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Who we are
We’re an international organisation working with communities to take practical action against poverty and the environmental crises.
Our vision is for a world that works better for everyone.
Practical Action exists to change the systems that keep people in poverty and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, nature loss and pollution.
We work alongside communities to build resilient livelihoods and thriving, inclusive societies.
Together, we’re starting the big changes the world urgently needs.
- Big change on food – to sustain people and planet
- Big change on energy – clean and accessible for everyone
- Big change on climate risk – so people are prepared and protected
We bring together a global community of problem-solvers, grassroots innovators and changemakers to develop real-world, locally-led solutions, designed to grow and last. We’re creating greener, fairer ways to make a living. And building resilience to the shocks climate change brings.
Because poverty and the climate crisis can only be tackled when they are tackled together.
And big change starts with practical action.
More about our workHope needs action
Why we exist
Across the world, people’s hard-won progress against poverty is being pushed back by environmental crises. Water sources are drying up and crops are no longer growing. Livelihoods risk being wiped out. People are fighting to survive in our changing world. Too many are one drought, flood or heatwave away from losing everything.
People living in poverty aren’t short on ideas or ambition. But they are up against unfair systems that make them face the fallout of problems they didn’t create.
We need change. Big change. Change that enables people to prepare and adapt, and to build resilience to the shocks coming now and in the future. Change that challenges and transforms the systems that trap communities in poverty and make them more vulnerable in this uncertain world.
Big change starts with practical action. For 60 years, we’ve worked alongside communities and local
partners to turn local knowledge into practical solutions people can use and rely on. We test what works in real conditions, build the evidence from practice, then work with governments and decision makers to help proven approaches reach more people and last.
We’ve always been an organisation of problem-solvers. People who get things done. Now we’re upping
our ambitions, because the stakes are higher. We are tackling complex and connected challenges with
joined-up solutions that turn practical action into big change.
Our history & heritage
We were founded by radical economist and philosopher E.F. ‘Fritz’ Schumacher, who challenged the conventional aid thinking of the day. He believed in solutions suited to context, equipping people with the skills and knowledge to change their situation, economic systems that work for all, and living within the planet’s means.
In 1966, Schumacher and others founded the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) to put his philosophy into practice. Schumacher’s ground-breaking book, Small is Beautiful was published in 1973 and generated worldwide interest.
We changed our name to Practical Action in 2005, building on our focus on pragmatic, holistic and systemic approaches to tackling poverty. While development approaches have changed, Schumacher’s founding beliefs still drive us, and have never been more relevant.
Schumacher’s philosophy
