Dialogue with Candidates for the Mayor of Metropolitan Lima

Lima, Peru

After months of mobilization and preparation, informal worker leaders from seven sectors in the Lima metropolitan area had the opportunity to present a set of proposals to the top candidates for the mayor’s seat during a dialogue on Thursday, 13 September 2018. The leaders represented workers from organizations of street vendors, market vendors, domestic workers, newspaper sellers, market porters, waste pickers and shoe shiners. The event was the third dialogue with mayoral candidates that has been supported by WIEGO’s Focal City Lima (FC Lima) initiative and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Peru since 2010. The objective of the dialogue was for workers to raise the candidates’ awareness about the barriers they face, and their priorities for change, speaking from their experiences. They put forward common proposals, as well as specific sector-based proposals for change. The proposals were diverse, but some common themes were the creation or re-instatement of platforms for sustained dialogue, and programs for the formalization and promotion of their livelihood activities. 

The dialogue followed a months-long process facilitated by FC Lima which involved a two-month training program with informal worker leaders, and a collective assessment of current priorities in common and by sector. It also involved the re-mobilization of many street vendor leaders that had been involved in the creation and dissemination of a street trade ordinance that was adopted in 2014, but has since not been implemented. The street vendors re-organized into a mesa (standing group) of commerce, and advocated for the authorities join the mesa to engage with them about the implementation of the ordinance and other issues post-elections. 

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