2022-23 Annual Report

For nearly six decades, Practical Action has worked alongside communities on the frontline of poverty and the climate crisis. Together with our global network of partners and supporters, we’ve tackled some of the world’s most pressing challenges. From transforming arid lands into fertile farms to converting waste into energy.

In this report, we highlight the progress we made this year and the challenges we faced. Among our wide range of work, land has been reclaimed from the desert in Sudan to grow food for people trapped in a conflict zone. And refugees in Rwanda have learned sustainable farming techniques that have provided them with an income and fresh, healthy food.

As we reflect on the past year, we also look forward to the future with hope. Our commitment to finding lasting, locally owned solutions for the world’s toughest problems is more relevant than ever. We invite you to join us on this journey, where every action contributes to a world that works better for everyone.

Download the 2022-23 Report

Sarah Roberts, Chief Executive Officer

This year, the 50th anniversary of our founder, E.F.Schumacher’s ground-breaking book, Small is Beautiful, provides an opportune moment to reflect the relevance of his philosophy and approaches to today’s challenges.

Small is Beautiful challenged dominant development and economic paradigms and acted as an inspirational call to action. Schumacher’s approach of solutions tailored to context, powering people with skills and knowledge, and ‘economics as if people mattered’ is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. He was a holistic thinker, ahead of his time, warning that ‘if we squander the capital represented by living nature around us, we threaten life itself’.

Our work which has always been important, has become urgent. Progress against poverty has been reversed in recent years and the intensification of the climate crisis is disproportionately impacting on the people we work with.

In a time when it is easy to be despondent, Practical Action is making positive change happen every day. Action that means we can remain hopeful. With six decades of innovating with communities to deliver practical solutions to economic, social and environmental challenges, and linking with diverse partners to drive improvement for millions more people, we can see pathways out of the interconnected poverty-climate-environment-conflict crises that are challenging our world.