Judith Robertson, Head of Oxfam Scotland is leaving the charity next month.
Here she explains what she’ll miss and where she’ll be working next.
I am leaving Oxfam next month after 16 years with the organisation. In many respects it’s been a huge privilege to work for an organisation that looks across the world, draws from its experience in many countries and works to bring about change in the lives of people wherever it can. The down side is that makes it very hard to leave.
In which other job would I have marched with 250,000 plus people on the streets of Edinburgh before the 2005 G8 to help Make Poverty History having been heavily involved in the organising of it. Or worked to get 75 international delegates home through Heathrow Airport after the terrorist bombings in London that same week closed the airport down.
Or travelled to Haiti with colleagues from all over the world to understand and develop strategies for improving the livelihoods of women. Or worked with colleagues in Malawi on their advocacy programmes to help bring partners into the discussion and ensure the advocacy work Oxfam was doing was rooted in their experience.
Or travelled to South Uist in the Western Isles to listen to people there talk about their experience of climate change and know that we couldn’t just listen and walk away – Oxfam had a role to play in supporting local people there get a better future.
Or sat in the cafe of the Scottish Parliament for five hours with other Heads of Agencies in Scotland the day before the final reading of the climate change legislation determined we would be seen by the opposition to shore up their efforts to get the strongest climate legislation possible.
Or stood in the freezing cold and pouring rain on the banks of the Clyde with actress Daniela Nardini and other aid agency stalwarts to, successfully, get media coverage for the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal for Syrian Refugees. Or listened to women from Tea in the Pot in Govan talking about the issues women bring into their drop-in in the Pearce Institute and what they do to help.
You’ve probably got the picture. It’ll be hard to go.
I’m moving on to a different sphere. I’ll be heading up the ‘See me’ anti-stigma campaign on Mental Health working with the Scottish Association for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation. Stigma is a blight on our culture and one of its characteristics is it is visited on the most vulnerable. I’ll be working with a team of people to change that. See you there!