[Nethra K Putti]

ACTION AID

- ORIGIN & GROWTH :

- It was founded in 1972 as a child sponsorship charity when 88 UK sponsored 88 children in India & Kenya, the focus primarily being to provide children with an education.

- the organisation is now one of the UK's largest development agencies helping over 13 million of the world's poorest & most disadvantaged people worldwide, working with local partners to make the most of their knowledge & experience.

ORGANISATION :

- ActionAid international works in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean.

- the international secretariat is based in South Africa, & operations are organised on a regional basis, managed from Kenya, Thailand, Brazil.

- within each region there are a number of countries with an actionaid office that manages the work there.

- the international functions for finance, policy, organisational development & marketing are based in UK, & there is a US office in Washington DC for fundraising & influencing purpose.

ACTIONAID's WORK :

- overtime, actionaid has moved from being a British charity based on child sponsorship to becoming an international coilation fighting poverty across the globe.

- actionaid works with poor & marginalised communities throughout the world to help them recognise, promote & secure their basic rights, & control their own developments.

- its mission is to work with poor & excluded people to eradicate poverty & injustice. in order to achieve its mission, actionaid works in the following areas:

• women rights & gender equality
• education
• food rights
• hiv/aids
• emergencies & conflict
• democratic governance
• corporate accountability
• trade justice
• international aid & debt.