It is a volunteer membership movement, inclusive of women from many faiths, backgrounds and cultures. The World YWCA advocates for peace, justice, human rights and the environment, and has been at the forefront of raising the status of women for over a century. The World YWCA develops women’s leadership to find local solutions to the global inequalities women face. Each year, it reaches more than 25 million women and girls through work in over 22,000 communities. This grassroots development experience shapes the organisation’s global advocacy agenda.

During the last World Council in 2007 - the quadrennial legislative meeting of the World YWCA - the movement has elected Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda as General Secretary and Susan Brenan as President of the World YWCA.