ActionAid Australia was originally founded as Austcare, an NGO dedicated to defending rights of people seeking asylum and protection in emergencies. In 2009, Austcare joined the ActionAid Federation.

Since then, ActionAid Australia has sharpened their expertise in human rights and poverty eradication, with a focus on supporting women in low-income communities around the world to campaign for their rights.

Over the past five years, they have firmly established themselves in Australia as a global women’s rights organisation, supporting women living in poverty and exclusion around the world. They have also begun campaigning in Australia and across the globe to address the structural causes of injustice and inequality, using an intersectional feminist lens.

They work across 45 countries and represent a global movement of women standing together to claim their human rights and campaign against injustice.

Around the world, they partner with local women’s organisations, who know exactly what changes their communities’ need – and they support them to design and lead programs that will make those changes happen. From empowering women with the tools to campaign for safer cities, or building women’s capacity to respond to climate disasters, their programs support women living in poverty and exclusion, and their communities.

In Australia, they stand in solidarity with women globally by fundraising and campaigning. They fundraise to get women the resources they need to lead change for gender equality and social justice. They mobilise a community activist network, campaigning to hold the Australian Government and corporations accountable for their impact on the rights of women living in poverty and exclusion around the world.