How It Works – Oxfam Ireland Uwrapped

How It Works

Choose a Card, Change a Life

Every Unwrapped card is more than just a kind gesture - it’s a spark of real change.  

When you buy an Unwrapped gift, you’re supporting a dedicated fund that tackles some of the world’s toughest challenges. Your gift is going exactly where it’s needed most.  

 

Saving Lives Fund

When disaster strikes - whether it’s an extreme weather event or due to ongoing conflict like those in Yemen and Syria – your gifts enable Oxfam to respond quickly and effectively.   

Your contribution through these cards provides life-saving essentials to families in crisis: clean water, food, shelter, and protection. You’re helping people survive the hardest days of their lives.  

Meet Fatim Sonda                                                

As Fatim knows best, the provision of supplies like flour and oil can be a lifeline during a food crisis. Having been forced to flee her home in Burkina Faso, Fatim knows how difficult it can be to keep going during the lean season.  

Thanks to gifts like yours, Fatim and her family received the essentials they need to stay safe, even in the face of crisis.  

 

Supporting Livelihoods Fund

Your gift helps people recover, rebuild, and thrive.  

By supporting small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs, this fund opens up new income opportunities – helping individuals turn hard work into lasting change.  

Whether it’s through livestock, beekeeping or agricultural training, your gift helps individuals make the most of their resources, develop new skills, and create reliable sources of income.

Meet Monica                                                        

After a devastating flood in Timor-Leste in 2021, Monica lost everything – her home, her savings, her livestock, and her crops. She was left with nothing, forced to start over from scratch.  

She recalls, “During the flooding… I had to carry my children on my back to rescue them. Our house was completely damaged, my rice, corn, chicken and pigs were washed away.” 

Before Oxfam’s partner introduced her to flood-resistant water spinach, Monica had never heard of it. Unlike corn, it thrives in waterlogged soil. Today, it’s her family’s new cash crop.  

This is the power of your gift. You’re helping people like Monica receive the training they need to take back control of their future. 

 

 

Investing in the Future Fund

Education and healthcare are the building blocks of a brighter future - and your gift helps ensure vulnerable communities have access to both.  

These gifts support programmes that empower girls and women of all ages to learn, grow, and reach their full potential. From school supplies and teacher training to health services and modes of transport, you’re helping to break down barriers and open doors to education.  

Meet Beata                                                           

In Zimbabwe, Beata faces a 10km walk to school each day. As a teenage mother, balancing her studies with caring for her baby was almost impossible.  

However, thanks to your gifts, the Investing in the Future Fund was able to give a bicycle to Beata. Now, Beata can cycle to school,  stay in class, and build a future for herself and her child.  

You’re helping people take the first step towards lifelong learning – and lasting change.  

 

Water for All Fund

Clean water changes everything - from health and hygiene to education and livelihoods. Your gift helps bring safe, reliable water and sanitation facilities to communities that need it most.  

Whether in drought-affected regions or areas recovering from disaster, our expert water engineers are digging wells, installing purification systems, and building infrastructure that lasts. Your gift is making this possible.   

Meet Korrie                                                          

For Korrie, collecting clean water in rural Timor-Leste has always been a struggle. For the last 25 years, she has relied on muddy wells a long distance from her home.  

This year, however, Korrie participated in a community project with an Oxfam partner. Together with her neighbours, they constructed a large water tank, piped to each of their homes.  

Now, with clean water at her doorstep, she has more time to grow diverse crops and learn water conservation techniques.  

Thanks to gifts like yours, more people like Korri have access to clean water that keeps them safe all year round.  

 

Your kindness reaches further than you know – thank you for giving a gift that truly matters.  

Still have questions?  

Have a look at our Frequently Asked Questions!  

You can also contact us at irl-unwrapped@oxfam.org, and learn more about Oxfam’s work at www.oxfamireland.org.