During the Expo 2000 four week-long GWIA events were conducted at the SOS Mother Center Salzgitter, an exponent of the Expo. For the first time at a world exhibition grassroots women were teaching their solutions.

"We are part of the solution"

Program of the Expo 2000 GWIA

60 grassroots women’s groups from all corners of the globe presented their practices and the underlying skills and strategies that make them work. They spelled out the constraints and obstacles faced by grassroots women and their communities, as well as the expertise that grassroots communities have developed in tackling these obstacles. They showed the community-owned assets that they have created by collectively mobilising and institutionalizing their locally generated knowledge and skill base.

They demonstrated the visibility and recognition gained by claiming, appropriating and intervening in public spaces and processes. And they outlined the resources and influence they have been able to leverage, as a result of building innovative, efficient and sustainable partnerships with mainstream institutions, both public and private.