How We Work

We address four key areas:

• Women’s economic empowerment
• Women’s safety and security
• Women’s sustainable livelihoods and natural resource management
• Women’s civil and political participation

Through our work on these priorities, we also promote two cross-cutting issues:

• Women’s right to education and information
• Women’s right to health and well-being

We know that women lead complex lives. They often undertake multiple responsibilities simultaneously, caring for children while tending crops, or preparing food while exchanging market information or discussing strategies to resolve a community conflict. The challenge of managing these roles and responsibilities is magnified by gender-based discrimination which limits women’s access to resources and opportunities and undermines their safety and security. Discriminatory attitudes and barriers may be so deeply established in the culture that they can seem ‘natural’ even to those who are disadvantaged.

IWDA recognises that contributing to a sustainable and just world for women will require sustained action in many areas and at multiple levels as individual women and men, in their relationships and in the structures and institutions that shape society. As a result, many of our programs address more than one key area.

IWDA’s approach to our four focus areas helps to advance our two cross-cutting priorities, women’s right to education and information, and women’s right to health and well-being. The strategies used by IWDA and our partners not only provide women with access to knowledge and the skills to use it; they also link this knowledge to an understanding of women’s rights and the role of local women’s organisations in advocating for change. Improvements in women’s economic circumstances, safety and security, livelihoods and participation in civil and political life contribute to improvements in women’s overall health and well-being and their ability to realise this as a right.

Across Asia and the Pacific

Being geographically close to our partners facilitates the sharing of resources and expertise and the development of networks and partnerships that strengthen local women’s organisations in our immediate neighbourhood; the Asia and Pacific region.