WIEGO Blog

Por Leslie Vryenhoek

El letrero en la entrada al Centro de reciclaje Vaal Park, en Sudáfrica, muestra 23 logos; cada uno representa a un socio público o privado que se ha unido para hacer de esta iniciativa un éxito. Y en el corazón de este centro, hay un equipo de trabajadores con determinación –todos anteriormente recicladoras y recicladores en el vertedero de Sasolburg– quienes están convirtiendo una idea verde en una empresa sostenible.

The sign at the entrance to the Vaal Park Recycling Centre in South Africa bears 23 logos, each representing a public or private partner that has come on board to help make this initiative a success. And at the heart of this centre is a team of determined workers—all formerly waste pickers on the Sasolburg waste dump—who are turning a green idea into a sustainable enterprise.

Urban informal workers represent the broad base of the urban economy in most developing countries. On average, these account for well over half of the urban workforce and, where estimates are available, over a quarter of gross domestic product in these countries. And yet the activities — the livelihoods — of these workers remain almost entirely unrecognized, valued or taken into account in urban planning or local economic development.

Los trabajadores en empleo informal tuvieron importantes logros en 2015, pero éstos deben ser consolidados en Hábitat III.

By Olga Abizaid