African home-based workers are at the bottom of craft supply chains. Through an increased understanding of those supply chains they could overcome some of the challenges they are facing and improve their livelihoods.
On a quiet lane, Mayuri Suepwong, a member of HomeNet Thailand, is working away in her colorful, two-story home. Her main room suits her well as a workspace: it’s a wide-open area, leaving plenty of floor area to conduct her home-based garment-making business. Various materials are piled in corners and on empty countertops. Dresses-in-progress hang along the walls. A single, pink fan keeps the room cool – a necessity in the hot and humid Bangkok weather.
A discussion with Mirai Chatterjee on SEWA’s holistic model and approach
The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India has been a pioneering trade union for poor women workers since 1972, branching off into a number of different initiatives to holistically support its members. It soon realized that a major need for women working in the informal economy was child care – but child care that met their unique needs.
The global movement of informal workers – led by worker organizations in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America – made major strides this year, from developing women’s leadership and using international policy instruments on the local level, to challenging the privatization of waste in South Africa.
2017 even saw the launch of a new regional organization in Latin America to strengthen cross-national goals. As the year comes to a close, we look back at some of the memorable achievements in 2017 for informal workers and their organizations.
As a global research-policy-action network, WIEGO’s team members are in a unique position to lead debates and contribute grounded new ideas for improving the lives of informal workers across continents. Research units from our four core programmes – Law, Organization and Representation, Social Protection, Statistics and Urban Policies – regularly produce new research reports, policy papers, statistical briefs and workers resources to continue evolving understanding and perspectives on informal worker issues and potential actions.
Study shows informal workers in the Global South perceive regulations as being both positive and negative
From street vending permits to permissions to collect waste from public spaces, regulating the vast and diverse informal workforce in cities in the Global South doesn’t have a simple solution. That became even more apparent earlier this year when the International Labour Organization (ILO) held its fifth conference on the topic of regulating for the future of decent work.
