Education

From a safe house helping girls escape FGM, to Girls’ Rooms that provide a safe space for girls to manage their periods, keeping girls in school is at the heart of our work.  Thank you to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery who have helped to make this vital work possible.

Mukuru slum in Nairobi, Kenya is home to over half a million people - many of whom live in extreme poverty. Low wages, insecure employment, limited education opportunities and poor sanitation are just some of the challenges facing local communities. Through our Not This Girl appeal, ActionAid is working with local women's groups to help prevent girls being abused and enable them to stay in school. All donations to the appeal before 7 June will be matched by the UK government as part of UK Aid Match. Find out what life is like for girls growing up in the Mukuru slum, and how you can help change their lives for good. 

Long-term ActionAid supporter and Britain's Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon recently joined us in Ghana to meet young girls at risk of child marriage. Watch this short film of her trip and read her personal account below. 

Corporate tax avoidance - big companies artificially lowering their tax bills - deprives the world’s poorest countries of the money they need to tackle poverty. With campaigning for the General Election in full swing, tax dodging is shaping up to be a key issue. New ActionAid research has revealed that more than 8 in 10 of people in the UK want to see the next UK government clamp down on tax havens and corporate tax avoidance.

Children growing up in Gaza have witnessed more conflict than many of us will see in a lifetime. Eleven-year-old Nada has already lived through three wars in her short life, and faces the realities of the nine-year Israeli blockade every day. It affects her education, the food she has to eat, and her hopes for the future. Here she tells us about a typical day and how ActionAid is helping her cope with some of the trauma she's been through.

Dorcas Erskine, our Director of Policy, Advocacy and Programmes, met girls for a mentorship session on the London Eye as part of Women Of The World's celebration of the Day of the Girl. She describes meeting inspiring young girls, why she thinks mentorship is important, and what she wanted to be when she grew up.