In July 2011, an alarming email dropped into the inboxes of senior figures at Oxfam’s head offices in Oxford.
It came from Paul Caney, a high-level official in Oxfam’s Caribbean and Latin America team. He told the recipients, including Dame Barbara Stocking, who was the charity’s chief executive, to expect an imminent visit from a whistleblower reporting allegations about the conduct of aid workers in Haiti.
The whistleblower went over the heads of line managers in Oxford and met Dame Barbara directly. Senior Oxfam officials in Haiti were not informed. The story that this individual told — one of alleged bullying, harassment, intimidation of Haitian and international staff and serious sexual misconduct — was shocking. Oxfam ordered an investigation but has managed until now to