Introduction

Over the past thirty years, international NGOs (INGOs) have become increasingly important actors in the international development sector. They deliver a range of social services to those living in poverty and represent their voices in policy debates nationally and internationally (Thomas, 2008). While the sector as a whole has grown dramatically – Yaziji and Doh (2009, p.16) estimate the annual turnover of the ‘NGO sector’ to be over US$1 trillion – looking at these organisations at a sectoral level obscures the different choices that each one makes and hides the myriad of different organisational forms, approaches and ways of working with, and on behalf of, people living in poverty.

This chapter focuses specifically on one such international NGO, ActionAid International. ActionAid initially operated in the same way as any other INGO: it was funded by supporters in the Global North and delivered ‘community development’ in the Global South. But in 2003, it took the brave decision to radically change its organisational structure. This decision was based on its analysis of poverty and the belief that its root causes lie in unequal power relations:

In working to align its organisational form with its analysis of poverty and its causes, ActionAid has spent the last 10 years becoming: