Actionaid action magazine spring 2014

Giving her a way out How your support could be doubled to help change Margaret’s future...

Inside Meera Syal Ending violence against women and girls Philippines typhoon Six months on Spring 2014 • www.actionaid.org.uk

One year on from Rana Plaza factory collapse Miracle baby Junaid was born six months after his mother, 21-year-old Naznin Akhter Nazma, survived the devastating factory collapse in Bangladesh where her husband tragically died.

ActionAid helped with medical costs related to her pregnancy, but her main hope is for compensation from the companies whose clothing was made in the factory, an area where ActionAid is still campaigning tirelessly. Photo: Probal Rashid/ActionAid.

CONTENTS 3 DEAR SUPPORTER 4 NEWS SHORTS 6 ENDING VIOLENCE

AGAINST WOMEN

AND GIRLS 10 WITH YOUR HELP

SHE CAN FIND A WAY OUT… 14 PHILIPPINES TYPHOON:

SIX MONTHS ON 16

CAMPAIGNERS CALL ON BARCLAYS TO CLEAN UP THEIR ACT ON TAX HAVENS

18 GET INVOLVED

DEAR SUPPORTER It is hard to believe that it is almost six months since Typhoon Haiyan tore a path of destruction through central Philippines. I would like to thank all of you who helped us raise over £1 million.

Having just returned from our programme there I was heartened by the progress. There’s a long way to go, but a lot has been achieved. Don’t miss the incredible story of survivor Imelda on page 15.

This time last year you helped us raise a staggering £2.7 million for our Ready for Anything appeal. Your generous donations are on track to help over 100,000 people prepare for disasters in four countries. See our News Shorts for more details.

Today, we urgently need your support to address another issue at the heart of our work – violence against women and girls. I have seen first-hand how violence traps women and girls in fear and poverty, as well as the difference our women’s rights programmes make which we feature on page 6.

ActionAid 33–39 Bowling Green Lane London EC1R 0BJ 01460 238 000 supportercontact@actionaid.org COVER IMAGE Margaret Tsuma, 10, is at school in Kenya, but spends her free time scavenging on a dumpsite to help her mother buy food.

Photo: Kate Holt/Shoot The Earth/ActionAid. ActionAid is a registered charity (number 274467).

Design: www.thomasmatthews.com Editor: Laura Smith Print: Brightsource

Spring 2014

So I am asking for your help once again – this time to keep vulnerable girls safe from harm and help them fulfil their potential. And I am really pleased to report that the government will match your donations pound for pound, enabling girls to break the vicious cycle of poverty and violence.

Find out how to double your donation through our She CAN… appeal on page 10.

Anything you can give will make a huge difference.

Thank you for all that you do for ActionAid. Richard Miller Executive Director 3

Women in Kyonakan village, southwest Myanmar, try on life jackets at a disaster response training session supported by ActionAid. Photo: ActionAid.

Josephine (left) of GOSOORA: “We chose this design because it has honeycombs painted in a colour that’s attractive to the bees.” Photo: ActionAid.

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Ready for Anything

There’s something about Mary…

A year ago, we launched our Ready for Anything appeal, raising a record-breaking £2.7 million.

Your donations are already supporting vulnerable communities in Afghanistan, Malawi, Myanmar and Nepal to prepare for natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and drought. The project is on track to reach over 100,000 people over three years and we are currently training women in climate change awareness raising, risk analysis, leadership skills and integrating disaster preparedness into local government budgets.

Do you want to get more involved in ActionAid’s work, meet other supporters and have fun doing it?

NEWS SHORTS New honey label creates a buzz ActionAid supporter Jack Elliot has created the winning label design for the honey produced by a bee-keeping group in Kuria, Kenya. ActionAid is supporting this innovative project which provides women with an alternative source of independent income by keeping bees.

Mary Cannon recently decided to ramp up her fight against poverty by taking her support for ActionAid to the next level.

“I became a child sponsor for ActionAid in 1982 when I was bringing up my own three children and increased my support by becoming a community campaigner.

I have learned such a lot about the wider picture of the causes of poverty.”

