Vision, Mission, and Values

VISION 

Our vision is of a time when women everywhere are afforded their full and equal human rights and of a time when women are able to rely on a worldwide alliance of women’s rights supporters to help protect these rights. 

MISSION 

Our mission is to support women’s rights efforts in developing countries (with an initial focus on the Central Asia region) by developing a network of professionals in developed countries who are willing to use their skills and experience to help promote women’s rights. 

VALUES 

AIWR believes in the rights and values outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action. These human rights instruments assert that “women’s rights are human rights” and recognize the essential dignity and inherent rights of every person, male or female. 

We believe that creating support for the empowerment of grassroots women’s rights organizations is one of the most effective pathways to combating gender power imbalances and achieving lasting social change. Thus, AIWR is committed to creating a support network for women’s rights organizations in developing countries, and to honoring the dignity, strength, insight and creativity of grassroots activists on the front lines of the human rights movement. 

Within our own organization, we strive to honor the following values at all times as we work to build support for our partner organizations: 

Quality and respect. Although the services we provide to our partner organizations are provided on a volunteer basis, free of charge, our partner organizations deserve the highest quality product and our utmost respect – along with our admiration at the work that our partners do on the front-lines of the human rights movements in their countries. 

Organizational health. We will continue to improve our ability to achieve our mission by enhancing our own capacity and ensuring a strong financial future. 

Part of a global community. We believe that we are all part of the global community and that our actions in helping women on any part of the globe move closer to achieving their full human rights will have a ripple effect, benefiting women everywhere – including women in our own countries. In addition, by assisting our partners, AIWR and its volunteers stand to learn much from our partners and their experiences and to gain a new perspective on women’s rights in our own countries. 

Valuing our volunteers. AIWR would not exist without its volunteers and we must demonstrate how much we value our volunteers by being respectful of their time and availability, helping them in achieving their volunteer goals, and ensuring that we fully express our gratitude and the gratitude of our partners.