She is the answer: UK Aid Match explained

She is the answer is an ActionAid campaign to raise funds for women and girls living in poverty around the world.

‘She is the answer’ means that women’s participation and leadership in tackling the climate crisis is necessary to ensure that sustainable and gender-just solutions are reached.  

We believe that women must be part of the solution to fight the climate crisis. Women must have a platform and space to lead and help their communities adapt to climate change using their knowledge and tools.

So far this has been missing from climate work around the world and in Cambodia. The ‘She is the answer’ project in Cambodia will directly address this.

UK Aid Match brings charities, the British public and the UK Government together to collectively change the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

For every £1 donated to a UK Aid Match charity appeal by an individual living in the UK, the UK Government will also contribute £1 of UK aid, up to £2 million.   

The ActionAid UK Aid Match appeal runs from Friday 5 March 2021 23:59 on Friday 4 June 2021. 

Find out more about UK Aid Match.

You can support our She is the answer appeal and ensure we help more women and girls to fight climate change.

Your donations can help us provide women with training to adapt to the climate crisis in Cambodia and around the world .

Please give a regular gift to help support millions of women and girls in need.

Donate now

Regular giving from new donors who choose to sign up before 4 June will be match-funded for up to three payments.

The UK Government will match up to three regular payments received within the appeal period and up to three months afterwards (the grace period is until 4 August).

No more than three direct debit payments will be eligible for matching; only two may be matched if the payment is set up towards the end of the appeal and the third instalment falls outside of the grace period.

This is to account for the time lag between when the new regular giver signs up, and when their first payment is made.  

Donations from existing regular donors will not qualify for Aid Match, as this represents income that is already guaranteed to the organisation rather than given in response to the appeal.

However, if an existing donor decides to increase their regular donation in response to this appeal, the additional amount will be eligible for matching.  

Thanks for your interest in ActionAid’s work with women and girls living in poverty.

There are many ways to support our work beyond donating to this appeal, including getting involved with events and fundraising activities, supporting our campaign actions or becoming a campaigner yourself.

No, donations given by companies directly are not eligible.

UK Aid Match will match donations raised by employee fundraising where the donations are made by individual employee.   

Yes, they can, providing all funds were given by individuals and there is written confirmation of this.  

Find out how you can fundraise through events and community fundraising. 

The following are not eligible for matching: 

• Financial donations from for-profit organisations.  
• The Gift Aid element of donations. 
• The proceeds of selling in-kind donations made directly to the organisation (e.g. shares, goods to sell on eBay) unless this is part of a pre-agreed stock appeal.
•  Donations from existing regular donors, as this represents income that is already guaranteed to the organisation rather than given in response to the appeal.
• The value of ‘in kind’ donations (i.e. non-monetary) such as time volunteered, locations donated, bands performing .
• Proceeds from ‘sales’ – whether compulsory ticket sales or sale of items .
• Donations from online auctions or auction-only events for specific items. 
• Donations made to a crowdfunding appeal in return for valuable ‘prizes’ or incentives. 

Your vital donations will help communities in Cambodia build resilience and adapt to the realities of climate change and ensure that women and girls are empowered to play a central role. For example:

• A gift of £3 a month could plant 200 trees to reforest land helping communities protect themselves from future floods and soil erosion.
• A gift of £7 a month could help a woman train her village in climate resilience. 
• A gift of £10 a month could provide seeds, tools and training to grow sustainable crops.

The UK Government has committed to match what UK supporters donate to ActionAid to the value of approximately £1,000,000.

This matched funding will go directly to the project in Cambodia alongside 10% of all supporter income – meaning that if we reach our target of £2,000,000, ActionAid Cambodia will receive £1,100,000 of that. 

ActionAid UK will use the remainder of the money raised to support our work with women and girls around the world, directing funds to wherever the need is greatest.  

Cambodia is highly vulnerable to climate change.

According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2020, Cambodia is  one of the countries identified as being most at risk from the damaging effects of climate change.

