Earlier this year, I looked at the way Starbucks had become embroiled in a dispute with Ethiopia over Ethiopia's ownership claims over premium coffee brands.

Starbuck's carefully designed ethical image has been badly tarnished, something I have looked at here and here.

Now it looks like Starbucks has finally caved in to pressure and is now on the verge of signing a deal with Ethiopia, according to news reports.

For the world's biggest coffee shop chain, it's a move that could restore some credibility to its claims of being ethical. And for Ethiopian farmers, it could be worth millions of dollars a year.

This is a huge step forward and a big victory for Oxfam which led the campaign. Just as Nike years ago moved to fix up its labor standards, Oxfam's win is another sign of how powerful and important non-government organisations (NGOS) can be.