Action Aid was formed in 1972, and was originally set up as a child sponsorship program, in it's first year 88 UK supporters sponsored 88 children in Kenya and India. By 1984, they were helping over 40,000 children in Asia and Africa, and by 2007 they were helping over 25 million people in over 40 countries.
Action Aid
This program of sponsoring a child is still in use today and is one of the companies main projects. The sponsor a child program works by a person living in a developed nation paying money each month to pay for the child's education and other needs. Another great part of sponsoring is that the child and the sponsor can communicate via letters so people can truly see how they are helping to change someone's life.
Since their beginning in 1972 they have worked with and helped 13 million of the worlds poorest and most disadvantaged people in 42 countries. Action Aid says that their mission is "to work with poor and excluded people to eradicate poverty and injustice". They work at every level from small communities to international alliances to seek education, trade justice and action against AIDS and HIV for all people. At a community level they help people, especially women, fight for their rights for food, shelter, work, education, healthcare and most importantly to have a voice in decisions that effect them. Action Aid also has a program called ACTIVISTA which was set up for student and youth activists groups in 15 countries.
Action Aid also work towards the United Nations First Millennium Development Goal, which is a global campaign to half extreme poverty by 2015. Both Action Aid and the young persons ACTIVISTA use their hungerFREE campaign to try to force the governments to deliver their promise of halving hunger by 2015.
Action Aid have several main goals set out clearly, these are:
They help and implement these goals in over 40 countries all across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Action Aid is funded mainly from individuals either sponsoring a child or just donating to the charity. Of their yearly income individual donations make up 70%, with the remaining divided between partnerships with government agencies making up 25% and charitable trusts, foundations and companies making up the last 5%.
Action Aid have several fundraising methods from simple donations, sponsoring a child, fundraising at work or at schools, and to corporate treks and challenges. The corporate challenges are fun ways to raise money while having a once in a lifetime experience from trekking across the Kilimanjaro, to the Arctic survival challenge and to building homes in Nepal. These work by the person or persons involved paying a set amount for the trip and then raising money from sponsors to sponsor them on their trip.
In 2008 Action Aids total income was 182.9 million with the UK, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Sweden being the largest providers. From the Action Aid website you can gain access to their international financial reports which show exactly how much money is raised and where it comes from. This report also shows exactly how they spend their money, from how much is spent in each country, to how much is used towards implementing each of their goals. www.actionaid.org.uk