Climate change-related flooding, storms and rising sea levels cause direct damage, but the knock-on effects of these disasters can be even more widespread, devastating livelihoods, continuing the cycle of poverty and increasing the burden of unpaid work on women and girls.      

Typically, after the dry season, farmland is replenished with fresh water brought in by tropical storms and monsoon rains. Increasingly, though, these areas are instead becoming inundated with floods of seawater ruining crops.

The increasingly unstable climate is also taking a  heavy toll on fish stocks in Cambodia, resulting in huge losses of income to those whose livelihoods depend on fishing.  

Farming and fishing are vital sources of livelihood for many communities in Cambodia, so the changing climate’s impacts on those industries will have huge effects on the country and its people. 

When families are desperate, they may have no choice but to take out loans they cannot afford to repay. They can become trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and bonded labour – a form of modern slavery that compels people to work off their debts without pay – as they try to survive after climate extremes have ravaged their livelihoods.

ActionAid also has a strong network of communities in Cambodia that it works with.  We have established relationships providing a solid foundation on which to further build and expand our transformational programmes that urgently need funding.

ActionAid works with women and girls living in poverty across 45 countries worldwide.

A percentage of the money raised through our ‘She is the answer’ appeal will also support other programmes globally, for instance helping ActionAid to provide support and save lives in the event of a sudden-onset emergency.

We have focused this appeal on Cambodia because the 2017 Climate Change Vulnerability Index ranks Cambodia between “High” and “Extreme Risk,” meaning that climate change impacts will most likely lead to more floods, more drought, and less availability of drinking water.   

The UK Government has committed to match what UK supporters donate to ActionAid to the value of approximately £1,000,000.

This matched funding will go directly to the project in Cambodia alongside 10% of all supporter income – meaning that if we reach our target of £2,000,000, ActionAid Cambodia will receive £1,100,000 of that. 

ActionAid UK will use the remainder of the money raised to support our work with women and girls around the world, directing funds to wherever the need is greatest.  

The project will be implemented in four provinces of Cambodia: two in coastal areas (Kampot and Koh Kong) and two in the Tonle Sap/Great Lake area (Kampong Thom and Pursat). These are disaster-prone areas experiencing prolonged drought, frequent floods and storms.

These four provinces in Cambodia are also long-term Local Rights Programme (LRP) areas where ActionAid Cambodia and local partners are well established and have built good relations with communities and local authorities over the past ten years.

The Cambodian government is taking climate change seriously and has made efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change, such as transitioning to more renewable energy by 2030.

However, Cambodia contributes to only 0.06% of global emissions per capita, yet is one of the countries identified as being most at risk from the damaging effects of climate change according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2020.

Farming and fishing are vital sources of livelihood for many communities in Cambodia, so the changing climate’s impacts on those industries will have huge effects on the country and its people.

ActionAid works with women, girls and whole communities to help make their livelihoods, food, homes and safety more resilient to climate change. 

At the country level, we support communities to adapt to the effects of climate change and work to ensure women and girls can play an active role in developing these plans.   

At a global level, we provide humanitarian support to people facing climate-induced losses and people who are forced to migrate due to climate change.

We also work to influence wealthy countries to support initiatives like the Green Climate Fund (GCF), that enable climate action and adaptation in poorer countries, and we advocate for system change.

In Cambodia specifically, our Women Led-Alternatives to Climate Change (WLACC) project helps strengthen women's resilience to climate change. The project trains women leaders and benefits women and girls in the community in four provinces: coastal areas of Kampot, Koh Kong, and Tonle Sap/Great Lake area of Kampong Thom and Pursat.  These are disaster-prone areas experiencing prolonged drought, frequent floods and storms.

ActionAid provides women leaders are who are called Women Champions in our projects with the training, skills and confidence they need to play a decisive part in planning the future of their communities.  There are now 46 Women Champions transforming communities across Kampot, Pursat, Koh Kong and Phnom Penh provinces in Cambodia.

