ActionAid Nigeria was established in 1999 and registered with Corporate Affairs Commission in 2007. We are a national non-governmental, not for profit, non-partisan organisation and an affiliate member of the ActionAid International Federation which is registered as a non-profit in the Netherlands with footprint in over 70 countries across the world. Federation members maintain strong relationships of interdependence and mutual accountability, ensuring a strong balance between self-rule and shared rule. 

We collaborate with state and non-state actors (government, CSOs, movements, networks, allies, and other relevant stakeholders) and this collaboration works towards shifting power to the people, promoting equality, and redistributing wealth and power through a multidimensional, human-rights-based approach to development. We mobilise active agencies of people to confront unequal power relations that exclude them or others from decision-making and limit their access to and control over resources and opportunities.  

Vision

A just, equitable and sustainable world in which every person enjoys the  right to a life  of dignity, freedom from poverty and all forms of oppression.

Mission

To achieve social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication by working with people living in poverty and exclusion, their communities, people’s organisations, activists, social movements and supporters.

Values

1. Mutual respect, requiring us to recognise the innate worth of all people and the value of diversity.
2. Equity and justice, requiring us to ensure the realisation of our vision for everyone, irrespective of gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, race, , ethnicity, caste, class, age, HIV status, disability, location and religion.
3. Integrity, requiring us to be honest, transparent and accountable at all levels for the effectiveness of our actions and our use of resources and open in our judgements and communications with others.
4. Solidarity with people living in poverty and exclusion will be the only bias in our commitment to the fight against poverty, injustice and gender inequality.
5. Courage of conviction, requiring us to be creative and radical, bold and innovative – without fear of failure – in pursuit of making the greatest possible impact on the causes of poverty, injustice and gender inequality.
6. Independence from any religious or party-political affiliation.
7. Humility, recognising that we are part of a wider alliance against poverty and injustice.
8. Climate consciousness, requiring us to promote behaviours that protect the environment.  

Our Mission Objectives

Priority 1: Secure, Resilient and Thriving Communities.  

Priority 2: Improved living standard: Thriving Communities. 

Priority 3: Good governance: Equitable access and Thriving Communities.  

Priority 4: Agile, Effective and Thriving Organisation.

Our Programmes

ActionAid employs one mega strategy for the achievement of its programme priorities by building and working with movement and allies. Through radical convening and advocacy on pressure points that target government and private sector for sustainable change, we hope to support the emergence of movements and critical groups, strengthen existing movements for results; and create the catalytic and enabling space for change to happen. 

We will hold ourselves and our partners accountable for the commitments we make to ensure downward integrity in our actions at all levels. Consequently, we will be: 

• Putting the active agency of people living in poverty first.
• Campaigning for justice
• Advancing women’s rights through feminist principles
• Working in partnerships
• Breaking new grounds
• People centred research, learning and documentation

The People We Work With

We work in partnership with state and non-state actors without compromising our identity and brand. We adopt a bold and radical approach in seeking for social justice by working more with social movements and other organisations. We facilitate access to appropriate and comprehensive support that ranges from strategies development to collective actions.  

AAN work closely with young people, youth focused organisations, youth movements and youth activists to enhance their rights and agency in addressing the paradox of poverty through innovative strategies. By working alongside and supporting youth organisations, we aim to contribute to the development of robust and dynamic youth movements that actively links with other movements and actors towards the collective pursuit of poverty eradication and social justice. 

To accommodate our diverse partnerships, we implement a partnership policy and financial management systems that foster agility to position the organisation for resilience and productivity. 

Our Theory of Change

Our Country Strategy Paper aims to confront the deepening poverty and social injustice faced by citizens in Nigeria. As poverty and inequality deepens, discrimination against women, girls, young people and persons with disabilities persists due to lack of equitable access to services and information, and educational disparities which hinders their fundamental rights and limits better outcomes in their lives.  

The key to igniting change lies in mobilising and organising citizens at all levels to demand accountability and challenge the existing inequalities and injustice. By empowering citizens to challenge inequalities for safe, resilient, and thriving communities with equitable access to services and sustainable living standards, we aim to shift power dynamics and address the root causes of poverty and inequality. 

We therefore premise our work on mobilising citizens to demand for secure, resilient communities with a focus on equitable access to services, dignified employment, and improved living standard. This would target the systemic drivers of poverty, including social injustice and inequality, ultimately leading to reduced poverty and inequality in Nigeria. We therefore will focus on four key areas - ORGANISE, ACT, SHIFT, THRIVE.