Malawi

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.

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.

From launching the campaign for a fair UK-Malawi tax treaty to some exciting developments from our colleagues campaigning in Zambia and Ireland, it's been a busy few months for our Make Tax Fair campaign. Lots of progress has been made, but there's still a way to go yet. Read on to find out about the great news from Ireland and Zambia and how you can get more involved in our campaign. 

What stops a girl in Africa from going to school? Is it a lack of books and uniforms? Or the lack of a safe path to school? It could be any of these things. But there is another, rarely talked about, problem that can bring girls’ education to a screeching halt: the simple lack of a sanitary towel when she has her period. One in 10 girls in Africa miss school when they have their period. At ActionAid we recognise that sanitary towels are not trivial, nice-to-have items – they are essential tools in the fight against poverty and injustice. To mark World Menstrual Hygiene Day this Saturday, find out more about what we're doing to support girls and why #menstruationmatters.