We urgently need more supporters like Mary to join our new-look Community Campaigner Network and take our campaigns directly to the people and organisations we’re trying to influence, from MPs to companies. You can commit as little or as much time as you like, but whatever you do you’ll be making a massive difference.

To find out more, visit www.actionaid.org.uk/campaign call 0203 122 0683 email natasha.adams@actionaid.org

The project is managed by local community organisation GOSOORA, and members of the group chose the design from a fantastic selection of entries. The newly labelled jars will help take this enterprising group one step closer to certification and getting the product on Kenya’s shop shelves.

To find out more about the bees project on our blog, visit www.actionaid.org.uk/thebuzz

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Mary (on left): “I’ve built up a good rapport with my local MP Helen Grant. She doesn’t always vote the way I would like but I feel I am winning her over gradually.”

Photo: ActionAid.

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ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS Violence forces women and girls to live in fear and isolation, leaving them with fewer tools to build a life free from poverty. Over the next four pages, find out how ActionAid’s work to end violence is making a difference, from the UK to Kenya.

Meera Syal remembers Nirbhaya “The stuff of nightmares”, is how actor and writer Meera Syal describes the brutal rape and murder of student Jyoti Singh, 23, on a Delhi bus in December 2012. Speaking at ActionAid’s memorial event for Jyoti, which marked a year since her horrific death, Meera’s speech highlights how Jyoti, otherwise known as Nirbhaya or ‘fearless one’, has become a

symbol of the one billion women worldwide who suffer sexual violence.

The memorial ran in parallel with an ActionAid India event and marked the beginning of our awareness raising work, calling for an end to violence against women and girls.

I remember how I felt when I

heard of Nirbhaya’s dreadful death: sick to my stomach, shocked to the core, and so enraged I wanted to rip up the sky. And I wasn’t the only one… Thousands of women and men, ordinary people sickened by the never ending roll call of shame of rape and violence against women and girls, took to the streets, in Delhi and in many other Indian cities, London and Paris.

The fate of this young woman became a symbol for all the women who suffer brutality and sexual violence around the world, simply because they are women…Violence against women and girls is a truly international disease, one woman in three will experience rape or some form of violence in her lifetime. This keeps hundreds of millions of women and girls trapped in poverty, which is why I’m speaking out alongside ActionAid. Meera Syal speaks outside London’s Indian Embassy at the Nirbhaya memorial event. Photo: David Parry/PA.

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Nirbhaya cast supports our ‘wall of hands’ at the Southbank. Photo: Emma Stoner/ActionAid.

Breaking the silence: supporting the Women of the World Festival ActionAid spent a week at the Southbank Women of the World Festival in March, supporting the play, Nirbhaya, created by award-winning playwright Yael Farber.

The play shatters the silence surrounding the stories of women whose lives have been destroyed by gender-based violence. As well as joining panel discussions and running an information stand, we encouraged audience members to add messages to our ‘wall of hands’ installation which will travel across the world with the play.

How does our work make a difference?

• In India, we directly supported 700 survivors of violence and enabled 2,500 women to form collectives in 2013.

• In Afghanistan, where 87% of women experience some kind of domestic abuse, we run safe shelters for women and have developed a paralegal project to train women to help female survivors of violence.

• Our girls’ clubs in Mozambique have helped 14,000 young women to learn about their rights.

How can I help?

Our She CAN… appeal is supporting girls trapped in a cycle of poverty and violence. Until 25 June, the UK government will match your donation pound for pound.

See page 10.

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Focus on female genital mutilation: the power of a women’s network Another area in which we are working to end violence is by increasing awareness around female genital mutilation (FGM), most recently launching a social media campaign in February to mark International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM. In Africa three million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM each year. Motherof-four Susan talks frankly about her harrowing experience of this practice and the efforts of her community in West Pokot, Kenya, to end it.

Susan campaigns against female genital mutilation with the Kongelai Women’s Network.

Photo: Kate Holt/Shoot the Earth/ActionAid.

“I was circumcised when I was 13. My father wanted me to marry afterwards but I escaped and went to stay with my grandmother. The effects of female genital mutilation are terrible.

It caused me a lot of bleeding and pain and even urinating was painful and would burn. The whole experience was incredibly traumatic. I had terrible problems giving birth to my first child.”

stay in school, reaching 6,000 girls directly through our girls’ clubs and rescue centres.

