WIEGO Blog

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.

Healthcare is a hot button issue around the world right now. As Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has become a rallying call for the global health movement, it has been embraced by both the World Bank and the World Health Organization as a core objective and is encapsulated within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3.8. The elevation of the need for UHC on key global platforms has been an important shift, but there is still a gap in the understanding of informal workers in this debate. 

La atención sanitaria es un tema candente en todo el mundo. La Cobertura sanitaria universal (CSU) se ha convertido en un estandarte para los movimientos mundiales por la salud. Ha sido adoptado por el Banco Mundial y la Organización Mundial de la Salud como un objetivo fundamental, y está incluido dentro del Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 3.8 de las Naciones Unidas.