The Oxfam Handbook of Development and Relief

This handbook is the product of the experience of Oxfam UK and Ireland in its work in over 70 countries around the world. It offers an expression of Oxfam's fundamental principles: that all the people have the right to an equitable share in the world's resources, and the right to make decisions about their own development. The denial of such rights is at the heart of poverty and suffering. This reference work analyses policy, procedure and practice in such fields as health, human rights, emergency relief, capacity-building and agricultural production.

Table of Contents:
Volume One 1. Oxfam's approach to development and relief Principles of development and relief work Human rights in development and relief work Environment and development Exploring the context for development and relief work Appendix: universal declaration of human rights 2. Focusing on people Gender Ethnicity, Race and Caste Childhood Ageing Disability 3. Capacity building for development Social organization Institutional development Volume Two 4. Production General aspects of production Agriculture Fishing Trees and forestry Small-scale industries 5. Health and development Introduction Background: approaches to health care Focusing on people - health needs of specific population groups Health care provision Financing, planning and evaluating health programmes 6. Emergencies and development Introduction Background: emergencies, conflict and development Emergencies deriving from war and armed conflict Assessment, co-ordination and consultation in emergencies Health and nutrition in emergencies Environmental health and physical infrastructure Food security, food aid and food distribution in emergencies Oxfam procedures in emergency relief programmes Appendices: Relief items for which local suppliers should be found Oxfam's emergency stores Other relief items Standard specifications for commonly required relief items Oxfam policy in emergencies Oxfam water supply scheme for emergencies - the water packs Oxfam emergency sanitation unit

About the Author :
Deborah Eade was Editor-in-Chief of Development in Practice from 1991 to 2010, prior to which she worked for 10 years in Latin America. She is now an independent writer on development and humanitarian issues, based near Geneva.

Review :
A copy belongs in every university library, government aid agency, donor organisation, and NGO resource centre. Grassroots Development, 20/1. Even though an Oxfam specific publication, it claims to draw on experiences from the third world as a whole. To that extent, it is an excellent book which any organisation or individual dealing with relief and poverty should have. Africa World Review.