Women's Education for Advancement and Empowerment Foundation (WEAVE)

WEAVE Foundation is a non-profit women’s organization working to advance the status and dignity of displaced and disadvantaged women in Thailand, on the Thai-Burma border and inside Burma. This is done through providing interventions such as educational and economic empowerment programs. It carries out work in partnership with various Burmese ethnic women’s groups in Thailand and other bordering countries of Burma including China and India. WEAVE affirms that by encouraging the leadership of women and the development of their status their family and community benefits. Since the onset of WEAVE’s establishment in 1990, income generation has been strongly identified as one of the core focus of the organization in order to address safe income for refugee and poor women and their families. To increase market access WEAVE enrolled as a member of the Fair Trade Federation US in 1997. Recognizing the need to belong to a bigger network of fair traders– suppliers and producers and as an international fair trader in the South, WEAVE’s membership was moved to the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) both Global and Asia in 2010. Moreover, opportunities for wider expansion led them to restructure/reform the original Income Generation Project into a Social Enterprise and to register in Thailand to gain a legal business entity that caters the production and marketing work of WEAVE. In 2012, WEAVE's marketing arm acquired official registration under the name WEAVE Fair Trade Co.Ltd. Vision Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment (WEAVE) strives to create a world where empowered women and their children are free to exercise their rights and live peacefully in a just, humane and equitable society. Mission They are women and men of diverse ethnic and geographical backgrounds who are committed to gender equality. As individuals and as an organization, they are committed to working with marginalized, oppressed, poor and exploited women and children from Thailand, Burma and some regions in Asia. They believe that the leadership of women and the development of their status benefits their communities. They support the expansion of women’s power, rights, and opportunities by sponsoring women’s organizations in their target communities. They strengthen the efforts of these organizations as they continually build the capacities of these women to become self-reliant enabling them to fully participate in the development of their communities. Goals -To strengthen the capacity of partner organizations to effectively and efficiently deliver desirable results. -To enhance the development of self-managing and self-sustaining women’s organizations and community projects. -To strengthen communication, research and development within WEAVE and amongst partner organizations. -To advocate a development framework addressing issues of women and children. -To promote collaboration and cooperation amongst and between organizations.