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). Mission and Goals WIEGO's stated mission: "WIEGO believes all workers should have equal economic opportunities and rights and be able to determine the conditions of their work and lives. WIEGO works to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy through increased organization and representation; improved statistics and research; more inclusive policy processes; and more equitable trade, labour, urban, and social protection policies." WIEGO's objectives, as detailed in the Register of Charities, are "to relieve poverty in particular the poverty of the working poor in the informal economy caused by low earnings, high risks, and adverse working environments and conditions associated with the informal economy worldwide (including non-standard or unprotected employment for formal firms)". Programmes and Activities WIEGO supports working poor women by aiming to ensure they have adequate information, knowledge and tools and can mobilize around their rights, enhancing their safety and their earnings. WIEGO does not set an agenda but rather supports domestic workers, street vendors, waste pickers, garment workers, smallholder farmers and others in articulating their own demands and participating directly in policy and planning processes. Specific Research and Action WIEGO commissions research that focuses on improving statistics on, and analyzing policies relating to, the working poor who make their living in the informal economy. Membership-based organizations (MBOs) of informal workers are always involved in the identification, prioritization and design of WIEGO activities. Impact of Global Recession: In 2009 and again in 2010, WIEGO coordinated Global Economic Crisis studies to determine how informal workers