Livelihoods

In Rwanda, mothers like Emerance struggle to find enough work to feed their families. British MP Jeremy Lefroy joined ActionAid UK staff to visit one of our projects in Muko, northern Rwanda, to see how ActionAid support has changed the lives of women and children living there.  Read more

The water mill in the town of Manigaun was destroyed during one of the earthquakes to hit Nepal earlier this year. The building in which the grinding stones worked collapsed and the channels which brought water to turn the stones were broken. Now, three months later I was able to watch as the heavy granite stones turned again for the first time. Read more

It's been almost three months since two massive earthquakes struck Nepal. Our initial focus was on providing urgent food and shelter to communities who had lost everything. Now, we are helping to rebuild homes, schools and livelihoods. So far with our partners we have supported communities to construct 950 temporary shelters, distributed 3,300 storage bins to farmers so they can keep crops dry, and created 14 fully functioning safe spaces for women.  Read more

In India a third of the population live below the poverty line. Early child marriage, violence, discrimination and lack of skills means many women have few choices, with 75% never having the opportunity to earn a living. By providing fishing equipment and training to local women’s groups, we’re helping women lift themselves out of poverty. Photographer Poulomi Basu has just returned from Andhra Pradesh, southeast India, to capture some of their stories. Read more

Award-winning actress and singer Kerry Ellis is best known as the star of West End and Broadway musicals 'Les Miserables' and 'Wicked'. She’s also mother to a baby boy. She took a break from rehearsing for her latest show to tell us about the challenges of balancing work and home. Read more

We’ve loved Isy ever since she captured our hearts as Dobby in the dark TV sitcom 'Peep Show'. Since then she’s made us laugh and won awards as a stand-up comedian and for her radio show 'Pearl and Dave'. Now she’s trying her hand at being a mum, to her baby girl Beti. We asked Isy some searching questions about motherhood. She answered them. Sort of. Read more