ActionAid International Annual Report 2006

Progress towards our strategic objectives

Rights of People with Disabilities and Young People

Nearly 10% of ActionAid’s spending is on important work which lies outside of the six priority themes discussed above, or are difficult to neatly assign to one of them. This enables us to better meet the demands and needs on the ground.

Story of Change in Brazil:

Young people make change happen

After five years of mobilisation and education with adolescents in the City of Gold shanty town in Rio de Janiero, ActionAid’s partner CEACC decided to involve young people in an initiative to map the nutritional status of the children living there. "This was an opportunity to enable these adolescents to put into practice what they learned with us in preventive health courses, and to play even more of a role in the organisation, and in the community. This way they will be prepared to take over the coordination of CEACC in the future," explains Zélia Pereira, one of the CEACC coordinators.

Twenty young people were chosen to work on the mapping, from data collection and field work through to analysis. The results are used to inform local authorities about the problem and design policies to tackle it. "This is an opportunity to start changing the history of my community. I am proud to be from the City of Gold and to be able to work to change this place, and improve the quality of life of these children" says Vítor Martins, 19 years old.

Raising awareness and challenging policy on disability

In Bangladesh, we commissioned a series of photos on disability and political violence which won a National Geographic Award for showing how conflict and confrontational politics impacts on people’s lives. As a result of increased awareness among school teachers, more disabled children are now attending schools in the areas where we work. And a group of 18 people with disabilities has succeeded in securing funds from local government.

In Lesotho, ActionAid supported the National Association of the Deaf to create a documentary ‘Empower the Deaf through Education’, highlighting limited facilities for deaf students. It also ran a model programme placing sign language interpreters in two schools to help deaf learners integrate more easily. It monitored the project, and shared findings with the Ministry of Education. As a result, sign language interpretation will now be included in the 2007/08 budget and government policy and strategies will be reconsidered.

ActionAid has been working to support disabled people’s rights in India since 1988. A few of the many gains in 2006 included a commitment by the Delhi Transport Corporation to make all buses disabled-friendly by 2010, the creation of five new state-level federations for people with disabilities and awarding disability certificates to nearly 1000 people in a public hearing in Kolkata, which they would otherwise have had to pay bribes to receive.

Mobilising young people

During the year, we put particular emphasis on supporting young people to fight poverty, and established a solid platform from which to take this work further. We co-hosted a youth summit in Kenya, attended by 40 young people from across Africa, to build awareness amongst young people of global and continental issues. A highlight was spending time with young activists in the slums of Nairobi. We also supported the African Youth Coalition Against Hunger, a new organisation in West Africa.

In Thailand, a project run by the mobile education unit involved several hundred students discussing poverty and politics, which led to the creation of 13 short films which were exhibited at the Thai Social Forum and the Young Expo. The New Wave Writer Project also provided training for 30 young writers to explore poverty issues, resulting in two ‘bookzines’ and a monthly magazine, CMYK. Such initiatives have generated great interest and encouraged many young people to volunteer with ActionAid in Thailand.

Home Introduction Mission, Vision, Values Message from Chair and CE Message from Treasurer Strategic Overview Strategic Objectives Women's Rights Education Rights Food Rights Human Security HIV/AIDS Governance Other Initiatives Organisational Objectives Governance & Audit Financial Review Review Auditors' report Policies Financial Accounts Income statement Balance Sheet Cash Flow Note 1 Notes 2 & 3 Note 4 Note 4c Notes 5 & 6 Note 7 Note 8 & 9 Note 10 Note 11 Note 12 Note 13 Note 14 Note 15 Notes 16 & 17 Board-Trustees/Directors Photo Galleries Get on board 2006 South Asia Earthquake Global Action Week Video Gallery Contact Us		Progress towards our strategic objectives Rights of People with Disabilities and Young People Nearly 10% of ActionAid’s spending is on important work which lies outside of the six priority themes discussed above, or are difficult to neatly assign to one of them. This enables us to better meet the demands and needs on the ground. Story of Change in Brazil: Young people make change happen After five years of mobilisation and education with adolescents in the City of Gold shanty town in Rio de Janiero, ActionAid’s partner CEACC decided to involve young people in an initiative to map the nutritional status of the children living there. "This was an opportunity to enable these adolescents to put into practice what they learned with us in preventive health courses, and to play even more of a role in the organisation, and in the community. This way they will be prepared to take over the coordination of CEACC in the future," explains Zélia Pereira, one of the CEACC coordinators. Twenty young people were chosen to work on the mapping, from data collection and field work through to analysis. The results are used to inform local authorities about the problem and design policies to tackle it. "This is an opportunity to start changing the history of my community. I am proud to be from the City of Gold and to be able to work to change this place, and improve the quality of life of these children" says Vítor Martins, 19 years old. Raising awareness and challenging policy on disability In Bangladesh, we commissioned a series of photos on disability and political violence which won a National Geographic Award for showing how conflict and confrontational politics impacts on people’s lives. As a result of increased awareness among school teachers, more disabled children are now attending schools in the areas where we work. And a group of 18 people with disabilities has succeeded in securing funds from local government. In Lesotho, ActionAid supported the National Association of the Deaf to create a documentary ‘Empower the Deaf through Education’, highlighting limited facilities for deaf students. It also ran a model programme placing sign language interpreters in two schools to help deaf learners integrate more easily. It monitored the project, and shared findings with the Ministry of Education. As a result, sign language interpretation will now be included in the 2007/08 budget and government policy and strategies will be reconsidered. ActionAid has been working to support disabled people’s rights in India since 1988. A few of the many gains in 2006 included a commitment by the Delhi Transport Corporation to make all buses disabled-friendly by 2010, the creation of five new state-level federations for people with disabilities and awarding disability certificates to nearly 1000 people in a public hearing in Kolkata, which they would otherwise have had to pay bribes to receive. Mobilising young people During the year, we put particular emphasis on supporting young people to fight poverty, and established a solid platform from which to take this work further. We co-hosted a youth summit in Kenya, attended by 40 young people from across Africa, to build awareness amongst young people of global and continental issues. A highlight was spending time with young activists in the slums of Nairobi. We also supported the African Youth Coalition Against Hunger, a new organisation in West Africa. In Thailand, a project run by the mobile education unit involved several hundred students discussing poverty and politics, which led to the creation of 13 short films which were exhibited at the Thai Social Forum and the Young Expo. The New Wave Writer Project also provided training for 30 young writers to explore poverty issues, resulting in two ‘bookzines’ and a monthly magazine, CMYK. Such initiatives have generated great interest and encouraged many young people to volunteer with ActionAid in Thailand.


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