As chair of the Kongelai Women’s Network (supported by ActionAid), Susan visits schools to talk about the dangers of FGM and meets regularly with community groups – both men and women – to explain that it is illegal in Kenya and discuss the best ways to campaign against it.

“My daughters have been attending the girls’ club at school organised by ActionAid. We have been able to discuss the issues and through ActionAid we also understand the laws that are in place now in Kenya, and what the penalties are if they are broken. I have come to realise that female genital mutilation is not important and is an outdated tradition. My hope for the future is that my daughters will graduate from school and be successful.”

“ActionAid has helped us to understand the law of Kenya and to realise that we can use this to protect our daughters. I refuse to have my daughters circumcised. I also want my daughters to be married to education, not a man, when they are younger.”

Female genital mutilation often leads to early marriage and can cause severe bleeding, infections, infertility and even death. ActionAid supports girls in Kenya to refuse FGM and 8

64-year-old father Atuko Lodyonghole credits his daughters, and the Kongelai Women’s Network, with helping him to understand that FGM is not an important rite of passage, or essential for marriage but a violation of girls’ rights.

How can I get involved?

Visit www.actionaid.org.uk/endfgm Be part of the conversation and tweet: @ActionAidUK with #endFGM

www.actionaid.org.uk

Women aren’t safe in our cities: how one young campaigner is spreading the word…

Benjamin Oketch, 21, is an ActionAid Activista (a global youth campaigner) from the Kibera slum in Kenya.

He has previously campaigned around tax justice but here explains how young people can tackle social injustice more widely, why violence against women is such a problem where he lives, and the importance of ActionAid’s Safe Cities campaign.

Benjamin, just outside the Kibera slum where he lives.

Photo: ActionAid.

Is violence against women a problem in your community?

“Yeah, it’s a huge problem because the violence has been here for many, many years and it’s very frustrating to see it even going up to this generation because it simply means that things are not getting better. For example, in the African community the set up is very bad, women can’t lead, women can’t say decisions in the family – their work is to give birth and cook. And socially, that is wrong, because to me, I believe that everyone is equal.”

Would you say that it’s safe for women to travel around the city?

“No. Almost every day women get raped.

You can’t party if you’re a woman in Kibera because getting home is always a problem.

So, like in other parts of the world, Activistas are doing a Safe Cities campaign and I feel that women need this campaign especially in the slums.”

Do you have any close friends who have experienced violence?

“I have a friend who was raped a few months ago. She was with her boyfriend but then the

Spring 2014

gang attacked them and took the girl away.

She lost her boyfriend because she was raped.

These are some of the injustices that we encounter in our daily lives here. I feel like we need to do something and make this a better place to live.”

Why did you join the Activista network?

“We’re joining Activista to fight out this injustice, because we believe that us, the youth, we’ve got the power to air out our voices. It’s actually action on the ground and that motivates you that you are really doing something to bring change to the community. So I’m inspired to work with Activista because it’s working out.

People are getting engaged and you get to put the message to the right recipients back at the grassroots level. That’s really cool.”

How can I get involved?

If you’re interested in getting involved in the Activista network, visit www.actionaid.org.uk/bollocksto-poverty/join-activista

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WITH YOUR HELP SHE CAN FIND A WAY OUT…

In many parts of the world if you are born poor and a girl you don’t have much of a chance. Girls like Margaret are trapped in a cycle of poverty.

The violence and inequality they face keeps them poor and vulnerable. Give them a way out through our She CAN... appeal. Until 25 June the UK government will match every donation pound for pound – doubling the difference for women and girls around the world.

Margaret Tsuma, 10, in Mwakirunge dumpsite, Kenya where she scavenges in her free time.

All photos: Kate Holt/Shoot The Earth/ActionAid.

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www.actionaid.org.uk

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Our She CAN‌ appeal runs until 25 June and will use the doubled donations to help girls like Kembi, who you may have read about in our recent appeal letter, and Margaret.

