Oxfam has launched its 2022 Unwrapped gift cards, inspiring Australians to give socially conscious gifts this Christmas.
Oxfam Unwrapped cards help transform the lives of people living in poverty by providing food, education, clean water, and other life-saving essentials.
The Straight Talk card, for example, can help empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to become leaders and change makers in their communities. Just this year, as part of Oxfam's Straight Talk program, 50 women spent a week in Canberra learning leadership skills and building connections that will last a lifetime.
The most valuable card, which was introduced to the collection this year and comes in at $2400, will help a family access clean, reliable energy. This means they would no longer need to spend hours collecting firewood and could also light up their homes at night.
Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Lyn Morgain said that the new range of Unwrapped gift cards were more important than ever given rising global inequality, which is hitting the poorest hardest.
"Our range of socially conscious gifts has been designed to help tackle the inequalities that keep people in extreme poverty by providing resources and knowledge, such as by kickstarting women-led social enterprises, installing vital networks of piping to provide drinking water and irrigation for people affected by conflict in Syria, or helping farmers reforest their land, building carbon stores that will set them up for the future."
"With increased living costs affecting so many, rather than exchanging unwanted or wasteful gifts at Christmas that may end up in landfill, people can choose to ensure their festive spending is meaningful and contributes positively to the lives of those who need it most.
"The response to our recent Naughty or Nice list shows that people like to consume ethically, and purchasing an Unwrapped card for their loved one gives them an opportunity to feel positively about their gift giving this year."
Launched in 2006, Oxfam Unwrapped was one of the first ethical gift catalogues of its kind in Australia, providing a way for Australians to think consciously about their gift giving, particularly at Christmas time - a time when many unwanted and unused gifts are exchanged by families and friends each year.
Oxfam last week released its annual Naughty or Nice list of Australian clothing brands, which revealed that some of the country's top brands are still lagging behind when it comes to transparency around paying a living wage to the people who make their clothes in some of the world's poorest nations.
