oxfam

If you tried to draw a diagram of the U.S. government’s toolkit for fighting global poverty and meeting the MDGs, you would quickly find yourself submerged in a spaghetti bowl of conflicting responsibilities and mandates, with no clear goals, and no shared vision. This confusion in Washington leads to confusion on the ground, with very real costs for the world’s poor.

According to a new survey from Oxfam, the answer is jobs.
The survey of more than 1,700 people found that amongst the people of Haiti’s most pressing needs, jobs led with 26% with schools and homes following with 22% and 10% respectively. The survey’s results are really fascinating, and one of only a few examples I’ve seen feedback directly from Haitians.

Here’s another round-up of today’s news—including on-the-ground stories, pictures and updates—from our partners and friends on their work in Haiti.
American Red Cross
Read a situation report from President and CEO Gail McGovern.

Check out this great post from Porter McConnell of Oxfam:
The US government has an incredible capacity to deploy humanitarian aid in emergencies and natural disasters. But an out-of-date bureaucracy is keeping humanitarian aid workers from responding in places like Haiti as effectively as possible.

The Oxfam America Blog has a really interesting post this morning looking at the controversial subject of population control. I’ve excerpted part of it below, but you can read the full piece here.