World Wide Web Foundation

What World Wide Web Foundation does

Women's Rights Online (WRO) is a global non-profit network program of the World Wide Web Foundation, founded in 2015 and operating through 16 partner organizations across 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. WRO's mission is to close the digital gender gap and address online gender-based violence (OGBV) through research, advocacy, and policy interventions targeting women and other minoritized persons online. Its work is structured around three audience segments: governments, civil society organizations, and tech platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok, Twitter/X).

The network's core products are open-access research frameworks and toolkits rather than software products. These include the REACT Framework (Rights, Education, Access, Content, Targets), the Gender and ICT Policy Playbook, the Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecards covering 17+ countries, the Gendered Privacy Evaluation Framework, the Evaluation Toolkit for Safety-By-Design, and the Tech Policy Design Lab (TPDL) Playbook, a structured methodology with three productized phases: Landscape (2 months), Policy Proposal (6 months), and Accountability (1 year). Research databases include inventories of ~100 OGBV government initiatives across 30+ countries, 170+ civil society stakeholders across 55+ countries, 27 tech innovators focused on safety, and a Perpetrator Research AirTable. Distribution is entirely through non-commercial, open-access downloads from the womensrightsonline.net website and LinkedIn presence.

WRO operates as a non-profit with no commercial revenue model, pricing structure, or paying customers. It is funded through institutional grants and foundation partnerships, with disclosed funder support from Meta for Southern Africa OGBV research. The go-to-market is community-led and multi-stakeholder, relying on TPDL workshops, advocacy campaigns, and global reports rather than sales motions. The organization is supported by 19 employees and a distributed partner network, and its primary accountability outcomes include public commitments secured from Meta, Google, TikTok, and Twitter at the 2021 UN Generation Equality Forum, with ongoing platform accountability review processes.

Name

World Wide Web Foundation

Legal name

Women's Rights Online

Website

https://womensrightsonline.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Women's Rights Online network is a global non-profit program of the World Wide Web Foundation, operating 16 partner organizations across 23 countries to advance digital gender equity through policy research, advocacy frameworks, and Tech Policy Design Labs targeting governments, civil society, and major tech platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Rights Advocacy and Policy Research

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights (BPADAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital Policy, Data Governance & Cybersecurity Standards Cooperation (BPADANAH), Social Media & Community Moderation (BPAAALAA), Moderation, Safety & Toxicity Detection (HDAAADAH)

Keywords

• Digital rights advocacy
• Gender-responsive ICT policy
• Online safety evaluation
• Digital gender gap research
• Technology policy design

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant funding and institutional partnerships: As a non-profit initiative of the World Wide Web Foundation, the Women's Rights Online network is funded through institutional grants, partnerships with foundations, and multi-stakeholder collaborations. No commercial revenue model is in place.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

World Wide Web Foundation's Women's Rights Online (WRO) network is a global non-profit initiative that produces open-access policy frameworks, scorecards, evaluation toolkits, and research reports to help governments, tech platforms, and civil society organizations close the digital gender gap and combat online gender-based violence. Its core methodology is the Tech Policy Design Lab (TPDL), a human-centered co-design process that has produced public commitments from Meta, Google, TikTok, and Twitter/X.

Product overview

Women's Rights Online is a global network of gender justice and digital rights organizations, not a traditional software product company. The organization produces research frameworks, policy toolkits, and assessment tools rather than commercial software products. The core offerings include the REACT Framework for digital gender gap policy, the Gender and ICT Policy Playbook, Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecards for national assessments, the Gendered Privacy Evaluation Framework for evaluating online safety tools, and the Tech Policy Design Lab (TPDL) Playbook for collaborative policy development. Additional products include research inventories tracking OGBV regulations and organizations, perpetrator research, ontology of OGBV terms, government policy guidelines, and foundational research reports. These are distributed as freely available resources (PDFs, AirTable databases, Google Docs) rather than hosted software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• REACT Framework: Framework focusing on Rights, Education, Access, Content, and Targets to close the gender digital divide
• Gendered Privacy Evaluation Framework
• Tech Policy Design Lab Playbook
• Gender and ICT Policy Playbook
• Digital Gender Gap Audit

