This study explores a potentially pivotal shift within the Oxfam confederation: the successful transition of Oxfam Pilipinas (OPH) toward direct donor funding from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). It captures how OPH built the financial, operational, and governance systems needed to earn donor trust, and how Oxfam Australia redefined its role from a fund manager to a strategic enabler. At its heart, this is a story of shifting power—how courage, trust, and institutional readiness made a different model possible.

The research is grounded in a rapidly changing global context: rising calls for aid decolonization, the backlash of populist politics, shrinking development budgets, and increasing competition for influence and legitimacy. Within this environment, donors like DFAT are considering how to support localization, including a move towards direct partnerships with local actors—a policy shift accelerated by pandemic realities, cost efficiency drives, and political imperatives for localization.

This transition is not without complexity. New forms of responsibility, reputational exposure, and long-term sustainability challenges now rest on OPH’s shoulders. Yet it demonstrates that when trust is built deliberately, when power is shared consciously, and when courage is mutual, a different future is not only possible—it is already taking shape. The journey to a truly decolonized, feminist, and equitable Oxfam is far from complete. But it has begun.