ActionAid is an international development charity which works in 45 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Founded in 1972, ActionAid is an international federation and has offices in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok and Washington DC, as well as London.

ActionAid UK is part of the international federation and almost all of the people and partners who run ActionAid programmes are from the developing world. This means its staff are on the ground, experiencing poverty at first hand. They see day-to-day how poverty affects people’s lives, and are uniquely placed to give a voice to the women and children who suffer most.

ActionAid’s work has several different components, unified by a commitment to place women and girls at the centre of its work. The charity aims to end hunger by giving millions of people in extreme poverty the skills they need to grow sustainable food, and campaigns to address the causes of hunger.

ActionAid also responds to emergencies and conflicts. It provided emergency assistance to more than 600,000 people in 2015 and trained nearly 46,000 others to protect lives and prepare for emergencies. In total the charity responded to 27 emergencies around the world last year.

Improving access to education is another facet of its mission. 59 million children, more than half of them girls, were out of school in 2013. ActionAid works with more than 5,000 schools across Africa, Asia and Latin America to help over a millions girls and boys get the free, quality education they are entitled to.

Women’s rights and gender equality informs all of ActionAid’s activities. The charity works with communities against female genital mutilation, gender-based violence and forced early marriage.

ActionAid also campaigns for tax justice, fairer wages and more effective aid which can tackle the roots causes of poverty. It estimates that poorer countries lose around $200 billion a year from tax dodging by companies.

A variety of different roles are available at ActionAid including policy adviser, fundraising offer and HR manager. Employee benefits are plentiful, encompassing the opportunity to develop new skills, a pension scheme, childcare vouchers and free advice services.

ActionAid also supports selected UK employees to travel to host countries in order to gain first-hand experience of its in-country work. Frequent secondments, whereby employees work, for a period, in another department or different country in the federation, take place. The charity encourages job shares.