Our History

Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) was officially registered as a foundation in 1994 in the Netherlands following an initiative of European women at the Rio 1992 Earth Summit, to work together for sustainable development and to give a voice and organisation to the "Women Major Group" of Rio Agenda 21. WECF's philosophy of enabling local project partners and network members to implement projects together, to share experience within the network and to learn from each other, soon proved to be successful. Today, WECF's expertise is well-known internationally.

Our mission: Working for a Healthy Environment for All

Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF), is an international network of over 100 women’s, environmental and health organisations implementing projects in 40 countries and advocating globally for a healthy environment for all.

Our overall Goal: Achieving an Equitable and Sustainable Future

We strive for balancing environment, health and economy, taking different needs and perspectives of women and men into account. We enable women and men to participate at local and global level in policy processes for sustainable development. Our network’s activities are based on our partners’ own visions and needs. WECF implements solutions locally and influences policy internationally.

WECF aims to provide safe, affordable and renewable energy for low income households, bringing successful pilot projects to scale via innovative financial instruments. WECF promotes a switch away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy towards sustainable and decentralised alternatives. WECF empowers vulnerable groups to benefit from climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes. WECF promotes gender-positive energy solutions and integrates a gender perspective into global UN climate change negotiations.