WIEGO Blog

As we near the end of 2021, billions of people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 – widely regarded as the best way out of this pandemic, which continues to disrupt livelihoods around the world. Yet, massive global inequity in vaccine distribution means that many more, including a huge number of informal workers, have missed out. 

It is fair to say that there are a number of legitimate and often complex challenges that governments face in expanding social protection to workers in the informal economy. These include legal, financial, administrative and institutional barriers. Yet, there are also plenty of examples from around the world, which prove that with some ingenuity, flexibility, and an ear to informal workers, these challenges can be overcome.

Informal workers dominate the region’s labor market in both urban and rural areas. More than half of the workforce in most Southeast Asian countries earns their living in the informal sector, with the proportion surpassing 80 per cent in Cambodia and Myanmar. Yet, governments in the region barely recognize their value, as highlighted by the scant attention they were given in their country’s COVID-19 response.

The restructuring of the Mbeubeuss dump where over 2,000 men and women earn their living is part of Senegal's “acceleration” programme and, despite the president’s commitment to listen to the waste pickers’ demands, these workers will be left behind if they are not included in the project.

To highlight the challenges faced by home-based workers as well as efforts to address these challenges, the WIEGO network commissioned resources designed to support the affiliates of HomeNet International, and other organizations home-based workers, in advocating for secure tenure and basic infrastructure services, including electricity and other sources of energy, at their homes-cum-workplaces.