Our goal is to build a network of 100 Women Champions that can actively collaborate with government officials and authorities at all levels, on projects related to disaster response and climate change adaptation.   

ActionAid’s WLACC project is planned to run until March 2023, though the skills learnt and impact generated through the project will benefit communities long into the future.  

Although climate change affects entire nations and regions,  women  and girls tend to be disproportionately  affected. 

In many societies including Cambodia, women and girls  often  don’t have equal access to land rights, well-paid  work, resilient crops, farming tools, cash, and social networks.

So, when a climate-related disaster hits, women and girls don’t have the same resilience and tools that men and boys do to cope and survive. As a result, more women and girls tend to die in disasters. Those who survive tend to struggle more as a result of the event – due to damage to their home, their business and their community infrastructure – setting back their rights even further.   

Women and girls also face increasing risks of sexual harassment and violence. For example, in Cambodia. during the flooding season, people move up into the hills, where they live in temporary shelters made from plastic tents. In this setting, women and girls are more vulnerable, especially because toilets and bathrooms are missing or not set up properly.  

Climate change is also affecting girls’ rights to education. Following a flood or natural disaster, one of the first coping strategies of families is to take girls out of school to save costs and allow the girls to help out at home or work. This has long-term impacts on gender equality because education can help build resilience and help girls access opportunities to escape poverty in the long term.   

‘She is the answer’ specifically refers to the need to involve women more actively in climate change responses (it is in no way blaming women for their contribution to climate change). 

 Empowering women leaders is an important part of tackling the climate crisis and equipping vulnerable communities with the knowledge, tools they need, and platform so that women and girls can thrive in a future marked by climate change. 

Structural change and global solutions are needed to tackle this crisis overall. We can then say that women’s full participation and leadership in these processes (and key decision-making spaces) is necessary to ensure that sustainable and gender-just solutions are reached.  This involves all stakeholders including governments and corporations which contribute significantly to Global Greenhouse emissions.  

We recognise that the private sector has an increasingly critical role to play in eradicating poverty and inequality.

Through responsible business, corporations have the unique ability to create decent jobs that can contribute to economically empowering women. They can help ensure resilient livelihoods through environmentally sustainable operations and the innovative use of technology to solve global challenges, while fairly paying its taxes and not impinging upon communities’ rights to land and natural resources.

This can all help to build more resilient and gender-just societies and is why we engage with business as a critical friend; holding them to account where abuses exist, whilst working with them to imbed structural changes which deliver for women in the long-term.  

Every person contributes to global emissions of greenhouse gases.

However, it is clear that countries in the global north contribute significantly more than those in the global south.    For example, per capita emissions from Cambodia are about 100 times less than in the UK (Cambodia contributes to 0.06% of global emissions per capita whereas the UK contributes to around 5.7% per capita).

ActionAid’s Women Champions programme provides women in Cambodia with the training, skills and confidence they need to play a decisive part in planning the future of their communities.  

There are now 46 Women Champions transforming communities across Kampot, Pursat, Koh Kong and Phnom Penh provinces in Cambodia.

Our goal is to build a network of 100 Women Champions that can actively collaborate with government officials and authorities at all levels, on projects related to disaster response and climate change adaptation.  

Women Champions are volunteers, who receive training and development opportunities. They receive travel allowances and per diems which cover food and daily expenses when they travel for volunteering. On average they volunteer up to 3-5 days a month.  

In Cambodia, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.

Since women and girls tend to have less economic power, social standing and to work in vulnerable industries like farming and fishing, or in the unpaid care sector – when climate devastation strikes, it is women who suffer most. This is because of gender inequalities which affect their ability to build resilience, seek support and access their fuller rights – including economic rights.  

While women and girls' rights remain at the heart of our work, we neither discriminate against men or boys nor refuse to help them.

