WIEGO
Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) is a global action -research - policy network that seeks to improve the status of the working poor in the informal economy.[1] Linked to the SEWA-inspired international movement of women in the informal economy, WIEGO has a diverse constituency cutting across the fields of action, research, and policy-making.
The WIEGO network was founded in April 1997 by a group of activists, researchers, and development practitioners, based around the globe, who worked on the informal economy and shared a concern that the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy were not well understood, valued, or supported in policy circles or by the international development community.
The WIEGO secretariat is currently located at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[2] The International Coordinator is Harvard Lecturer in Public Policy Professor Martha Chen [3] and the founding steering committee chair was Indian civil rights leader Dr. Ela Bhatt.
Mission and Goals
WIEGO believes all workers should have equal economic opportunities and rights and be able to determine the conditions of their work and lives. WIEGO works to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy through increased organization and representation; improved statistics and research; more inclusive policy processes; and more equitable trade, labour, urban, and social protection policies.[4]
WIEGO seeks to help the working poor in the informal economy, especially women, achieve increased:
- voice by fostering more and stronger organizations of the working poor in the informal economy and promoting their representation in policy-making and rule-setting processes;
- visibility by improving statistics and promoting research, policy analysis, and good practice documentation on the informal economy; and
- validity by highlighting that the working poor in the informal economy contribute to the economy and to society and by promoting them as legitimate targets of economic as well as social policies.
Programmes and Activities
WIEGO’s activities centre around five core programmes; special projects and initiatives are also undertaken.
- Organization and Representation works to strengthen membership-based organizations (MBOs) of informal workers, especially those that involve women as members and leaders, and to build sector-specific networks of such organizations.
- Statistics encourages the collection and use of data on the informal economy as an essential component of official statistics; works to improve classifications, concepts and methods for estimating the economic contribution of informal employment; and makes data and analysis available to policymakers, researchers and advocates in accessible formats.
- Global Trade documents how global trade and investment policies impact informal workers, and promotes ethical and fair trade practices for homeworkers and small producer groups by building knowledge of their situation in select global value chains.
- Social Protection examines the specific risks faced by informal workers, particularly women, and promotes innovative approaches to extending social protection coverage to informal workers, including occupational health and safety.
- Urban Policies promotes urban planning, policies, and practices that are inclusive of the urban working poor by undertaking research, good practice documentation, and policy dialogues.
- Global Projects involve partnerships with MBOs of informal workers and currently include the Inclusive Cities for the Working Poor and Women’s Economic Empowerment projects.
- Other Special Initiatives include technical and policy dialogues; collaborative research and advocacy; commissioned research for international agencies; and conferences or public events.
WIEGO involves membership-based organizations (MBOs) of informal workers in the identification, prioritization and design of its activities, which involve a mix of:
- helping build and strengthen networks of organizations of informal workers
- undertaking policy studies, statistical research, and data analysis on the informal economy
- providing policy advice and convening policy dialogues on the informal economy
- documenting and disseminating good practice in support of the informal workforce
Structure
WIEGO represents a collaboration between membership-based organizations of workers in the informal economy, support non-governmental organizations, research and statistics institutions, national governments, and international development agencies.
The founders of WIEGO decided, at the outset, that the WIEGO network should draw its membership from and form alliances with three constituencies:
- membership-based organizations of informal workers, such as cooperatives, unions and associations
- researchers and statisticians who carry out research, data collection, or data analysis on the informal economy
- practitioners from development agencies (intergovernmental, governmental, non-governmental) who provide services to or shape policies towards the informal workforce
MBOs of informal workers that are active in WIEGO can become Institutional Members. Individuals from the other two constituencies who are active in WIEGO can become Individual Members. By the end of 2010, the WIEGO network had grown to include 144 Members – 15 Institutional and 129 Individual Members – from 29 countries.
A 10-person Board of Directors governs the WIEGO network. Board members are drawn from WIEGO’s three constituencies. The Board has two committees: a Management (or executive) Committee and a Financial Committee.
- Renana Jhabvala (Chair), Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)/India
- Kofi Asamoah, Ghana Trades Union Congress/Ghana
- Barbro Budin, International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF)/Switzerland
- Debra Davis (Treasurer), Independent Consultant/UK
- Fandy Clarisse Gnahoui, StreetNet International/Benin
- Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University/USA
- Lin Lim, Independent Consultant/Malaysia
- William Steel, University of Ghana/Ghana
- Jeemol Unni, Institute of Rural Management, Anand/India
- Carmen Vildoso, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru/Peru
Key Funders
Research focus
WIEGO's research agenda and policy analysis focuses on the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy. By carrying out research to improve information and statistics available on the informal economy the network intends to help organizations of informal workers in their efforts to promote national policies that would directly benefit the working poor, especially women, in the economy.
External links
Notes