WIEGO

Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) is a Manchester-based global research - policy network focused on improving conditions for workers in the informal economy. WIEGO's members include membership-based organizations of workers in the informal economy, researchers and development professionals.

The WIEGO network was founded in 1997 by a group of ten activists, researchers, and development practitioners, following a specialist's meeting on the informal economy in Bellagio, Italy. Among the founders was Professor Martha Chen, a Harvard Lecturer in Public Policy and currently a senior advisor with the network. The founding steering committee chair was Indian civil rights leader Dr. Ela Bhatt.

In July 2007, WIEGO was registered as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee in the UK (WIEGO Ltd.) with a formal Constitution and Articles of Association. In 2011, WIEGO was granted charity status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity No. 1143510).

In 2023, WIEGO, through its International Coordinator, Sally Roever, was recognized at the Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Awards.