WIEGO Blog

Overturning the Productivity Mandate: Putting People at the Centre

Federico Parra, Renata Farías

4 July 2024

It is a myth that cooperatives, which put people at the centre, are not a viable alternative to the current economic system because they lack productivity. Improving working conditions and people’s well-being favour productivity – not the other way around.

Recent Posts

Photo Essay Part I: Home as a Place of Work

Shalini Sinha

16 October 2015

This is the first of a two-part essay on women home-based workers in Sunder Nagari slum in Delhi. Read part two here.

Livelihoods

In the Developing World, Waste Can Be a Vital Resource

Sonia M. Dias

22 September 2015

This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post as part of the series "What's Working: Sustainable Development Goals.

Rapid urbanization has burdened cities with an issue that no one can ignore -- unprecedented amounts of trash. World cities generate a whopping 1.3 billion tons of waste per year -- an issue that will only get worse unless strategic steps are taken.

Livelihoods

Donde las mujeres son líderes: dos victorias globales de las trabajadoras y trabajadores pobres

Ela Bhatt

7 September 2015

Por Ela Bhatt

Fundadora de la Asociación de Mujeres Auto empleadas

(SEWA, por sus siglas en inglés)

Presidenta fundadora, WIEGO

(Mujeres en Empleo Informal: Globalizando y Organizando)

Este año, la comunidad mundial ha reno

Livelihoods

Where Women are Leaders: Two Global Victories for the Working Poor

Ela Bhatt

7 September 2015

Ela Bhatt is Founder of SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) and the Founding Chair of WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing)

Livelihoods

Wither the “Labor” in Labor Day?

Françoise Carré

4 September 2015

For many of us, the word “informal employment” conjures up images of street vendors, rickshaw drivers, or casual laborers in agriculture—all images linked to the developing world and the hard edges of subsistence in low-income economies.

Livelihoods