WIDE (Women in Development Europe) is a European network of development NGOs, gender specialists and human rights activists. It monitors and influences international economic and development policy and practice from a feminist perspective. WIDE’s work is grounded on women's rights as the basis for the development of a more just and democratic world order. WIDE strives for a world based on gender equality and social justice that ensures equal rights for all, as well as equal access to resources and opportunities in all spheres of political, social and economic life.

Their vision

Their work is enshrined in a feminist vision, which means that they are committed to the enforcement of women’s rights, as part of a larger struggle for social justice and the human rights of all. A driving principle in their work is the pursuit of gender justice, in the understanding that this can only be brought about if intersecting unequal power relations are addressed, including economic, environmental, social, sexual, racial, generational and ethnic discrimination. Their vision also embraces combating all forms of discrimination, and in particular against migrants, indigenous and LGBTIQ people.

They are committed to social transformation. This means they strive for rights-based societies in which everybody has the power to control productive assets and resources, to influence the decisions affecting their lives and livelihoods, to decide over one’s own body and life, and develop to their full potential. A world where the rights and wellbeing of people and the planet are put before profit and where the economy is transformed accordingly at all levels (of societal action).

As feminists, women’s and human rights activists we continue to strive for a world in which the implementation of the UN Convention against all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action and all other international agreements on women’s rights are respected and implemented in economic and development policies at the local, national and global level.

Their mission

They work to create and widen spaces to network and multiply the impact of feminist activism. They promote feminist approaches as alternatives to/against/in the face of neoliberal agendas through the praxis of collective democratic empowerment.

They aim to transform institutional settings, attitudes, power relations, policies and practices so that they reflect development and economic paradigms that are in line with fundamental human rights. To achieve this, they work in synergy with like-minded organizations and committed individuals, both in Europe and globally.

They are convinced that solidarity with numerous feminist, women’s and human rights movements struggling for the same vision and the collective construction of transformative power are cornerstones of our action. They believe that this is the best way to bring about transformative change.