Margaret Tsuma is just 10 years old and lives with her family on the Mwakirunge dumpsite, near Mombasa in Kenya, in a tiny cardboard house. The lives of the poorest families in the area revolve around this vast, foul-smelling dumpsite. Adults and children risk their health sifting through toxic waste to find scraps to sell. Young girls in particular are often taken out of school to work on the dumpsite, foregoing their chance at education. Violence is rife as some men roam the site at night looking for

girls to rape. Margaret does go to school at the moment, which she loves, but the hidden costs, such as uniform and books, are difficult to afford.

During evenings and weekends, instead of studying and playing, she works at the dumpsite.

Every day Margaret scavenges to find plastic for her mother to sell so she can buy food.

Margaret wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Like every child she and the other girls on the dumpsite have hopes and dreams.

They want an education and the chance of a better future. Our She CAN‌ appeal will help support families in achieving this and take them off the dumpsite for good.

I hate the

dumpsite.

It is very dirty and there is a bad smell.

I am afraid of being cut by broken bottles, nails or syringes.

I am also afraid of the older people on the dumpsite who scavenge, some of these men are not very nice.

Margaret Tsuma

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www.actionaid.org.uk

Margaret studies at Digirikani Primary School, but spends her free time scavenging to help her mother, when she should be doing her homework.

Girls and women make up the

majority of the poorest people in the world because they have fewer rights, less access to education and are at higher risk of physical abuse.

We’ve launched the She CAN… appeal, with the UK government’s support, to remove girls from harm into a life where they are free to learn, free from abuse and free to work their way out of poverty. Just think how much poverty would be ended if every girl could fulfil her potential.

I’ve seen the difference for myself, when we get a girl off the dumpsite and into school or help her mother find a better way to make a living, like growing vegetables to sell.

But so many more are still waiting for a chance.

Manza Beja, Community Development Facilitator, ActionAid Kenya

Spring 2014

Help stop this waste. Will you give her a way out today?

I would like to make a gift of: • £25 that will get other girls like Margaret off the dump and into school.

• £50 that could help a girl stay safe and learn how to protect herself from danger in an after-school club.

• £75 that could pay for a bicycle so a girl can travel to school more safely.

Donate today and the UK government will double your donation until 25 June Visit www.actionaid.org.uk/SheCan Call 01460 23 8023 Thank you.

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PHILIPPINES TYPHOON: SIX MONTHS ON When Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Philippines in November last year, more than 6,000 people were killed and millions left homeless. Your support and donations were incredible and, six months on, you have helped over 60,000 people in north Cebu, Samar and Leyte islands rebuild their shattered lives. We would like to thank you for giving life-saving donations of over £1 million.

ActionAid also raised £2.5 million through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

“ActionAid’s work goes beyond immediate humanitarian response. Your support also allows us to play a crucial long-term role

after emergencies like Typhoon Haiyan,” says ActionAid’s Head of Humanitarian Response, Mike Noyes.

“We are working with local partners in the Philippines to deliver urgently needed relief items and support to the most vulnerable people. ActionAid plans to remain in the Philippines for at least three years to ensure we help as many people as possible get back on their feet. We know that women are often the worst affected in a disaster, so are working particularly closely with them to ensure they play a key part in this process and their voices are heard.”

How your donations are helping • Emergency aid ActionAid moved rapidly after the disaster, going quickly to some of the most remote areas where little help had arrived. Our focus was on the very vulnerable – children, women, the disabled and the elderly. We provided food parcels, hygiene kits, ropes, iron sheets, nails, tarpaulins for shelter, and household utensils.

• Rebuilding homes Now essential aid has been provided, ActionAid is supporting the huge rebuilding process. Tropical storms regularly hit the Philippines and so we are helping communities to clear the debris and develop low-cost, disaster-resilient homes that will last.

• Understanding their rights Many people have had to move far from their original homes and businesses. ActionAid is working with local community groups to give information and advice on rights and financial compensation.

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• Providing work A major problem for families is the loss of jobs. Most people worked in fishing or farming before the typhoon but have seen their livelihoods destroyed. ActionAid is giving a helping hand by providing opportunities to earn an income through clearing debris and repairing homes. We are also providing fishing nets and equipment so that people can get back to normal as quickly as possible.

• Overcoming trauma ActionAid is training local volunteers to help those who have been deeply affected by the typhoon overcome the trauma, particularly children and those who have lost loved ones.

