Sean Kenny, Senior media officer

The acres of rubble, the twisted buildings and the sprawling camps are the visible signs of the destructive power of Haiti’s earthquake. But the trauma that tens of thousands of Haitians are feeling lies just below the surface.

It emerges late at night under their makeshift tarpaulin, when people can’t sleep, or are woken by nightmares. It manifests itself when people suffer aches and pains for no obvious physical reason. It stops people dead in their tracks when they have to enter a concrete building – the structures which became graves for so many of their family, friends and neighbours. In its more extreme form the trauma turns into quarrels and violence.

Although it’s hard to tell exactly how many people are suffering trauma symptoms, ActionAid estimate around one family in six has someone suffering. That’s why it has trained 37 local volunteers to do psychosocial counselling work in the camps of Mariani where ActionAid works.

Now 12 of these volunteers have started work, with a further 25 available as a pool of trained helpers on hand as the programme expands. The volunteers, who were chosen for their social skills, openness and empathy, were trained in conducting community assessments and how to identify trauma. All volunteers come from the communities in which they work, which will give them a good understanding of the people’s troubles and what they are going through.

Group work is the first line of defence. It revolves around singing and prayers, which give people a comfortable space in which they can open up about their feelings. For the more expressive people it works well, and the volunteers are there to help the process along.

One-to-one sessions with the counsellors are for those suffering more serious symptoms, or people who are very quiet and don’t like the group activities. They go over the traumatic experience and have a chance to share what they have been through.

In amongst the crowded camps we have set up small shelters for people to sit and reflect upon their experiences, away from the noise and the bustle of camp life. With the help of the volunteer they can come to an awareness of their situation and an understanding of their behaviour, so hopefully they can approach the problem rationally.

The psychosocial work will continue for at least another two months. It’s very likely that ActionAid will expand the programme in April to cover more areas of Port-au-Prince.

Jane Moyo, Head of media relations

ActionAid's office in Kampala has just sent through a request for £50,000 to help families affected by deadly mudslides in Uganda. This follows weeks of heavy rain in the east of the country. For more details read this BBC account.

After the nearly £5 million ActionAid managed to raise for Haiti, £50,000 seems such a small amount, but we do have concerns about whether we will be able to find the funds. Emergencies money is almost inevitably ringfenced. We can't for example take a few thousand from the Haiti pot. For Uganda we're discussing if we can approach some of our major donors to see if they can help, or perhaps send a round-robin email to those supporters who sponsor children in the area.

Of course the numbers affected are much smaller than in Haiti, but there's still 400 missing presumed dead, 6,000 in immediate danger and at least half a million who may need to be relocated. And it's not only people facing imminent danger. Crops have been devastated and schools, clinics and infrastructure destroyed. There's also an increasingly high risk of waterbourne disease. Make no mistake about it, this is a major disaster for Uganda.

So what will ActionAid Uganda's request for £50,000 provide to reach up to 24,000 people?

1. Five safe and dry community centres for families: £2,000
2. Three months supply of food and cooking oil: £26,000
3. Restocking household items including blankets, clothes and plastic sheeting: £14,000
4. Giving guidance on sustainable land use, combating deforestation and helping local people influence local authorities to provide a more comprehensive solution: £3,000
5. Transport costs and warehouse facilities: £2,300
6. Communication and documentation: £2,000
7. Per diems for local volunteers: £1,000
8. Monitoring and evaluation: £700.

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Jane Moyo, Head of media relations

The 99th International Women's Day is over and The Independent is asking what relevance the day has for women in its Big Question column. At ActionAid we make a lot of fuss about International Women's Day every year and through our 6 Degrees project seek to create solidarity between women wherever they are.

This year we've published a book of Haiku-inspired poetry written by women we work with in Asia, Africa and Latin America and by celebrity supporters. You can buy a copy here and support our women's rights work.

We firmly believe more unites us than divides us. It's what ActionAid is all about. And to quote the Indy: "It is necessary to mark the achievements of women - and how much there is still to achieve. International Women's Day focuses the minds of the public and government on areas where a gender gap still exists. It acts as a benchmark for countries to compare progress with others around the globe."

