Vision
Our vision is of a world in which everyone enjoys human rights and fundamental freedoms on the basis of equality, without discrimination on the grounds of sex or gender, and free of oppressive power relationships, with individuals and societies benefiting from sustainable and inclusive development.
Mission
To achieve our vision, we adopt an approach based on the universal nature of human rights, focusing particularly on the experience of women and girls from the Global South and recognizing the need to eliminate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination at all levels. Working in collaboration with our partners and through alliances with others, we aim to act as catalysts in building capacity for change and for enhancing the realization of substantial equality and women’s human rights by:
- Promoting and facilitating the effective implementation of the women’s human rights in conformity with CEDAW and other international human rights treaties and mechanisms.
- Advocating and facilitating the inclusion of women and a women’s rights perspective in human rights standard setting, interpretation, monitoring and implementation.
- Critically engaging with and advocating for the progressive interpretations of human rights standards, promoting the adoption of new standards, and generating knowledge and materials on women’s human rights.
- Working to ensure the inclusion of women, substantive equality and women’s human rights perspectives in all standard setting and policy making at international, regional and national level, especially in relation to sustainable development.
- Contributing to the further mobilization of women towards achieving human rights based governance and to hold both State and non-State actors accountable for protecting, promoting and fulfilling women’s human
Values
Five Key Values Underpin All Our Work:
1. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION – CREATING THE SPACE FOR WOMEN’S VOICES / PARTICIPATION
We subscribe to the principle of ‘nothing about us without us’ universally understood to mean that there should be no policy or decision made without the participation of affected communities. In this principle we also prioritize the participation of marginalized groups and seek to ensure respect for diversity and valuing individual or group differences while recognizing our common humanity and universal rights and freedoms.
2. EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
In the implementation of our mandate and strategies we aim to be supportive, fair, just and free from discrimination. In line with these objectives, we will ensure the human rights and dignity of stakeholders, constituents and partners and this will form the foundation of our engagement. We commit to addressing discrimination based on age, dis/ability, gender identity, race, religion or belief, ethnicity, sex and sexual orientation (others) in our policies and procedures.
3. RESPECT
We will treat everyone we interact with in the course of our work with dignity and respect regardless of age, dis/ability, gender identity race, religion, belief, social or economic status or any other factors. Our commitment to equality and non-discrimination requires us to treat fairly and with equality everyone we interact with, particularly those who hold values, attitudes and opinions that differ from our own. We are compelled to listen to different perspectives even though we might disagree, and to ensure respectful professional conduct that promotes the dignity and security of every individual. We undertake to use accurate and respectful language in all written and verbal communication both internally and externally.
4. INTEGRITY
We will maintain and promote the highest standards of integrity and honesty in relating to every individual or organization that we associate with. We are committed to transparent and accountable advocacy and mobilization with our stakeholders. We will share and disseminate information, knowledge and resources honestly and truthfully with one another internally and with others in the spirit of mutual support. We adopt a creative commons approach to sharing information and knowledge products, committing to adhere to the rules of copyright and acknowledgement, while at the same time enabling greater access to and sharing of our own intellectual property.
5. FEMINISM
As feminists, we value the personal strength of women and girls, in terms of having faith in ourselves and in other women. We recognize that this personal power enables women to be active, assertive and skillful, and we do not perpetuate the stereotype of passive victims of injustice. Conversely, we celebrate and promote women’s creativity that makes us adaptable to changes and to increased diversity in our thinking, looking at new ways to view anger, conflict, competition and success. Rooted in the Global South context, we recognize that patriarchy and gender-based oppression are also connected to and reinforced by the globalizing experiences of colonialism and capitalism Our feminist values are the bedrock of all our other values.