ActionAid International is about changing the relationship between rich donor countries and those in the developing world. We seek to create a shared platform with people and organisations in the countries where we work.

Fighting poverty worldwide is what ActionAid does and has been doing for over 30 years. But the nature and causes of poverty have become more complex, and for us to continue to fight it effectively, we felt it was important to change too. Over time ActionAid has moved from being a British charity based on child sponsorship to becoming an international coalition fighting poverty across the globe.

ActionAid International, with its head office in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the first international development charity to internationalise its work so dramatically. We have broken the mould of a traditional development charity, where decisions were inevitably the property of the donor countries and receiving countries were expected to be largely passive. Now the two will come together around the same table, with the same agenda and a shared responsibility for decision-making. 

The founding affiliates of ActionAid International are ActionAid Brazil, ActionAid Hellas from Greece, ActionAid Ireland, ActionAid UK, ActionAid USA and ActionAid Italy. New organisations will be invited to join, initially as associates and then as full affiliates on the Board. New associates will come from existing ActionAid organisations, from country programmes as well as from new organisations outside the current ActionAid family.