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Without waste pickers, cities across Africa, Asia and Latin America would be buried in their own garbage. Informal recyclers have proven essential to keeping cities clean, but they’ve struggled to gain recognition by municipalities that often disregard their labour and the importance of their work...
The global economic crisis that rocked the world in 2008 led to increased financial hardship for informal workers, most of whom already lived in precarious circumstances. Now, more than ten years on, informal workers continue to struggle for increased security to strengthen their every day working...
Street vendors are facing unprecedented challenges in cities across the globe, despite global development goals calling for more economically and socially inclusive cities. This hostility was a recent finding from an important article, Where are the Inclusive Cities? , by WIEGO team members Caroline...
Shoe shiners in Mexico City have worked in Glorieta de Insurgentes Square for decades to earn their livelihoods. When they were unceremoniously evicted by the municipality under the guise of modernization, they decided to fight back.
Supermarkets have spread rapidly across the Global South, but what implications does this growth have on informal food retailers and the food security of low-income households? For over 10 years, the African Centre for Cities (ACC), at the University of Cape Town, has worked on urban food security...
The WIEGO Urban Policies Team analyzed news articles on street vendors from six continents over the past 18 months to gain a better understanding of how these informal workers are — or, more precisely, “aren’t” — being incorporated into 21st-century cities. A troubling portrait emerged of widespread...
133 years after the Chicago working-time strike that gave rise to May Day, 2-billion workers continue to fall outside regulations for working hours and over-time compensation. Informal workers – now the majority of the global workforce – are calling for much-needed protections to limit their working...
In Dakar, Senegal, women continue to face economic and social inequities — from illiteracy to poverty to gender discrimination — but it’s also true that change is happening. Informal women workers have decided that they can improve their position if they join hands with other women and organize to...
Ninety-two per cent of women’s employment in the developing world is in the informal economy, and as urbanization proceeds an increasing number of these workers are to be found in cities. As they work to support themselves and their families, they lack protection and sufficient incomes to leave...
Valdete Roza is a Brazilian waste picker and leader in her cooperative who is pioneering gender discussions with her colleagues across her city and country.
Videos / Slideshows / Audio
Millions of women work long hours, in dangerous conditions, for little pay. They are fighting for change, with the help of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Watch this video to learn how.
Workers Education/Organizing Materials
This manual helps street vendors learn more about the regulations that govern public space and how to defend the right to work in public space. It describes successful actions taken by street vendor organizations. And it offers information to help you organize and negotiate with local government.
WIEGO Working Papers
Mike Rogan reviews how informal workers are taxed, why there is growing interest in taxing them, and whether they should be included in the tax net.