The European Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals (EFWMF) is a network of festivals sharing the vision that the world is a patchwork of a multitude of local traditions and music, each different in expression and content yet equal in value. The EFWMF was founded in 1991 and legally structured as a non-profit organisation in 1993. Since 1995 EFWMF is a registered international association for artistic and educational purposes under Belgian law.

The primary concerns of the EFWMF are artistic and artistically related issues. Membership is invited for all festival organizers with a worldwide, or at least a clear trans-national approach, presenting music in the area of world, ethnic, traditional, folk and roots music. 

Although interaction between members - including sharing of information, experiences and contacts - is the core activity, EFWMF pursues an array of other activities. The EFWMF continuously seeks to facilitate and intensify links to non-European festivals and other networks within the world music community in addition to maintaining lines of communication with organizations dealing with general issues of importance to event organizers. 

The network now has 40 festival members, representing a wide variety of European world music festivals. The diversity of these festivals equals this of world music: ranging from a small scale thematic bagpipe-festival in Italy to eclectic mega-festivals of 200.00 visitors. Together the EFWMF-festivals reach more than 2 million people in Europe, and is inviting hundreds of artists to its festivals all year round. The EFWMF is well connected to the world outside Europe as well, not only with it’s associate members, but also because of the intensive formal and informal networking.

EFWMF initiated the worldwide music expo WOMEX and STRICTLY MUNDIAL as networking concepts for the live aspects of world music. 

The current board is:

Hilde Björkum - Norway (Chair) 

Oliver Belopeta - Macedonia (Secretary) 

Patrick De Groote - Belgium (Delegated Director) 

Benjamim Taubkin - Brazil 

Erasmo Treglia - Italy