In 2006, a small group of women with decades of experience in international development came together to establish the Women's Wellbeing and Development Foundation. Their experience gained in providing service around the globe brought awareness that women require both internal development to strengthen their minds and bodies as well as the skills and knowledge to transform their communities. WWD-F was initiated to empower women at multiple levels so that they could sustain both individual and collective development.
Initially, they established organizations in Costa Rica and the United States which collaborated on developing WWD-F projects. However, they gradually began to reach out to other women-run projects throughout the world and serve as an umbrella fundraising and networking entity to help expand the projects of other like-minded organizations world wide.