Urban Development and Participatory Governance:
Learnings from the co-creation of street vending ordinance 1787 in Lima
Lima
Auria Cantorín owns a newsstand and is a newspaper vendor—a canillita as they are known locally as is locally. Her organization is affiliated to the National Federation of Newspapers, Magazines, and Lottery Vendors (Federación Nacional de Vendedores de Diarios, Revistas y Loterías del Perú, FENVENDRELP). Some of the successes FENVENDRELP has achieved over the years include the signing of collective agreements with each of the editorial houses to obtain a number of benefits for newspaper vendors, including funeral and burial expenses. Photo by Juan Arredondo/Reportage by Getty Images.
About Our Work in Lima
In Lima, since 2010, WIEGO has been supporting a local network of worker organizations representing street vendors, market traders, domestic workers, waste pickers, market porters, newspaper vendors and shoe shiners to secure increased rights and protections and supportive policies.
Goals What Are We Working to Achieve?
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In Lima, large-scale and sometimes violent evictions are commonplace. We support street vendors in defending themselves against evictions and, when they occur, in securing adequate relocation alternatives. This includes action research with workers to assess eviction impacts and needs, and developing legal and urban design strategies for solutions-oriented policy proposals.
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Waste pickers in Lima work under a regulation that recognizes their work and was meant to protect their access to waste. These protections have been undermined by private recycling companies and waste pickers currently face barriers to accessing waste and excessive costs. We support waste pickers in defending their right to waste access, and in advocating for improved working conditions.
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A critical component of WIEGO’s work in Lima has been to bring together government officials and worker leaders in “mesas” – or roundtables – where issues can be discussed and solutions co-created. Historically, this approach resulted in the development of a pro-poor ordinance for street vending, which was designed with the participation of over 100 street vendor organizations across the city. Today, participatory policymaking is more difficult in Lima in a context of ongoing political crisis. However, the development of sustained, long-term “mesas” continues to be a central aim of our work in Lima.
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How We Work
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Research
We coordinate and support action research, statistical and budget analysis, and good-practice documentation to ensure workers have a strong evidence base to support their advocacy.
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Support to Workers’ Organizations
We build capacity and organizational strength through skills training, leadership development, coaching and overall support to membership-based organizations of workers in informal employment in areas they identify as priorities.
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Policy Advocacy
We walk alongside workers organizations to co-create innovative proposals for policy change, drawing on both lived experiences and technical knowledge of their sectors. We bring together workers’ organizations and allies in advocacy efforts to engage government and other stakeholders on these proposals and fight for reforms.
The Latest Statistics on Work in the Informal Economy in Lima
WIEGO does groundbreaking statistical work to help policymakers and workers understand the size and characteristics of the informal economy in cities across the world. The majority of Peruvians work in informal employment.
Access the latest statistics
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60%
of total employment in Lima is informal
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500,000
street vendors and 160,000 market traders are estimated to work in Peru's capital (Lima).
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40%
of Lima’s workforce are own-account, self-employed workers