What We Do
ActionAid works on the ground and in the halls of power to end poverty. We work in 49 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, with over 25 million poor people. Our work seeks to create and sustain better futures by providing relief from disasters and conflicts, empowering women, fighting hunger, holding governments accountable, fighting HIV & AIDS, and making education accessible.
We listen to and learn from poor people to identify and help them fulfill their own needs, encouraging them to lobby decision-makers in their own countries, and campaigning and calling for change from those who hold power on the international stage.
ActionAid works with coalitions of poor and excluded people from around the world, bringing their perspectives to bear on US policies that affect developing countries. We bring their voices into the American political arena and strengthen domestic support for changes in development policy.
Our office builds international solidarity with counterparts in the global south, challenging governments and institutions like the World Bank and the United Nations to better respond to the half of the world’s population that lives on less than two dollars a day.
To address these core themes, ActionAid provides solid research, targeted outreach, and timely advocacy activities, both to inform the US public and to build solidarity with poor and excluded people seeking to exercise their rights and assume greater control over their lives.
Poverty is our problem. But we are hopeful. Our optimism comes from the people we work with every day. They are making change in spite of the odds they face. They are an inspiration. Together, we will end poverty once and for all.
Learn more about our program areas and how you can join our fight…
International Policy
About half of the all money spent to end poverty, hunger and HIV & AIDS never reaches the people it was intended to benefit. ActionAid works with communities and movements in poor countries to hold their governments accountable for the impacts of their economic policies and brings the voices and concerns of our partners into the international policy debates.
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Food Rights
Nearly a billion people go hungry every day in spite of the fact that more than enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world. And despite repeated pledges from the international community, the number of people denied their basic human right to food is growing. Learn more about how you, together with ActionAid, can help end hunger.
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Women's Rights
Seven in ten women around the world live in poverty, compared to one in three men. Worldwide, women work two-thirds of the work hours and earn one-tenth of the income. The economic inequality means women have less money, protection from violence and access to education and healthcare – and no power to change this equation. ActionAid believes fair treatment and gender equality is essential to defeating poverty.
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Emergencies
Disasters and conflict across the world disrupt the lives of more than 500 million people every year. These emergencies consistently and disproportionately impact poor people and communities. ActionAid’s decades of experience working within and for poor communities, ensures our disaster preparedness and recovery efforts are effective and responsive to the needs of disaster affected communities.
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HIV & AIDS
AIDS causes the deaths of approximately 8,200 people every single day, the majority of them in poor countries. International trade rules mean that drugs to treat the disease are too expensive for most poor people; the scope of the disease means that parents die and children are left both orphaned and head of the family; badly maintained infrastructures mean there are no doctors or health clinics for over 20 miles.
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Education
Education is the best tool we have in the fight to end poverty. Yet in 92 countries around the world, children have to pay to go to school, effectively denying them an education. ActionAid is working hard to change this.
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IMF Project
Education and access to quality healthcare are crucial to ending poverty. And from ActionAid’s perspective, they are also basic human rights enshrined in international law.
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Climate Change
850 million people go hungry every day in spite of the fact that more than enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world. And despite repeated pledges from the international community, the number of people denied their basic human right to food is growing. Learn more about how you, together with ActionAid, can help end hunger.
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