In Ethiopia, ActionAid began working in 1989 in a woreda (administration unit) in the Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples State (SNNPS).

Since then ActionAid Ethiopia has evolved from a micro-level welfare and service delivery organisation, to one that challenges the systemic causes of poverty based on people power.

During the period 1994 to 1998, the country emphasised the importance of community organisation around savings and credit activities, participatory approaches in planning and helping the emergence and development of local civil society organisations.

It is during this period that ActionAid expanded its services to cover operations located in five states of the country.

The third phase focused on four key strategies: local anti-poverty initiatives, public policy advocacy, partnership against poverty and institutional capacity building.

This marked the shift from welfare to a rights-based development approach, where lack of basic needs is seen as denial and violation of basic rights.

Vision:
To see poverty-free Ethiopia where men and women realize their rights, use their potential and live in dignity.

Mission:
we exist to work with poor and excluded people, women and girls to eradicate absolute poverty, inequality and denial of rights.

ActionAid Ethiopia is driven by the following values:

Courage of conviction:
taking principled and firm position in the struggle for the realisation of rights and dignity of poor and excluded people.

Equity and justice:
Ensuring all people, irrespective of gender, ethnicity and religion, have equal opportunity to express their views and utilise their potential.

Integrity:
Upholding the highest degree of honesty, transparency and accountability in the discharge of our duties and responsibilities and in our relationship with the public at large.