Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development

Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development, commonly known as ACTED, is a French humanitarian non-governmental organisation. It is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organisation committed to supporting vulnerable populations around the world. ACTED works in 37 countries responding to emergencies and crisis situations, whilst also supporting recovery, rehabilitation and development efforts.

ACTED
Founded1993
OriginsKabul, Afghanistan and Paris, France
Employees
6200
Websiteacted.org

ACTED was initially established in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1993, distributing coal and flour to bakeries to cope with bread shortages. Activities quickly expanded around the country and then to wider Central Asia. From here, ACTED's work spread to Africa, Central America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.[1] In 2017, ACTED became the highest ranked new entry in the NGO Advisor Top 500 NGOs, at #33, and was marked "one of six organisations to watch".[2] ACTED has its head office in Paris and network offices in Geneva, London, Ottawa and Washington, D.C..

The NGO implements programmes in 37 countries in Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia; South America and the Caribbean; the Middle East and North Africa; West, Central and East Africa; and Europe.

In 2019, ACTED implemented more than 400 projects reaching directly 20.7 million people, with a €315 million budget and more than 6,200 staff.

ACTED is also one of the seven member NGOs of Alliance2015, along with Ayuda en Acción, Cesvi, Concern Worldwide, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Hivos, People in Need and Welthungerhilfe. This represents a strategic partnership dedicated to fighting poverty more effectively by cooperating on various levels, working together in the least developed countries and influencing and campaigning together at EU level.[3]

Vision and Mission

Since its creation, ACTED has been committed to provide to providing immediate humanitarian assistance to support those in urgent need and protect people’s dignity, while co-creating longer-term opportunities for inclusive and sustainable growth and investing in people’s potential.

ACTED's mission is to save lives and support people in meeting their needs in hard-to-reach areas.

ACTED's organisational vision is a 3Zero world: Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty. Zero Exclusion, because nobody should be left behind; Zero carbon because we only have one planet; Zero Poverty, because poverty should not hold back potential.

The 3Zero vision of ACTED is based on three main aspects:

  • Promoting inclusive and low carbon growth;
  • Building upon the capacities of every human being and developing human capital;
  • Accelerate access of the most vulnerable to social and technological innovation.

Areas of intervention

Approach

ACTED's approach is to "go the last mile", an approach rooted in ACTED's history: ACTED was born in Kabul against the backdrop of the forgotten crisis of Afghanistan, as the result of a will to go where others did not want to go, and to act differently - with an area-based approach, no mandate restriction, and by investing in local knowledge and expertise, promoting a "Think outside the box" approach.

ACTED supports vulnerable communities in hard-to-reach areas throughout the world and accompanying them in building a better future by providing a response adapted to specific needs. By ensuring the link between Emergency, Rehabilitation and Development, ACTED's teams guarantee that interventions made in a situation of crisis are useful and sustainable, because only long-term support – by remaining in the area post emergency and involving communities – can end the poverty cycle and pave the way towards sustainable and inclusive growth.

With more than 25 years experience working closest to the needs of the most vulnerable worldwide, ACTED contributes to reaching the Global Goals, advocating for an integrated approach to humanitarian action, for co-construction and global partnerships towards the sustainable development of territories.

Sectors of intervention

ACTED is a multisectorial NGO that was created with a no mandate restriction to allow flexibility in providing the most adapted response to concrete needs in each situation. In line with its 3Zero vision, ACTED’s sectors of intervention include:

Humanitarian action

In emergencies, ACTED responds to save lives, with special attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized. ACTED’s humanitarian response includes preparedness and early action, emergency response, recovery, and encourages future resilience and equitable development.

Access to basic services

Access to basic services includes basic access to drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene facilities, essential health care, education (as a minimum primary school education), energy, social welfare schemes (commonly referred to as safety nets) and basic mobility and in urban contexts additionally access to basic waste collection services and broadband internet access. Activities under this thematic area aim at improving quality and coverage of services offered by public (usually national and sub-national government actors and agencies), private (e.g. service provider companies) or philanthropic (such as NGOs in the absence of governmental or private service providers) actors to ensure they can meet basic needs.

Inclusive economic opportunities

Ensuring individuals have adequate skills and capacities to access available livelihood opportunities, and that markets are able to offer decent employment or self-employment opportunities for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled individuals. Inclusive economic opportunities mean that they should be in the sectors in which the poor work (e.g. agriculture); occur in places where the poor live (e.g. undeveloped areas with few resources); use the factors of production that the poor possess (e.g. unskilled labour); and reduce the prices of consumption items that the poor consume (e.g. food, fuel and clothing).

Circular economy

A circular economy is a systemic approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society, and the environment. In contrast to the 'take-make-waste' linear model, a circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources. It is based on three principles: 1. Design out waste and pollution; 2. Keep products and materials in use; and 3. Regenerate natural systems. Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a close-loop system, minimizing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions.

Sustainable infrastructure

Construction, rehabilitation or retrofitting of infrastructure (beyond household level) for production of green energy or for more efficient resource use and consumption. Such infrastructure can improve environmental conditions and therefore people’s health and quality of life. It also supports a green economy, creates job opportunities and enhances biodiversity.