• Keeping women and girls safe ActionAid is building safe meeting spaces for women and girls with much-needed sanitation facilities.

Find out more about how people affected by the typhoon are rebuilding their lives, visit www.actionaid.org.uk/philippines

www.actionaid.org.uk

Imelda’s story When the typhoon struck, 28 year-old Imelda Balma from Leyte saved seven families by helping them take refuge from the storm in her concrete house. Despite losing some of her own family members she then courageously travelled to Manila to bring back food and supplies to her village of San Joaquin.

In numbers: the typhoon

Livelihoods disrupted for 5.9 million workers

However, as she explains, there is still so much to do, “People don’t have houses.

They don’t have enough food, and they need medical attention. The people in my house are getting sick because there are so many of us now living together. We can only do so much – we need support to recover.”

ActionAid is now working with local partner WeDpro in San Joaquin to support Imelda and her community to rebuild more disasterresilient homes, so that if another typhoon hits, families aren’t so vulnerable.

More than 14 million people affected

More than 1 million homes have been damaged

6,201 people dead and 1,785 missing

More than 4 million people displaced

Your support

ActionAid raised over £1 million

£90 million raised in DEC appeal

Over 60,000 people have been helped by ActionAid so far Imelda and the children of seven families now living with her. Photo: ActionAid.

Spring 2014

Plan to help 100,000 people over three years

Source: DEC and ActionAid

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CAMPAIGNERS CALL ON BARCLAYS TO CLEAN UP THEIR ACT ON TAX HAVENS When companies don’t pay their fair share of tax, this can deny some of the world’s poorest people access to vital funds for schools and hospitals. That’s why ActionAid has been campaigning for over five years to make sure big businesses pay their tax in developing countries.

Last November we found out that Barclays Bank, the biggest UK bank in Africa, is promoting tax havens to companies doing business on the continent.

Over 25,000 of us from across the UK and around the world have called on the bank to demand it cleans up its act. It’s starting to have a real impact – they’re listening to our demands but we have to make sure they act.

How is Barclays promoting tax havens?

Barclays is promoting the use of tax havens to big businesses and wealthy individuals through a part of its business called Offshore Corporate. This includes promoting tax havens like Mauritius, which Barclays describes as the ‘gateway to Africa’, as well as six other offshore tax havens.

In Nigeria we have the

highest number of children who are out of school. In Africa, the number of women and children dying of preventable causes or illness is alarming.

More saddening is the fact that in the face of this, big companies are further impoverishing the African people and that Barclays Bank in some ways supports this.

By promoting the use of tax havens which enable tax dodging, Barclays Bank is doing more harm than good in Africa.

David Habba, ActionAid campaigner, Nigeria

Tax havens have very low tax rates and create a veil of secrecy that enables multinational companies to siphon profits out of developing countries. They let companies shift profits out of the country where they were actually earned, and into tax havens with a much lower tax rate.

The Tax Justice Network estimates that there’s over US$20 trillion stashed in offshore tax havens and Barclays is helping to make this happen.

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David Habba, ActionAid campaigner and blogger from Nigeria. Photo: ActionAid.

www.actionaid.org.uk

Pamela Chisanga, ActionAid Country Director for Zambia, speaks to Activistas outside Barclays’ headquarters in Lusaka. Photo: ActionAid.

What’s been happening?

Since launching the campaign at the end of last year we’ve had an amazing response.

Over 25,000 supporters have taken action, and the campaign has spread to African countries, including Zambia, Cameroon and Nigeria. In Zambia, hundreds of campaigners marched to Barclays’ headquarters to demand they act. In a country where 45% of under-fives are under-nourished, the money lost through companies not paying their taxes could make a real difference.

Here in the UK, campaigners have been visiting Barclays’ branches, and writing to and emailing Barclays’ boss Antony Jenkins to demand the bank changes its ways. It’s starting to have an impact – your campaigning opened the door to a meeting with Barclays, where we put our case across to some of Barclays’ top executives. Without all the pressure from ActionAid supporters we wouldn’t have got a foot in the door.

How do I get involved?

Every action you take pushes the bank to act – so it’s crucial they hear from as many of us as possible.

