The Region

For nearly 40 years the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) has worked with and resourced diverse women’s rights organisations primarily in Asia and the Pacific to advance our vision of gender equality for all. Since women and girls in this region face ongoing barriers to leadership and rights, we work with partners to understand and respond to the unique challenges facing women throughout Asia and the Pacific.

We work in partnership with 26 organisations and as part of alliances to ensure the voices of women across Asia and the Pacific are heard. Our work focuses on women’s leadership and participation, safety and security, economic empowerment, and systemic change.

IWDA works with organisations in the following nine countries:

Cambodia
Fiji
Myanmar
Papua New Guinea & Autonomous Region of Bougainville
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Vanuatu

Partnering for change

IWDA employs a rights-based, feminist approach to partnership. This underpins our work with all partners and is why we work with local women’s organisations and networks, recognising they are the most effective agents of change with the deepest understanding of their context.

This partnership model reflects our experience that strengthening women’s ability to act collectively is key to long-lasting change in the context of inequality and marginalisation.

In recent years, IWDA has scaled up to partner on larger, multi-country programs such as the ground-breaking women’s leadership program Women’s Action for Voice and Empowerment (WAVE) and the current We Rise Coalition, which cooperates in joint actions; joining the strengths, resources and networks of each partner in demanding that women are able to realize their full human rights, equality and justice, and creating a political force for change that cannot be ignored by families, communities, governments, or society at large. 

Our alliances

Throughout Asia and the Pacific we work with forums and networks to amplify women’s voices and experiences on the global stage.

A key part of our work is leveraging these alliances to ensure the voices of women in Asia and the Pacific are heard in the corridors of power. We work with and mobilise women from the region to attend global forums such as the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Women Deliver 2023 in Kigali, and seek their input in Australia when Pacific voices are missing from key debates.

Where we work