SEWA Cooperative Federation is a secondary-level cooperative that works as a Women’s Enterprise Support System (WESS). Our role is to strengthen the shared systems that informal women workers’ collective enterprises need to grow, to sustain themselves and respond to change on their own terms.
As a WESS, we operate as a connective layer. We support leadership development, enterprise planning, financial systems, and visibility, while also engaging with institutions and policy spaces that influence how cooperatives function. This helps women’s collective enterprises respond to markets and regulation carrying that burden alone.
We work with long-standing member cooperatives as well as with collectives that are newly formed or in the process of revival. Support evolves based on where a collective is in its journey and on the priorities articulated by women leaders themselves.
Leadership development, cooperative education, and enterprise skills rooted in lived experience.
Strengthening democratic processes, decision-making practices, and accountability within collectives.
Supporting enterprise growth, market access, and viability across sectors.
Building systems for planning, sustainability, and preparedness in uncertain conditions.
Documenting practice, generating evidence, and engaging in policy processes that affect women’s enterprises.
Supporting visibility, storytelling and collective voices at multiple levels.
Together, these elements form a support ecosystem that remains responsive to informal women worker’s realities and grounded in cooperative principles.
