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The role of witches has been defined as "smoothing out life's humps and bumps" and "helping people when life's on the edge", and they take this obligation seriously. They also never ask for anything in return.
(There are ways and ways of not asking for anything in return, of course. Nanny Ogg, for instance, insists that part of her job is to take the first pint of every brewing and the first cake of every baking, to prevent occult forces using them against people.)
The three main witches in the books are the Lancre Coven: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick and Agnes Nitt. A subseries of children's books has introduced a new, mostly separate witch character, Tiffany Aching.
Esmerelda Weatherwax (usually called Granny Weatherwax) is the Crone. In fact it has been suggested she embodies all three, but the Crone is the most obvious. (In the books, the triple nature of the coven is always referred to as "the maiden, the mother and... the other one" in her presence). She is the most powerful witch in the Ramtops but, as mentioned above, powerful witches rarely do magic. While she can cast some extremely impressive spells if pushed, much of her power comes from headology, a sort of folk-psychology which can be summed up as "if people think you're a witch, you might as well be one". For instance, Granny could, if she wished, curse people. However it is simpler for her to say she's cursed them, and let them assume she's responsible for the next bit of bad luck that happens to befall them.
It has been said that the difference between headology and psychology is that a psychologist will convince you that there are no monsters, whereas a headologist will hand you a bat and a chair to stand on.
She has a near-unshakeable belief in her own abilities which has, thus far, proved accurate, and an extreme distrust of stories. She was intended by nature to be a "wicked witch", but at an early age realised she had to be "the good one" to balance her sister, Lily. Ironically, Lily, who became a fairy godmother, was convinced she was the good one, because she gave people what she thought they wanted. Granny Weatherwax gives people what she knows they need. As Pratchett would put it, being Good and Right doesn't make you Nice, and she isn't.
Gytha Ogg (usually called Nanny Ogg) is the Mother. She has been married three times and has seventeen kids, but that's incidental: what makes her the Mother is her mentality. People go to Granny Weatherwax for help when they have no choice, but they go to Nanny for advice all the time. Granny is respected, but Nanny is actually liked.
She's a lot cleverer than Esme in some ways, and one of these is people sense, so she generally doesn't let it show (since most people don't trust people who are more clever than them). Gytha Ogg is seen as "one of the people" in a way that Esme isn't. While Granny thinks there's no point in competing if you aren't going to win, Nanny reckons the sympathy you get for being a good runner-up is much better. Granny comes across as judgemental, whereas Nanny has a mind so broad she could tie it under her chin. She appears to be kinder than Granny, but is equally prepared to make tough decisions if necessary.
Amongst the duties of a witch are midwifery and laying out the dead. If possible, people call Nanny for the former and Granny for the latter. In effect Nanny and Granny make a perfect team with Granny doing what needs to be done and Nanny bandaging the wounded.