For an international NGO to set about trying to satisfy the needs of Brazil’s 20 million people living in poverty would barely touch the tip of the iceberg of deprivation and social exclusion. Seeking to address the inequalities that sustain poverty in Brazil calls for strategies to build partnerships and networks with other social actors; and critical engagement with the state that can create the waves that make change happen. This is the story of how, in this setting, ActionAid Brazil is able to make a difference. It’s a complicated tale, one in which partnerships and alliances at the local, regional, national and international levels play a fundamental and formative part. It is clear that the changes that ActionAid Brazil brings through its engagement with its many partners are as much about relationships as of everyday development practice at the grassroots. Specifically it’s the story of how members of an organisation called the Centro das Mulheres Raizes Vivas have begun to change people’s lives by working at the personal, interpersonal and collective levels. ActionAid’s role in this has proved interesting. ActionAid is more than a donor, providing financial and technical support to its partners. It works with Raizes Vivas to understand the process of change, and enables connections between a variety of grassroots organisations working across a spectrum of social change concerns. The story also touches on the relationship between ActionAid’s child sponsors and their children. It is, overall, an inspiring story of how true partnerships can create change.