I have always had a strong drive to do work that makes a difference in people’s lives. For the past two decades, that’s what my work has been all about. Whether designing a worthy website for the oldest film society in Canada or creating attention-grabbing reports to help an international organization advocate for a world that respects and rewards all workers.
In 2006 I made the conscious decision to pursue work that makes me happy – work that is creative and makes a difference. Even before that, I worked with children’s charities in Vancouver, and eventually started working with other non-profit organizations in Ottawa and all over the world that make this world a better place.
To quote the late Katherine Graham, iconic Washington Post publisher, “To love what you do and feel like it matters, how could anything be more fun?”
And it is fun – and very satisfying.
My contributions to the work of clients:
Ottawa Film Society
For the oldest film society in Canada, I designed and developed their entire website in 2003 including annual revisions, and redesigned it again in 2013, and recently expanded it to include an Archive that goes back to the 1950s.
Tree Reading Series
I also designed and developed a website in 2007 for this long-running literary events, an essential part of Ottawa’s vibrant literary community. That work led to a referral for work with:
WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing)
In 2007 I also started doing jobs for this global research and advocacy group. Based at Harvard University, they had a communications team in Ottawa. In 2008 I was contracted to design a logo for WIEGO’s Inclusive Cities Project and then designed and developed a new web site for the project.
2025 marked 18 years that I’ve worked with WIEGO, so the brief mentions above do not do the work justice!
WIEGO’s Mission:
Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) is a global network dedicated to improving the working conditions of the working poor – especially women – in the informal economy… 61 per cent of the world’s workers earn their living in the informal economy – in jobs and enterprises that are not regulated or protected by the government but that provide critical economic opportunities for the working poor. In these jobs, poverty rates are high and respect for human rights and workers’ rights is low.
WIEGO coordinated the Inclusive Cities Project (2008-2014). I designed the logo and project website for this multi-country project involving primary partners with activities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Inclusive cities are those that value all people – including the urban working poor – and their needs and contributions equally. The project aimed to ensure all residents had a representative voice in urban governance, planning, and budgeting processes, and had access to secure and dignified work
From 2007-2025, I worked for WIEGO on many projects from Inclusive Cities to the Informal Economy Monitoring Study, Organizing In The Informal Economy: Organizing Books For Organizers, the Child Care Initiative, Focal Cities Initiative, the COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy, the ILO Conventions 189 and 190 and many more. My work included a wide range of design – from websites to logos, annual reports to brochures – and on-site photography in India, Brazil, Ghana and Kenya. I also curated the WIEGO Photo Library.
All publications for WIEGO were designed in at least three languages (EN/FR/SP) but often many more. Even though I only “speak” one language, I’ve grown comfortable working in multiple languages and have successfully completed jobs in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Russian, Bulgarian, Ndebele, Shona, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, and Thai!
I am very proud of all of the work I’ve done for WIEGO and many of their partners including HomeNet International, International Domestic Workers Federation, KKPKP (Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat), Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), and StreetNet International.
The samples in the gallery below offer just a glimpse of some of the design and photography I’ve done for WIEGO over the years, including print design, web design, logo design and on location photography.
Click on any image above to view all the photos in a carousel.
If your organization has taken on the challenge of making this world a better place, I’d love to talk to you about how Luckham Creative can help. Give me a call and let’s talk about our shared interest in our world.
Ela Bhatt (7 September 1933 – 2 November 2022), one of the founders of WIEGO and SEWA once said “There are risks in every action. Every success has the seed of some failure. But it doesn’t matter. It is how you go about it. That is the real challenge.”
Here’s a link to some more photos in my photo library A View from Here that I’ve taken
for Non-Profit Organizations or Charities over the years that will open in a new window: Making a Difference
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