Oxfam has three main focus points: Development work, which tries to lift communities out of poverty, humanitarian work, assisting those affected by conflict and natural disasters, and lobbyism, which will contribute to try to affect policy decisions on national, and international levels.

The United Kingdom is the sixth richest country in world, yet 1 in 5 of the UK population struggle to afford even the most essential of goods: food. Oxfam believes that everyone should have enough money to feed themselves and their family without relying on charity. Together with Trussel Trust foodbank network, which is a non-governmental organization and a partner of Oxfam who work with charity, they have helped approximately 2 million families in crisis across the United Kingdom. But Oxfam believes that food banks aren’t the solution by themselves, therefore Oxfam works in some of the poorest communities in the UK. In these communities voluntaries helps the parents of primary school children, build confidence, educate them, and most important help children get the best possible start in life.

Oxfam has over 1200 second-hand shops worldwide, which sell any thing donated items. around 750 of the the stores are located in the UK, around 100 of them are specialist shops which specialize in books, furniture, bridal wear and music. Oxfam was confirmed as the largest retailer of second-hand books in Europe selling approximately 12 million per year. In the year of 2008 they did raise £17,1 million from their UK shops and had over 20.000 volunteers working in them. The money is used to pay to different charities or one of Oxfam’s many programs. Oxfam has plenty of successful fundraising programs in addition to its shops, an example could be the London marathon. The majority of the marathon competitors run to raise money for Oxfam or other charities, since it’s for a good cause

Even though their initial concern was the provision of food to fight the famine in the UK, Oxfam now works on trade justice, fair trade, debt and aid, education health, HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, natural disasters, democracy, gender equality, climate change and human rights not just in the UK but all over the world. They are operating in approximately 90 countries with 12 headquarters spread around the globe as a part of the Oxfam International confederation to tackle the fundamental causes of poverty. Additionally, Oxfam has aided during various global crises, including the Israeli Palestinian conflict in the middle-east. Oxfam has become a globally recognized leader in providing clean water to arid, poor and war torn areas all over the world.