About Us

ActionAid Nigeria is a member of ActionAid global federation. We maintain a strong relationship of interdependence and mutual accountability within the international federation, ensuring a strong balance between self-rule and shared-rule. Although we started operation in Nigeria in 1999 as a Country Programme of ActionAid International, we have transformed into an autonomous national organisation registered with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission. We also have a partnership agreement with the National Planning Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We have a strong national governance structure – a Board and a General Assembly - consisting of reputable Nigerians providing strategic oversight.

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

Our Mission Objectives

OBJECTIVE 1: Enhance People’s power in democratic and inclusive governance

OBJECTIVE 2: Work to protect women and girls from violence, create opportunities for economic independence and decision making.

OBJECTIVE 3: Enhance women’s leadership in accountable humanitarian and resilience system

OBJECTIVE 4: Strengthen systems and increase resource diversification for quality programme delivery

Through these objectives, we focus on 10 key promises:

• Securing women lands rights
• Promoting sustainable agriculture
• Holding government to account on public services
• Achieving redistributive resourcing for development
• Transforming education for boys and girls
• Harnessing youth leadership to end poverty and injustice.
• Building people’s resilience to conflict and disaster
• Responding to disasters through rights
• Increasing women and girl’s control over their bodies
• Generating women-centred economic alternatives

Our Programmes

Central to our programmes is the full enjoyment by female and male citizens of their rights; reducing inequality; promoting gender responsive public services; and providing alternatives to the status quo in solving complex development challenges.

Our programming areas are Education; Food and Agriculture; Human Security in Conflict and Emergencies; Health; Just and Democratic Governance; and Women’s Rights. Promoting the Right to Just and Democratic Governance and Women’s Rights are cross-cutting themes which apply across the whole programme, but also have stand-alone initiatives.

Linking all these is our geographically based integrated Local Rights Programme which is being implemented in twelve states of the federation. Our projects are currently spread across the 36 States in Nigeria and over 250 communities and are benefiting millions of people. From reflections and lessons of our programmes in Nigeria, we achieve good governance and accountable policies centred on the improvement of gender sensitive public services in Nigeria.

Applying the Human Rights Based Approach, we centre our work on the active agency of citizens – males and females, young and old – thinking locally and acting globally. We build an awareness of rights, analyse and confront unequal and unjust power relations, advance women’s rights, build partnerships, and are accountable and transparent. Our work is structured around the principles of empowerment, solidarity and campaigns.

The People We Work With

We work with poor and excluded people in communities, to promote their rights and advocate positive actions from duty bearers to end poverty and injustice.

To ensure that these actions and services are felt in the rural communities, ActionAid engages multiple agents at different levels; and in different situations, we thereby, act as enablers, advocates, facilitators, and catalysts. By so doing, we create space and interest for the voices of people living in poverty and their respective agencies to be embedded in government policies and actions.

ActionAid Nigeria not only maintains a strong solidarity with the poor, but equally takes sides with them even against adversity.

Our Theory of Change

We believe that investment in human and social development at all levels; creation of accountability mechanisms with increased citizens’ participation in democratic processes and governance; redistribution of resources results in social justice and gender equality. We will thus work to empower citizens’ especially young people, women and girls and their movements; support the building of accountability mechanisms that will lead to enhanced peoples’ power in inclusive governance, improved quality of life for women and girls; while improving social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication in Nigeria.

Country Management Team