We couldn't have put it better ourselves.

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Jane Moyo, Head of media relations

The Independent on Saturday reports that the aid world is in uproar following a BBC Assignment report that Band Aid money in the early 80s was diverted to fund rebel gun running operations. The Band Aid Trust and a group of the UK's most respected charities including Oxfam and the Red Cross are consequently reporting the BBC to broadcasting regulator Ofcom.

ActionAid was only a baby charity in those days and wasn't working in Ethiopia at the time but it still affects us. I went to an outside meeting the day after the BBC story broke and was roundly told by one of the party that he would never donate to overseas development charities because of such "corruption". He initially wouldn't believe me when I said that as someone working in the aid world the accusations didn't ring totally true to me. He said if the BBC said it was so, it must be right.

And although he mellowed a bit after I explained how most of the big agencies work - through local partners who we've worked through for many years and with strict accounting procedures in place - it was still an uphill struggle. Yet the fact is that ActionAid has very thorough monitoring systems to prevent our funds getting into the wrong hands and although in any emergency situation there could be cases of fraud, we have never heard about these allegations before or anything like them.

All agencies take fraud very seriously and systems are extremely robust. ActionAid for example continually works to update its protocols and has recently been part of a joint aid agency project led by Transparency International to combat corruption in humanitarian emergencies. But this BBC report did do two things. It brought home to me the power the media still has and also the truism about reputation: years to build, minutes to lose.

It would be interesting to hear other people's opinions.

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Patricia Lima, ActionAid Head of PR

Last night saw the launch of See me, Hear me, Read me, our bespoke poetry book for the women’s rights project, 6 Degrees.

There was a real buzz in the Biscuit Tin and everyone was having a great time, chatting and learning more about ActionAid and the women’s rights campaign. Many guests commented that the poetry book was a wonderful project to highlight the plight of women across the world. People mingled. Many connections were made, seeds planted for future 6 Degrees projects. Brix Start-Smith (The Fall guitarist, Style guru, overall awesome lady) is already excited about exchanging ideas with us for the next project, woo hoo.

Midway through the evening, ActionAid's Communications Director, Sue Bishop gave an inspirational speech about ActionAid’s women’s rights work and her personal experience with women she has met in our projects across the world. Sue also mentioned that the singer, Jamelia, had just come back from a visit to Uganda to mark International Women's Day where she spoke with women who had suffered untold violence and prejudice.

We watched an incredibly moving short film from Jamelia’s trip about these inspiring women and their stories. Everyone in the room was moved by the speech and the film, illustrated by the rush to buy the poetry book immediately afterwards. We've sold 70 books so far so that’s great considering the press has only started rolling out today with the Metro online featuring the launch with much more to come this weekend (check out How To Spend IT in the FT Saturday for starters).

The launch of See me, Hear me, Read me was supported by long-term friends of ActionAid, Jan Ravens and Helen Worth. Our Press Association photographer was snapping away both of them with the book, as well as taking many photos of the other guests who all mentioned how they loved the book and bought themselves and their friends copies. I feel honoured to have had so many amazing women supporting the book – it was almost emotional, a brilliant evening.

The event was a real success. The issue of women’s rights is a hot topic and there will definitely be a lot of people inspired to find out more about ActionAid’s work and the 6 Degrees project, bring it on!

Buy your copy of See Me, Hear Me, Read Me

Jane Moyo, Head of media relations

I don't know if it's only me but everyone I know seems to be going to Cuba for their holidays. And they are all saying the same thing when asked why. They want to have a taste of what I'm calling the "Castro experience" before the country changes for good. So it's been interesting to follow the current BBC series of short films on Cuba.

I was particularly taken with this Michael Voss piece on Cuba's health diplomacy. Cuba trains 1000's of overseas medical doctors for free as part of its effort to win hearts and minds in the region. In fact ActionAid has been working with a cadre of Cuban-trained Haitian doctors in our Haiti emergencies response and very effective they have been too.

So how many people do you know who have holidayed in Cuba recently? And who's going to admit to having had a poster of Che on their bedroom wall!

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