Please get involved and support campaigners like David in their call for Barclays to play fair.

• Please contact Barclays today saying you support the ActionAid campaign and want them to stop promoting tax havens to countries investing in Africa.

• If you haven’t yet added your name to our petition, please visit www.cleanupbarclays.co.uk or call 01460 23 8000.

If you bank with Barclays then they are even more likely to listen.

This week Barclays held its annual general meeting (AGM), and we were there to make sure they answered some tough questions. Visit www.cleanupbarclays.co.uk for the latest.

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GET INVOLVED Call My Wine Bluff This year’s Call My Wine Bluff fundraising event is taking place on Thursday 8 May at London’s prestigious Gibson Hall, kindly sponsored by Laithwaite’s Wine. It’s not too late to find out how you can book a table to come along and support ActionAid while enjoying a night of comedy and a nice glass of wine or two…

Visit www.actionaid.org.uk/winebluff

Do you have what it takes to Live Below the Line?

Join ActionAid to cook up a recipe for change for women and girls around the world by living below the line from 28 April to 2 May. Over one billion people live on less than £1 a day – the majority are women and girls. If you’ve got the appetite to change this then get sponsored to live on just £1 a day for all your food and drink over five days, or donate what cash you save. All donations will be doubled as part of She CAN...

Visit www.livebelowtheline.com/ uk/partner/actionaid

Last year’s celebrity wine-lovers Arabella Weir, Ed Byrne, Nicholas Parsons, Hugh Dennis and Phillip Schofield. Photo: Andrew Aitchison/ActionAid.

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www.actionaid.org.uk

Last chance to volunteer in Vietnam We have a few places remaining on our Vietnam First Hand Experience, taking place from 24 October to 2 November 2014. Join ActionAid and the local community in building a much-needed classroom for a pre-school in the Mekong Delta.

You will experience first-hand the work we do, and see the difference you can make. Tasks will include digging foundations, laying bricks and mixing cement. No experience is required – just lots of motivation and enthusiasm!

Visit www.actionaid.org.uk/experiences

ActionAid supporters play with pupils during a 2013 Cambodia First Hand Experience.

Photo: Miranda Harman/ActionAid.

Be active with ActionAid in 2014 Whether you fancy cycling part of the route of the 2012 Olympics road race, or running through London’s most beautiful parks, ActionAid has a variety of exciting events for you to tackle. So don your trainers or cycling shorts and help our fundraising by taking part in the following events.

RideLondon Surrey 100 – 10 August Bupa Great North Run – 7 September Berlin Marathon – 28 September Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon – 5 October

Cindy Smith and Nuala Barrett run the London Marathon in 2013. Photo: Liz Grant/ActionAid.

Ian Perham takes part in last year’s RideLondon-Surrey 100. Photo: Liz Grant/ActionAid.

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Visit www.actionaid.org.uk/fundraise

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“ I like the hostel because I can study here a lot.”

Sanju Rai, 9, stays at the Jyoti Lower Secondary School hostel in Khotang, Nepal with ActionAid support. She hopes to become a teacher.

Photo: Kishor K. Sharma/ActionAid

The gift of opportunity – ensure your values live on A gift in a will meant everything to Sanju, Kala, Rajmani and Karuna who live in one of the poorest areas in a remote part of Nepal. It is helping to pay for them to stay at a hostel attached to their local school. This means the children get three good meals a day, a safe place to sleep and a chance to get the education that could change their lives forever.

The very poorest children in this region usually have to give up their study time to look after siblings or work to support their families. But living in the hostel during the week ensures they have time to focus on their studies and are encouraged to do well.

This gift was left by a long-term supporter of ActionAid who donated £5,000. It’s a gift that will support Sanju, Kala, Rajmani and Karuna throughout all of their schooling and will help give them the opportunities they deserve, long into the future.

To find out more about how this gift is helping Sanju, Kala, Rajmani and Karuna, watch the short film: www.actionaid.org.uk/jyoti Please get in touch if you have any questions about leaving a gift in your will to ActionAid, call 0203 122 0512 or email peter.devenafranks@actionaid.org

LEG1307AD ActionAid is a registered charity (no. 274467) 24577_M