Check out this video: Stick it to Tesco: small change, big difference!



www.actionaid.org.uk/5p

5p. It's not a lot. Certainly not to Tesco, who posted record half year profits of £1.45 billion in September. But to women workers in South Africa who pick Tesco apples, 5p extra per kilo would change their lives, allowing them to feed their families properly.

But Tesco aren't going to pay that extra 5p without a push. That's why we're asking you to sign up, download a personalised postcard, tape 5p to it and hand it in at your local Tesco or put it in the post. Every action helps!

And that's not all. We're asking all UK supermarkets to support a new watchdog to ensure suppliers around the world get a fair deal. This is your chance to get Tesco on side.

Watch our campaign video and download your postcard here:

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/5p/

This World AIDS Day ActionAid launched Put your foot down, a campaign to persuade our government to take action on violence against women.

Why women? Well, the links between HIV and AIDS and violence against women are being ignored. A girl born in South Africa has a higher chance of being raped than of learning to read. Combine this with the number of South Africans living with HIV - 5 million - and the risk of HIV infection for women is extremely high.

Across the world, the women ActionAid works with tell us that the threat of violence prevents them from refusing sex or insisting on the use of condoms, even when they suspect their partners are HIV positive.

Take action by putting your foot down here

Thanks!

Join our online march to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a very special day for the people of Chembakolli.

On 5 December 1988 nearly 10,000 Adivasi (tribal) people from the Nilgiri Hills joined together to protest against the way their traditional lands had been taken away from them. Their high-profile march through nearby Gudalur town helped them reclaim 200 small villages, including Chembakolli.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the march, ActionAid and villagers in Chembakolli invite you to celebrate with a virtual one of your own!

Teachers and learners can:
- create their own online character to join the march
- send a message of support to the people of Chembakolli
- explore interactive maps explaining what life is like in Gudalur and Chembakolli, with facts and photographs.

The people of Chembakolli appreciate the interest they get from UK schools. So, join the march, show your support and let's make this the biggest online march in history!

Go to www.actionaid.org.uk/march now!

Be part of the action

This November is your chance to join ActionAid's campaigns team and Mildred Sharra from Malawi, for a day of activities, workshops, speakers and fun! If you've ever wanted to do more for the people in developing countries who grow the food you buy, or wondered if an email to your MP can really help people in sub-Saharan Africa, then get down to our free campaigns workshops in London and Manchester.

Saturday 8 November 2008:
ActionAid's London office

Sunday 9 November 2008:
Arlington House, Manchester

Find out more at www.actionaid.org.uk/action

ActionAid's younger sibling Bollocks to Poverty has started the bidding on their eBay auction, with a whole host of musical goodies on offer.

All this week we're auctioning off gifts which bands have donated to us. This is your chance to get your hands on some truly awesome memorabilia, including an Editors stage backdrop, a signed Harmonica from Duffy, a drum kit from the Subways and loads more signed treats.

To see the full list of items go here:

And you can join the Bollocks to Poverty facebook group here:

Happy bidding!

Devastating drought, combined with soaring global food prices, has left millions of people in Ethiopia, Kenya and other Horn of Africa countries in urgent need of food.

Crops have failed and livestock are dying. Desperate parents have been forced to scavenge for poisonous berries to feed their children. It takes three long days to prepare enough berries for just one meal.

Lodap, a mother in the Rift Valley of Kenya said, "The berries are bitter. [When we prepare them] children get a burning effect [in their throats], it can even disturb their stomachs and they get sick"

ActionAid Ambassador Jan Ravens has been to see the situation in Kenya first-hand. She says, "There's no food here. There are no crops growing. It shouldn't need to get this bad for us to help these people."

To find out more about ActionAid's response to the growing food crisis and what you can do to help, CLICK HERE.

Here's ActionAid's official take on the summit.

How did they do? An analysis of the G8's outcomes

Africa: uninspiring

• Existing policies and aid pledges have been heavily recycled this year.


• Last year's G8 pledge of US$60bn for health now has a timescale (five years), but there is still no indication of who will pay up and exactly when.


• Agriculture proposals focus on commercial farming and largely ignore the potential of smallholder production and the role of women as Africa's main small-scale food producers.

Food and hunger: unrepentant

• Food aid and other emergency measures so far announced only address the extremes of hunger, not the food insecurity facing hundreds of millions of people.


• Astonishingly, no recognition of the role of biofuels in the food price crisis. No action against the EU and US targets and subsidies that have encouraged their use.


• Lip-service to smallholders; but investment in agriculture, for the G8, still means investment in high-tech, industrial agriculture.


• Misplaced faith in trade liberalisation. Ill-conceived liberalisation is part of the problem: it brings in cheap food but in many countries it has destroyed local agriculture.

Climate change: untargeted

• Support for 50% global emission cuts by 2050, but no indication of what the G8's share of this might be, and no commitment to action until India and China agree to curb their emissions. Confusion over the extremely contentious issue of the baseline year for emission cuts, with the Japanese suggesting 2008 and the Europeans saying 1990.


• No mid-term targets, though the G8 admits they are needed. The Bali target of 25-40% reductions by 2020, supported by NGOs and the "+5" group (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa), is not mentioned.


• G8 supports 'second generation' biofuels despite evidence (from ActionAid and others) that even these non-food crops are taking land out of food production and causing hunger.


• Misplaced enthusiasm for the Climate Investment Funds as a way of promoting adaptation and clean technology. The most vulnerable countries are under-represented in the funds' management. The funds will provide much of their money as loans, not grants. And all this counts towards the G8's aid targets, instead of being additional.

G8 2008 - Leaders on bio fuel/ hunger charges

The world's 860 million hungry people are fighting a losing battle with the world's 800 million cars for access to food crops. On day 2 of the G8, ActionAid urges G8 leaders to freeze production of biofuels in favour of other sustainable energy sources.

Download it here NOW

Tune in tomorrow for the final episode!

Thanks - Sian

The G8 kicked off today in Japan and ActionAid are there too!

Keep up to date with all the news from the summit by subscribing to our daily podcasts.

Today, we're looking back at 2005's Make Poverty History campaign and the promises that were made; exactly how far have we come to achieving them?

Download the first podcast now

Make sure you download tomorrow's episode, where we will be investigating the spiraling food crisis and what G8 leaders can do to help.

Thanks for your support

Sian - ActionAid UK