Oxfam scoops top award at the Charity Awards 2025

Oxfam has taken the Overall Award for Excellence at this year’s Charity Awards.

As well as winning the top prize in the International Aid & Development category, Oxfam was chosen as the Overall Winner for its pilot programme supporting grassroots women’s rights organisations in four countries, which the judges believe could catalyse systemic change across Oxfam and potentially throughout the wider international development sector.

Oxfam’s Women’s Rights Fund differs from traditional aid projects in that it gives partner organisations multi-year, flexible funding while supporting their sustainability through tailored guidance and mentoring.

The Women’s Rights Fund began in 2020 in Kenya and the Occupied Palestinian Territory – well before the recent cuts to official aid in the US and UK – and Oxfam added new partners in Lebanon in 2024 and Nepal this year.

The now-20 grassroots partner organisations are given £20,000 a year for three years, plus up to £12,000 worth of support from their Oxfam country office to develop a plan for sustainable growth and development.

Early results from the pilot project have been outstanding: since the fund began in 2020, the women’s rights organisations supported have trebled the number of people they help, and the first cohort of funded organisations in Kenya and Palestine raised an average of $70,000 (£52,000) per year each, thanks to the fundraising advice they received.
Oxfam now has ambitious plans to roll out the Women’s Rights Fund to 70 partners across 10 countries over the next two or three years.

In the context of swingeing cuts to official development aid from the US and UK, perhaps even more significant is the potential of the programme to evolve the way that international aid and development is delivered. Oxfam GB chief executive Halima Begum says that if the fund can be successfully scaled up, it could fundamentally change how Oxfam operates as an international NGO, and could even catalyse systemic change across the entire sector as global funding challenges bite.

Charity Awards judge Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the British Asian Trust, said Oxfam was driving “genuinely massive change” by sharing power and standing in solidarity with communities of lived experience.

“The international development sector has been talking about decolonisation for more than 30 years but hasn’t actually managed to do it. This is far more significant than just this programme, because Oxfam is the biggest beast and if they are leading this radical shake-up then the rest of the sector will have to take notice.”

Shane Ryan, senior adviser to the National Lottery Community Fund, said the testimonials from partners confirm that the fund represents a meaningful shift from traditional, often extractive funding relationships, toward more equitable partnerships. “The influence of the model on other Oxfam programming and external organisations suggests potential for sector-wide change in funding practices,” he said.

Other winners

Alongside the nine other category winners and the recipient of the Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement, Oxfam was presented with the trophy at a black-tie ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 3 July, hosted by BBC News presenter Asad Ahmad.

Dame Esther Rantzen was the recipient of the Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement. See why here.

Click here to read more about Oxfam.

Click here to see the full list of Charity Awards 2025 winners.