Campaigning works
Our campaigns aren’t about quick wins. We pick the issues that we know will make a difference for the world’s poorest people, and we don’t give up. Through committed campaigning, our supporters have kept the pressure on corporations and governments and made real change to people’s lives. Here are some of the incredible things ActionAid campaigners have done.
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ActionAid UK
We helped Zambia tackle tax dodging
In 2013, ActionAid campaigners in the UK and Zambia called for action on tax dodging after we exposed massive tax avoidance in Zambia by UK company Associated British Foods (ABF). Our report showed that market stallholders like Caroline, pictured, were paying less of their income in tax than ABF. After our campaign, Zambia started working with Ireland and the Netherlands (two of the key tax havens exposed in the report) to change the unfair treaties that let this happen.
We stopped a mine that would have displaced thousands
The Kondh tribe, pictured, have lived on the Niyamgiri Mountain in Southern India for generations. In 2008 we began a campaign to help protect their homes after British-based mining company, Vedanta, wanted to build a mine on their land – one that would have displaced tens of thousands. Thanks to some hard campaigning from ActionAid supporters in the UK and India, the Indian government refused permission for the mine to go ahead.
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ActionAid UK
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ActionAid UK
We made supermarkets give farmers a fair deal
Supermarkets in the UK sell a lot of food grown in poorer countries. But the people who grow, pick and pack the food we buy often don’t get a fair deal. Gertruida, left, worked on a farm in South Africa supplying Tesco, but didn’t get paid enough to feed her children.
Together with Gertruida and other UK organisations, we campaigned hard for five years to get a fairer deal for farmers. In the end, our government set up a watchdog with the power to fine supermarkets that don’t treat their suppliers fairly.
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Photos: Jason Larkin, Claudia Janke, ActionAid.
Page updated 1 February 2021
