Malawi

In the wake of Cyclone Idai, ActionAid Malawi’s Chikondi Chabvuta discusses the devastating impact of the disaster, the situation on the ground now, and the ongoing role climate change is playing in Malawian society.

Late last night news broke of another massive tax haven leak, this time from the Bahamas. Developing countries lose billions every year to corporate tax avoidance, money that could be spent on fighting poverty.

Whether you're young or old, African or European, tax dodging by multinational companies affects us all in many ways. I'm 26 years old and pay my tax, so it angers me when I hear reports of companies like Amazon and Starbucks not paying their fair share. The more I've learnt about tax dodging in the UK, the more I wanted to find out what damage was being done in developing countries. The IMF estimates that they lose around $200billion a year to tax avoidance. To find out more, I asked Oyin and Fraser, two ActionAid campaigners from Nigeria and Malawi about their experiences. 

When you sponsor a child with ActionAid, you'll get two handwritten messages from them every year. Our staff collect these messages regularly from the children in their communities.​We make every message collection a special event for the children, and the whole community gets involved. For many children, it's the only opportunity they get to draw, paint, play and be creative.

Yes, it's the time of the month to talk about periods again. I always get super excited about festivals – the music, the dancing, the food... but this week I’m even more excited than usual, because not only am I going to Latitude - one of the UK's best music and culture festivals - but I'm going there with the ActionAid team to do something pretty out there - bust period taboos!

Though complicated, taxes are a key building block of society. When tax works, it pays for roads, schools, hospitals and much more. But when they aren't paid there is a real human impact with the world's poorest women and children paying the price for the lack of public services. Read on to hear from people affected by tax dodging, and what we can do to stop this.