One of the defining features of informal employment is that it is unprotected and insecure, being excluded, in law or in practice, from worker rights, benefits and protections afforded workers under labour legislation. In transforming this, there is a need to challenge current notions of who is a "worker", what is a "workplace", and what constitutes a "worker organization"; to identify where the demands of informal workers for rights and protections can be turned into law; to develop technical know-how and strategies to effect legal reform and its implementation and, most importantly, to build the capacity of informal workers to engage effectively in processes leading to legal reforms and their legal empowerment.

Recognizing this, in 2006 WIEGO instituted the global project on Law and the Informal Economy with a pro-poor and pro-women perspective, and in particular focusing on own account workers in the lowest segments of the informal economy. The outputs envisaged are:

• A global observatory of relevant laws and regulations affecting informal workers;

• Case studies from different countries on laws impinging on informal workers and the struggles of their organisations to obtain and implement new laws;

• A platform of demands and model laws or agreements that could be used by organisations of informal workers in advocacy and negotiating activities.

Given the enormity of the task, WIEGO initially set up a pilot project in India. This pilot, which began in late 2007, focused on domestic workers, fish workers, forest workers, and waste pickers.

See outputs of the India Pilot Study

In 2009, a second pilot project was started in Colombia. The project in Colombia focused on waste pickers and informal miners, documenting and analysing the laws impinging on these workers. 

See outputs of the Colombia Pilot Study

To build on the work of the India and Colombia pilot projects by developing in-depth country projects, WIEGO in November 2010, initiated a three country study of the legal situation, demands and struggles of the working poor in the informal economy, especially women, in collaboration with informal worker organisations, other stakeholders and legal experts. The project has a pro-poor, pro-worker, and pro-women perspective and will focus on two or more of the following sectors – domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors, and waste pickers. The country studies are currently underway and initial outputs are available here.

Ghana

Peru

Thailand

This global web observatory on Law and Informal Economy contains useful documentation of materials in the form of laws, articles, publications and reports of government and international bodies such as the ILO.