WIEGO

Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) is a global research - policy network that states as its aim to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy. Linked to the SEWA-inspired international movement of women in the informal economy, WIEGO has a diverse constituency cutting across the fields of action, research, and policy-making.

The WIEGO network was founded in April 1997 by a group of ten activists, researchers, and development practitioners, based around the globe, who worked on the informal economy and articulated a shared concern that the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy were not well understood, valued, or supported in policy circles or by the international development community. Among the founders was Professor Martha Chen, a Harvard Lecturer in Public Policy and currently WIEGO's International Coordinator. The founding steering committee chair was Indian civil rights leader Dr. Ela Bhatt.

The WIEGO secretariat is currently located at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In July 2007, WIEGO was registered as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee in the UK (WIEGO Ltd.) with a formal Constitution and Articles of Association. In 2011, WIEGO was granted charity status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity No. 1143510).

WIEGO's stated mission: "WIEGO believes all workers should have equal economic opportunities and rights and be able to determine the conditions of their work and lives. WIEGO works to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy through increased organization and representation; improved statistics and research; more inclusive policy processes; and more equitable trade, labour, urban, and social protection policies."

WIEGO’s objectives, as detailed in the Register of Charities, are "to relieve poverty in particular the poverty of the working poor in the informal economy caused by low earnings, high risks, and adverse working environments and conditions associated with the informal economy worldwide (including non-standard or unprotected employment for formal firms)" by:

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