Looking back at 2020
ActionAid Ireland is please to share its 2020 Annual Report. The report highlights some of the important work achieved in 2020, despite unprecedented circumstances.
A challenging year
The year was a challenging one across the globe. CEO of ActionAid Ireland, Siobhan McGee, writes in the report: “The onset of the pandemic exacerbated many of the inequalities we have worked long to address – schools closed in lower income countries, girls and boys lost their hard won right to an education; incidences of early marriage rapidly grew for teenage girls as families faced harsh economic conditions and reports of increasing gender-based violence. The poorest countries could not fall back on social protection when their incomes were cut off in an instant in March 2020, catapulting families into extreme stress. For many, this was on top of already difficult conditions – the effects of climate change, reduced agricultural productivity and food shortages, and for some, ongoing conflict.”
Income and expenditure
However, despite the challenging circumstances, our work continued. In 2020 ActionAid Ireland raised Income of €2,972,999. We raised this through individual support and the support of Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs.
Total expenditure was €2,779,662. Of that, we spent 80% on charitable activities. We spent the remaining 20% on raising funds and on governance.
Highlights
Thanks to our supporters, we derestricted child sponsorship income in 2020. As a result, communities had the funds to respond to urgent needs due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Irish Aid kindly allowed us flexibility to allocate 50% of their funding towards our local response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This helped vulnerable families to meet their basic needs as well as continuing our programme work. We also supported the urgent international humanitarian response in Lebanon and Palestine due to the pandemic. Despite the challenging year, we also published a field guide on Behaviour Change to support other organisations to adopt a behaviour change approach. In addition, 10,700 people signed our petition to end FGM in Ireland. We were also nominated for a digital innovation award and an award for governance improvement. Around the world ActionAid reached 25million people.
Thank you
None of this would be possible without public and government support. Anna Lee, the Chair of ActionAid Ireland’s voluntary board of Directors writes in the report: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all our individual and institutional supporters, and to our skilled and committed staff – together they are key to the effective realisation of our vision and mission.”
Launching the 2020 Annual Report
And so, to celebrate the launch of the report and to discuss in more detail our work in 2020, we will hold a short event at 5.30pm on Tuesday 13th July over Zoom.
Speakers on the day will include:
- Anna Lee, Chair of the ActionAid Ireland Board, will host the event. She will also reflect on the work carried out in 2020.
- James Foley, Treasurer of the ActionAid Ireland Board, will talk about his voluntary role on the Board. He will also give his highlights from the 2020 Annual Report.
- Caroline Nkirote, Proposal Development Officer with ActionAid Ireland, will discuss how we adapted our plans for the Women’s Rights Programme, funded by Irish Aid, in order to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Siobhán McGee, CEO of ActionAid Ireland, will reflect on 2020. She will also reflect on her role as CEO over the last six years.
This event is an opportunity to ask us anything about our work, its impact on ending poverty, and how it is funded.
Image caption: 35 years old Sahan is one of the participants of an awareness programme conducted by ActionAid. She lives in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya Refugee Camp, Bangladesh. Photo taken by: Fabeha Monir/ActionAid
