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SEWA wins website of the year

UNIFEM’s Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Work, and Poverty

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SEWA recognized as Central Trade Union

September 26, 2003

Draft Legislation to provide universal health insurance, life insurance and old age pension benefits to 'unorganized sector' in India read more

Rakawin Leechanavanichpan of Homenet Thailand appears on PBS program, NOW with Bill Moyers episode, "Women and Globalization"

Rakawin Leechanavanichpan, Director of Homenet Thailand, appeared on the highly regarded PBS program, NOW with Bill Moyers. The episode entitled "Women and Globalization", presented the story of women factory workers in Thailand as well as laborers in other areas of the world.

Read the Transcript: Click Here

Read "Rich World, Poor Women: Women and Work": Click Here

Read about Further Developments on Factory Workers in Thailand: Click Here

WIEGO E-Newsletter, Volume II, Number I (January-June 2003)

This newsletter provides an update on WIEGO activities during the first half of 2003. Read More: WIEGO E-Newsletter, Volume II, Number I)

Read Previous editions: WIEGO E-Newsletter, Volume I, Number I

En Español: Boletín electrónico WIEGO, Volumen I, Número I

As part of a year-long strategic review and planning process, WIEGO’s Steering Committee adopted a formal constitution for the network thereby providing additional measures of transparency and accountability. WIEGO Constitution

Launch of StreetNet International

In November 2002, the international alliance for street vendors, StreetNet, was officially launched in Durban, South Africa. StreetNet International is an organization charged with protecting and promoting the rights of market and street vendors, as well as hawkers while increasing their visibility, voice, and bargaining power throughout the world.

Photos from StreetNet event

WIEGO Chair Ela R. Bhatt Awarded Honorary Doctorate from University of Natal*

Ela Bhatt, Founder and General Secretary of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, has earned an outstanding international reputation for her work in advancing the position of poorer women who work in the informal economy. Under Bhatt’s leadership, SEWA has made path-breaking initiatives in core development fields such as social insurance, housing, commercial banking, health services and child care, all of these serving to ensure better incomes for informal workers. It is the largest single union in India, and worldwide is one of the few enduring, large, non-governmental organisations.

Bhatt’s leadership and development strategy within SEWA accords with many of the commitments of the University of Natal. Her work stands out for its emphasis on social justice and political rights; the need for the empowerment of individuals; the strength that comes from creating partnerships between grassroots organisations, research agencies, government, and the private sector; the need to develop future cadres of leadership; and the need constantly to experiment and try new approaches in development. She has an exceptional ability to see the relationship between macro and micro issues: the impact of neo-liberal trade policies on women’s work, for example; the way in which the newest design and production methods can be integrated into, and grafted upon, the traditional craft work done by women; and the potential of satellite technology to build organisations of women in isolated rural villages.

As Chair of WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment, Globalising and Organising), a transnational advocacy network that aims to improve the conditions of women working in the informal economy, she encourages the use of rigorous academic research to strengthen the analytical and strategic abilities of grassroots organisations of working people.

Read Ela Bhatt's Graduation Speech

* School of Development Studies Newsletter, "Odds and Sods", June 18, 2003.