Citizen-driven climate action

"Greening personal lives" by promoting lifestyle changes and build momentum for systemic change to mitigate climate change.

Collaborative and resilient ecosystems management

Human activities that adversely affect ecosystem resilience such as reduction of biodiversity, exploitation of natural resources, pollution, land use, and anthropogenic climate change are increasingly causing regime shifts in ecosystems, often to less desirable and degraded conditions. ACTED aims to ensure that ecosystems and natural resources are regenerated, consumed and protected in a more sustainable manner so that local populations can responsibly benefit from them to meet their needs while conserving the ecosystems for future generations.

Strengthening institutions and civil society

Government institutions are more accountable and responsible to the needs of citizens. Citizens and civil society are empowered to participate in management of collective resources and governance. While empowering citizens to make demands and hold to account those who are meant to be responsible for delivering services and at the same time supporting local public institutions to provide better, more effective services to their constituents, ACTED specifically encourages different stakeholders – from groups of citizens, CSOs and private sector to (local) governments and supportive sector institutions – to work effectively together in co-constructing ways to act collectively and in their own best interest and thus be agents in, dynamic development processes.

Peace, stability and justice

ACTED aims to prevent conflict, support post-conflict political stabilization and promote protective living environments by improving trust between and within communities, reducing risk of violence, preventing outbreak of conflict and promoting basic principles of the rule of law such as access to justice so that people are able to have their voice heard, exercise their rights, challenge discrimination or hold decision-makers accountable.

Countries of intervention

As of October 2020, ACTED is present in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Congo (Rep.), Dem. Rep. Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, occupied Palestinian Territory, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

Footprint in major crises

ACTED has responded to some of the main humanitarian crises over the past 25 years, in countries and areas including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, the DRC, the Central African Republic, Somalia and South Sudan, among others.

Principles and Values

Independent, private and non-profit, ACTED respects a strict political and religious impartiality. ACTED’s work is guided by 4 core values: responsibility, impact, enterprising-spirit and inspiration.

In line with its 4 core values, ACTED adheres to the principles of independence, impartiality, non-discrimination, free and direct access to victims, ethics, professionalism, anti-corruption, transparency and accountability.

ACTED is a signatory of the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organisations in Disaster Relief.

History

1993: ACTED is founded in Afghanistan.

1995: food emergency projects and distribution of flour and coal to Kabul bakeries to address bread shortages.

1996: ACTED's activities expanded to the entire country and subsequently to neighbouring countries, namely Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, with the aim of developing a regional strategy throughout Central Asia.

1997: the organisation continued its expansion, opening its first office in Africa to support conflict-affected populations in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville).

1998: ACTED deployed teams in Nicaragua, following the Hurricane Mitch disaster, and in the Balkans after the conflict in Kosovo.

2003: activities in the Middle East, to support the Iraqi population, linked with the office in Amman (Jordan).

2004: ACTED continued its involvement in Central Africa by opening missions in Chad and Sudan to respond to the Darfur crisis.

2005: the organisation has started emergency reconstruction activities in South Asia after the tsunami disaster, and started working in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and then Pakistan.

2006: programmes in the Middle East, intervening in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territory to implement emergency programmes.

2008: ACTED intervened to provide relief to the populations of Africa, with new programmes starting in the Central African Republic, Kenya and Somalia. The organisation also started providing relief and supporting the populations of Myanmar affected by the Nargis Cyclone and implementing projects in Vietnam.

2009: ACTED has been implementing food security interventions for the populations of Zimbabwe since October 2009, and launched projects in Cambodia on HIV/AIDS prevention activities.

2010: food security programmes to address the food crisis in Niger and Zimbabwe and disaster preparedness and risk mitigation project in Vietnam.

2011: ACTED started programs in Jordan, as well has responded to the emergencies in Libya and the Ivory Coast.

2012: The Bopha typhoon mobilized ACTED in the Philippines, while a regional office was set up in Bangkok to support in parallel Myanmar refugees in Thailand. ACTED also responded to the refugee crises in South Sudan, Jordan and Iraq.

2013: ACTED responded to the typhoon Haiyan emergency in the Philippines and is now accompanying the recovery of affected populations and the rehabilitation phase.

2014: emergency interventions in Central African Republic and South Sudan.

2015: ACTED responded to the Nepal emergency following the first of two earthquakes in April 2015 with vital humanitarian aid.

2016: ACTED started programmes in Nigeria in response to the Lake Chad crisis, and in Ukraine to support conflict-affected populations in the East of the country.

2018: ACTED responded to the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.

2019: ACTED started operations in Burkina Faso to provide water, hygiene and sanitation assistance to the most vulnerable; in Colombia in response to the Venezuelan refugee crisis; and in Tunisia to support sustainable and inclusive development.

2020: Launch of activities in Ethiopia.

References
  1. "Background". ACTED. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  2. "6 organizations to watch". DEVEX. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  3. "About Alliance2015". Alliance2015. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
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