For example, when we respond to emergencies and disasters we support men, women and children – providing immediate relief and setting up long-term projects to help them rebuild their lives. From creating flood defences and floating schools to planting mangrove trees, our ‘She is the answer’ appeal will help whole communities in Cambodia build resilience and adapt to the realities of climate change. 

When the rivers and the Tonle Sap Lake fill and overflow during Cambodia’s wet season (May till September), the waters do indeed help with the biodiversity of the local area.

The floodwaters irrigate the rice fields and create safe breeding spaces for fish. But the regular, expected flooding of the plains and the areas surrounding the lake and rivers usually happens in the rainy season. 

Now with climate change, Cambodia is experiencing either extended spells of drought with rain coming later and later or unpredictable and irregular rain during the dry season (October to April). 

Storms and rain now occur during the dry season, when farmers are ready to harvest their rice and when fishing communities get ready to fish.

The floods ruin fully-grown harvests and the new stormy winds during the dry season make it impractical for fisherfolk to go out in boats. Their boats can capsize, their fishing nets can get torn in the storms and they are catching less and less fish

Harmful fishing practices such as overfishing and climate change together have diminished the number of fish in our oceans and are threatening some fish species and marine life to extinction. 

This project is addressing climate-related challenges in four provinces in Cambodia specifically focusing on ways to adapt agricultural livelihoods to be more resilient to climate change. The project cannot address all the root causes of inequality simultaneously.  

Issues such as dam construction in neighbouring countries on the Mekong river have an adverse effect on downstream communities and fishing livelihoods. As such, challenges cannot be addressed without political will and international cooperation. 

One of the reasons why we want increased women’s engagement in climate policy is to ensure that the government hears the voices of women on issues that matter to them.

ActionAid takes a human rights-based approach to achieve our mission of social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication, and in Cambodia specifically, gender inequality persists in almost every facet of life. You can read more about these wider issues, and the ways in which ActionAid is tackling them.

All crop production contributes to climate change.

Food is responsible for approximately 26% of global GHG emissions and rice accounts for 2.5% of all global human-induced GHG emissions. However, this is significantly less than animal products.  

Cambodia contributes around 0.06% of global carbon emissions per capita (compared to the UK, which contributes 5.7%), whereas it is one of the countries most impacted by climate change in the region.

 ActionAid’s agroecology approach excludes high carbon contributing chemicals such as pesticides and fertilisers.

Agroecological approaches are the most effective means of adaptation to climate change. By improving the health, structure and nutrition of soil through the use of compost, manure, mulching or green manures, they reduce erosion, improve plant health, and increase the ability of soil to absorb and retain water in times of both drought and flood.

Our approach to ending hunger is always long-term and sustainable, so we look at the food source which is going to prove the most resourceful.

In some of the poorest communities, it is simply impossible to rely solely on a plant-based diet, due to a lack of fresh vegetables and crops. Here, livestock projects are an important way of life and can mean the difference between extreme poverty and sustainable lifestyles; these animals provide a vital lifeline to people who are often denied even their most basic rights. 

However, ActionAid takes a very responsible attitude towards animal husbandry and welfare. We work with animal associations to ensure that our programmes are implemented in line with legal regulations of animal welfare.

We find that the communities we work with are so grateful for their animals that they make every effort to look after them in a humane way in which the animals are not exploited. 

We communicate with our valued supporters in different ways, and postal mail is just one of these.

We always use FSC, PEFC or recycled stock, or a combination for all our direct marketing print.

For the ‘She is the answer’ campaign, we have eliminated the laminate window from our outer envelopes for the first time. Postal mail is the only way we are able to reach a significant number of our supporters. 

We're sorry you didn't like the tips we shared in our recent mailing.

We value this feedback and understand that the suggestions offered will not be achievable for everyone but dependent on individual circumstances. 

We welcome the UK Government’s decision to match donations to our ‘She is the answer’ appeal. 

This vital support will help equip marginalised communities with the knowledge and the tools they need, so that women and girls can thrive in a future marked by climate change.  

It is precisely because we know how transformative good quality aid is that we must strongly oppose any move to cut it.  

ActionAid believes the UK Government should stand shoulder to shoulder with the poorest communities in the world, both here in the UK and around the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having serious consequences for women and girls in the world’s poorest countries – they are facing a global surge in domestic violence, a higher risk of child marriage and reduced access to sexual and reproductive services. 

Approximately £3 bn of UK aid has already been cut due to the decline in national income. But the Government’s decision to cut the aid budget by a further £4bn marks a second blow for the world’s poorest at a time that Covid-19 is having devastating impacts on lives and livelihoods.

It is crucial that UK aid continues to prioritise gender equality and violence against women and girls so that their hard-fought rights are not rolled back.   

Aid can be incredibly effective.

Millions more children in the world’s poorest countries are alive today because aid supported their parents, provided medical care and immunised them against deadly diseases.

People forced from their homes by disaster or war have been provided with food, water, medicine and shelter thanks to aid.  

From the start of 2015 until the end of 2018, UK aid immunised an estimated 74.3 million children, saving 1.4 million lives1 .

 Between 2015 and 2020, UK aid supported 62.6 million people to gain access to clean water and/or better sanitation2 .

In this period, UK aid also reached over 25 million women and girls each year with modern methods of family planning, giving them greater choice over how to run their lives3

At ActionAid we don’t side with political parties or comment on specific politicians, however, we are concerned about the Government’s planned cuts of around £4 billion from the UK aid budget this year.

The cuts will be felt mostly by the world's poorest, and we have joined calls for UK Aid to be maintained at 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI).  

ActionAid is an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty in over 45 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and as such our programme work does not operate in the UK.  

There are several organisations that do offer support to people affected by flooding and other extreme weather in the UK, such as the National Emergencies Trust | Nationwide Disaster Charity which fundraises for UK-based emergencies and has supported frontline Covid-19 responses this year. 

We recognise that there are many people in need of support in the UK – and there are some fantastic charities who are doing amazing work to help them.

ActionAid has always been an international development  organisation  with a  primary  focus on working with women and  girls  who are living in poverty.  

All the stories and content we use for our campaigns have been through very thorough safeguarding processes. 

We have robust due diligence and risk assessments in place for any campaigns involving vulnerable children and/or adults.     

It is our legal and moral obligation to gather informed consent from every person photographed, videoed or interviewed in order to use their personal data.  ActionAid UK has mandatory consent forms and guidelines for use during any content gathering trip to ensure that consent is gathered and there is a record of it being given.    

Staff members gathering content understand that informed consent means that someone who is being interviewed, photographed or filmed understands how their image may be used and that someone they know may see it.

In every case, we explain how their story might be used across our public communications and discuss whether they are comfortable for their image and words to potentially appear on social media, TV, radio broadcast – technically anywhere in the world – with the potential of being seen by anyone.  

ActionAid takes child protection extremely seriously. This includes ensuring that all the girls we photograph and video for our appeals are supported in telling their story, so it is safe for them, they have emotional support and they fully understand how their story will be used and who could potentially see it.  

We never obtain consent from children. For under 18s, all consent is gathered from a parent or guardian in accordance with the legal age of consent recognised by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

ActionAid staff working in communities and directly with rights-holders read out and explain thoroughly what the parent or guardian is consenting to on behalf of their child.  

In addition to gathering our content with strict levels of informed consent, we also anonymise images to protect survivors of violence. This includes changing names and removing any indications of their geographical location, such as identifying landmarks and photographic metadata.

In some of our appeals, we also use child actors.   ActionAid does not pay people to share their stories. After open and respectful discussions with our local staff, people volunteer because they want to raise awareness of an issue, share their experience with others and/or have their voice heard.

As a charity committed to helping people take control of their own future, we share the truth about  people’s lives  and show real people in real situations.

Wherever possible we let people tell their own stories in their own words and emphasise their individuality and real-life experience.