMF. Globally the World Bank is the largest provider of development finance, so influencing World Bank policies and practice was, at that time, a key element in OI’s advocacy strategy.