Natalie Curtis

Margaret Casely-Hayford, ActionAid UK’s Chair of the Board, comes from the world of big business and is a passionate advocate for companies using their power for good. She believes that recent world events, although shocking and unjust, can be used as an opportunity to ‘define the world anew.’

As ActionAid UK launches its new strategy, Margaret shares her thoughts on success in recent years and our upcoming plans to mobilise the power of the UK public, government, business and most importantly the women and girls fighting poverty in their own communities, to deliver change for good.

This Mother's Day the biggest choice I’ll be making will be whether to take mum out for afternoon tea or cook her dinner. But for refugee mothers, caring for their families this week will mean making choices with life or death consequences.

Can you imagine breastfeeding on a pile of rubbish, surrounded by hundreds of men you’ve never met? Or trying to keep your baby clean, when you only have dirty nappies and no clean water? These are experiences faced daily by refugee mothers arriving on the Greek island of Lesvos, where ActionAid is running special mother and baby centres.

I spoke with Sonya Ruparel, ActionAid's International Humanitarian Manager, who told us about the women and children refugees she met on Lesvos, the struggles they're facing in the camps and how ActionAid is helping.

This Valentine’s Day, at ActionAid we're wearing our heart on our sleeve and standing up for what we love that could be lost to climate change. We’ve joined the UK Climate Coalition - the largest group of people dedicated to action on climate change - to #showthelove.

Ten years ago on 26 December 2004, tens of thousands of people lost their lives in what has been described as ‘the deadliest tsunami in history.’

I spoke with two of our team who were part of the frontline response, both on the ground in Sri Lanka and heading up the tsunami appeal here in London.