Herstory of WIDE

WIDE was formed in 1985 in response to the Forward-Looking Strategies (FLS) developed at the UN Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi. Women from European development NGOs who had been at the UN Women´s Conference in Nairobi saw the need for a European network of women working on ´women and development´ issues within NGOs, research institutions, and solidarity groups. WIDE´s first meeting took place in Amsterdam in late 1985 ­organised by women active within the International Coalition for Development Action (ICDA) network and NOVIB.

1985-1990

The main focus of WIDE at this time was information exchange and solidarity work. Another major objective in these early days was to lobby for the integration of women´s concerns into the development policies of major donor agencies in Europe.

1990-­1993

In 1990 WIDE received funding from the European Commission and established a secretariat in Dublin.

WIDE clarified its aims as follows: to exchange information and build up more expertise on issues of importance to women´s development needs in developing countries with a view to deepening and extending public awareness on these issues; to encourage and to strengthen national networks, and European development policies, priorities, and programmes directed towards Southern countries, with a view to improving support for women in the South; to promote purposeful contacts with women in partner countries so that their development priorities will become the guiding principles of WIDE´s activities in support of women in development; to lobby European and international institutions.

1993­-1998

In 1993 WIDE moved to Brussels to position itself more strategically in relation to EU policy-making structures and more visibly alongside other European NGO networks. In this period WIDE´s main focus shifted from women and development issues to monitoring global macro-economic and trade institutions (e.g. the WTO). Lobbying the EU institutions and the EU Member States became more central to WIDE´s work. Also lobby work at the UN played an important role. WIDE co-operated closely with organisations like CAFRA and FEMNET in the framework of the Beijing Funds (EC co-financing). Activities included, among other things, building joint position papers.

Late 1998-2000

In the framework of the EU-LA project (EC co-financing) WIDE co-operated with partners from Latin America (CISCA, GEM, CIEDUR) on monitoring trade relations/negotiations between the EU and Mexico/MERCOSUR countries and on analysing the effects of international trade and trade liberalisation on gender relations through the development of analytical tools, e.g. gender indicators. Important new lobby targets in this period were therefore EU trade negotiations.

 2001-present

WIDE´s main focus has continued to be monitoring international trade and macro-economic processes and advocating for women´s economic, social and political empowerment in the major international economic and development related negotiations and policy arenas. Another important component of WIDE´s work in the last years has been building capacity on gender and trade/macro-economic issues, with WIDE´s capacity-building project (Economic Literacy) which started in mid-2003.

Connecting with women´s organisations in Eastern and Central Europe in view of EU enlargement in this region has been a further item on WIDE´s agenda during the last years.