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Our Mission:
WEIGO believes that all workers should have equal economic opportunities and rights and be able to determine the conditions of their work and lives
WEIGO works to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy through increased organisation and representation, improved statistics and research; more inclusive policy processes; and more equitable trade, labour, urban planning and social protection policies.
The persistence and growth of informal employment is a key casual factor in the persistence of global poverty. Poverty alleviation programmes will not work unless they address the root causes of poverty and insecurity of the vast majority who work in the informal economy. Promoting the rights, protection, voice and opportunities of those who work in the informal economy is the surest path to reducing poverty
Women in the informal Employment; Globalising and Organising (WEIGO) is a worldwide network of institutions and individuals concerned with improving the status of women in ht informal economy.”
• Once expected to dwindle the informal economy sector today provides the majority of employment in many developing countries.
• Over the past decades the sector has been growing rapidly.
• Women home workers, a nearly invisible group, contribute greatly to global trade and substantially to GDP.
• Gender, informal sector work and poverty often go together.
• Though low, women’s income from the informal sector sustains many poor households.
• Informal workers are more likely to be deprived of secure work, workers rights, social protection and representation or voice
• They receive little, if any social or legal protections yet are exposed to greater work related risk.
There is a need for informed policy on the informal economy, government must develop a context specific policy that recognises it’s size, contribution and composition. Besides government a number if other social actors can intervene to promote the interests of informal workers including; employers and companies, trade unions and cooperatives, NGOs and community-based organisations, customers and the public, informal workers and their families.
WEIGO has five major programmes:
1. Fostering ethical and fair trade policies and practises
2. Promoting inclusive urban policies and practises
3. Promoting Social Protection
4. Building stronger organisations of informal workers and increasing the representation and amplifying the voices of informal workers
5. Developing statistics that include all categories of informal workers and informal enterprises to be available to policy makers and other users of data.
Context
- The WEIGO network was inspired from the trade union of low income working women founded in India in 1972, self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
- In 1997 individuals form SEWA, Harvard University sand UNIFEM established WEIGO as a global research policy network to promote better statistics, research programmes and policies to support women in the informal economy. WEIGO works closely with HOMENET and STREETNET in the global movement.
- Since the 1980’s the National Group on Homeworking in the UK has brought together many local projects and groups in a national campaign for legal protection.
- STREETNET, set up in 1995 succeeded in influencing the South African Government in developing an innovative policy framework to guide the management and support of informal workers. Through a consultative planning exercise, the city is integrating the informal economy into economic development including creating job opportunities for the poor and supporting very small enterprises.
Visit WEIGO WEBSITE HERE