Strong public services are at the heart of making poverty and inequality history. Universal access to quality education, health care, social protection, water, and sanitation builds human capabilities, reduces inequality, and strengthens the social contract between governments and citizens. However, underinvestment, privatization and financialization, as well as cuts in official development assistance, the debt crisis and other threats, have led to widespread exclusion, widening inequality, and the erosion of rights, placing significant hurdles in the path of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Oxfam leaders, experts, and partners will be attending the summit to sustain the focus and urgency for strong, inequality busting, publicly financed and accountable services, which are both a moral imperative and a strategic investment. The Summit presents a key opportunity to advance this message and to urge all present to focus on public services as the foundation that guarantees thriving societies and resilient economies that work for all.