Products and services

• REACT Framework

Quantifiable outcome

• Women are 50% less likely than men to be online in the same communities, with Internet use reported by just 37% of women surveyed
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• HoPe Moçambique (Associação Humanitária HoPe Moçambique)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner in Mozambique improving life expectancy through emergency solutions, education, agriculture, and health; contributes local context and on-the-ground expertise to WRO's digital gender equity work in Southern Africa.
• INTERNETLABcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndependent Brazilian research center focused on law and technology, promoting interdisciplinary research and dialogue on internet policy topics including privacy, freedom of speech, and gender through an academic think tank model.
• Pen To PapercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMedia consulting firm focused on addressing inequalities in digital participation, using participatory research and community expertise for sustainable media development.
• PollicycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization improving citizen-government interactions through data, design, and technology; collaborates with major partners to build a data-driven culture and contributes to WRO's research and advocacy on OGBV.
• KICTANet (Kenya ICT Action Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-stakeholder Kenyan think tank focused on ICT policy and regulation, promoting policy advocacy, capacity building, research, and stakeholder engagement with a human rights-based approach.
• TechSocietalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization providing expertise in digital rights and inclusion, focusing on secure access for women and children, with services in research, advocacy, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement.
• Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork empowering women through ICTs, focusing on information sharing, advocacy, research, and gender-responsive projects in governance and entrepreneurship in Uganda.
• TEDICcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParaguayan non-profit promoting human rights in digital spaces, addressing gender inequalities and empowering vulnerable groups through campaigns and its feminist cyborg program since 2014.
• Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization promoting policy change, women's rights online, and gender parity in media through research, advocacy, and global partnerships across West Africa.
• HiperderechocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeru's first digital rights non-profit, defending tech rights through education, research, policy advocacy, and development, focusing on free speech, privacy, and transparency.
• Cooperativa Sulá BatsúcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCosta Rican cooperative fostering local development through digital technologies, knowledge management, art, culture, and social economy, with a self-managed worker-owner model.
• Fundación KarismacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerColombian organization promoting human rights and social justice in digital technology through programs on knowledge, civic participation, autonomy, inclusion, and labs focused on security and community challenges.
• GlitchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK-based organization focused on ending online harassment; collaborated with the Web Foundation on reviewing tech company progress on OGBV commitments one year after the 2021 TPDL, contributing to accountability advocacy.
• Social FinancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational nonprofit specializing in impact measurement and social finance; collaborated with Web Foundation and Glitch on reviewing progress made by tech companies against OGBV commitments.
• Northumbria University Centre for Digital CitizenscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research center at Northumbria University; Dr. Carolina Are conducted postdoctoral research on malicious flagging using the TPDL Playbook, in collaboration with the World Wide Web Foundation and Superbloom.
• SuperbloomcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-facilitation partner in TPDL workshops on malicious flagging; supported the workshops in partnership with the World Wide Web Foundation.
• Meta (Facebook)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four major tech platforms (along with Google, TikTok, Twitter) that made public commitments at the 2021 UN Generation Equality Forum following the Web Foundation's TPDL on OGBV. Engaged in ongoing accountability review processes.
• GoogleflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerTech platform that made public commitments at the 2021 UN Generation Equality Forum following TPDL on OGBV; Jigsaw unit developed the Harassment Manager tool in collaboration with Twitter and open sourced it.
• TikTokflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of four major tech platforms that made public commitments at the 2021 UN Generation Equality Forum following the Web Foundation's TPDL on OGBV.
• Twitter/XflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerTech platform that made public commitments at the 2021 UN Generation Equality Forum following the Web Foundation's TPDL; developed Safety Mode, Twitter Circle, Unmentioning features, and overhauled its reporting process based on TPDL recommendations.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Access Now: International digital rights organization defending and extending the digital rights of users at risk, including women and marginalized communities. Comparable on multi-stakeholder advocacy, internet policy frameworks, and global convening on platform safety.
• IT for Change: India-based organization working on gender justice in the digital economy, including policy frameworks on platform accountability and women's rights online. Strongly comparable on gender-responsive ICT policy advocacy and Global South focus.
• Glitch: UK-based charity working to end online harassment and improve digital safety, particularly for women and marginalized users. Listed as a collaborator on TPDL accountability reviews, with overlapping mission on OGBV and platform accountability.
• Fundación Karisma: Colombian non-profit promoting human rights in digital environments across knowledge, civic participation, autonomy, and inclusion. Listed as a WRO core partner per source and directly comparable on regional digital rights advocacy and gender-inclusive tech policy.
• Digital Rights Foundation: Pakistan-based organization focused on Internet freedoms, digital security, and online gender-based violence. Highly comparable mission: research, advocacy, and capacity building around women's safety online and policy reform.
• Association for Progressive Communications (APC): Global network of civil society organizations focused on using ICTs for social justice and gender equality. Directly comparable to WRO: both operate as multi-country networks producing gender+ICT research, policy frameworks, and advocacy tools for digital rights.

Broad incumbents

• Center for Democracy & Technology: US-based non-profit that works to strengthen individual rights and liberties in the digital age. Comparable on internet policy advocacy on platform accountability and safety, with broader portfolio including privacy, free expression, and civil rights.
• Internet Society: Global non-profit promoting the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet. Comparable on multi-stakeholder internet governance advocacy and a member-based model, with overlap on access and digital inclusion themes relevant to the WRO network.
• Mozilla Foundation: Foundation supporting an open and accessible internet, including research on AI, trustworthy AI, and digital inclusion. Comparable as a foundation-based digital rights grantmaker with comparable frame of internet health and a similar non-profit governance model.

Emerging players

• Tactical Tech Collective: International non-profit that investigates how technology influences society and equips civil society with tools and methods for digital rights work. Comparable on open-access toolkits and capacity-building frameworks for civil society on tech policy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wronetwork

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about World Wide Web Foundation