ActionAid is active in all sorts of regeneration projects, as well as providing immediate relief and assistance after natural disasters etc. they also believe in assisting with infrastructure that will yield long-term benefits and adjust the negative patterns that have kept so many people hungry, uneducated and impoverished.

One of the key areas to tackle in breaking the cycle of poverty is education, for children as well as for adults.  In several countries ActionAid has worked with local population to devise individual programmes and approaches to education that will work with people’s existing workloads and lifestyles.

Below are a few examples of ActionAids work in Africa.

In Ghana, ActionAid has designed a series of informal education centres which take a flexible approach and operate around children’s other duties.  They offer less formal structure with the same curriculum as other comparable institutions.  They also work with local adults to repair and improve primary school buildings and assist with training teachers from the local communities thereby providing employment opportunities.  ActionAid is also enjoying higher than average success rates with their adult literacy programme “reflect” designed to meet the needs of people learning while balancing working and supporting a family.

Ethiopia has a population of almost 70 million people, 69% of which are unable to read or write and lack any kind of education.   ActionAid works with 700,000 of the country’s poorest inhabitants to teach basic literacy skills and economics to allow for greater autonomy.

In Liberia ActionAid is enjoying good results with their youth social and economic reintegration programme which helps former child soldiers to learn skills that will allow them to become economically independent.  Skills such as; carpentry, masonry, agriculture and animal husbandry, all useful skills in the local industries.

In Malawi, ActionAid is paying particular attention to the problems that bar females from continuing with their education. Local, cultural expectations dictate that women be the first to give up their education and marry to support their families, leaving them with no manner of supporting themselves later in life.  ActionAid is working with local partners to provide mentors, safe housing for female teachers in rural areas and workshops for those women that wish to return to education. There is also a programme in place to education women about their rights within marriage in Malawi.

These are just a few examples of how ActionAid’s tailored approach to education is making  a positive difference in the lives of others, why not help this success to continue?

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