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Paying Waste Pickers for Environmental Services A Critical Examination of Options Proposed in Brazil Download -
POLICY AND PLANNING
The Regularization of Street Vending in Bhubaneshwar, India: A Policy Model
After years of conflict between street traders and local authorities, the city of Bhubaneshwar, India developed a public, private and community partnership model for street vending. The model recognized the contributions of street traders to the city, and entailed dedicated and legally sanctioned vending zones in public space, as well as attractive fixed kiosks. This Policy Brief details the inclusive planning process, from joint planning of the conceptual model to the realization of 54 vending zones, and discusses the challenges that arose.
The Regularization of Street Vending in Bhubaneshwar, India: A Policy Model
More Urban Policy & Planning Resources for the Informal Sector
ORGANIZING
First Global Strategic Workshop of Waste Pickers
In exploring threats to their livelihood, the waste pickers found considerable common ground, and determined that the greatest threats across all continents are privatization of access to waste (and the related move of final waste disposal systems toward incineration and waste-to-energy schemes) and government corruption. The need to rely on middlemen rather than selling directly to industry, declining prices, and a lack of adequate equipment and space to do the work were also identified as challenges.
Discussion on solutions focused on the need for waste pickers to be recognized and included in solid waste management systems. To achieve this they need strong, democratic organizations, improved relationships, especially with municipal bodies, adequate research (e.g. financial figures) to help frame arguments for inclusion, and more visibility for the important work of waste pickers.
Report: First Global Strategic Workshop of Waste Pickers: Inclusive Solid Waste Management
RESEARCH
The Informal Economy: Definitions, Theories and Policies
Today, there is renewed interest in the informal economy worldwide. This is because a large share of the global workforce and economy is informal and because the informal economy is growing in many contexts and appearing in new places and guises. This working paper, the first in the WIEGO series, provides an overview of the definitional, theoretical, and policy debates on the informal economy. The paper opens with a brief historical overview of the informal sector concept and related debates, focusing on the four dominant schools of thought about the informal economy. It then turns to recent rethinking of the concept, de- tailing the expanded statistical concept of informal employment and holistic conceptual models of the com- position and causes of informality. The paper also examines the linkages between the informal economy, formal firms, and formal regulations and the “formalize the informal economy” debate. The paper proposes a comprehensive policy response to the informal economy with four main pillars: create more formal jobs; regulate informal enterprises and informal jobs; extend state protections—social and legal—to the informal workforce; and increase the productivity of informal enterprises and the incomes of informal workers. The paper concludes with a call for a fundamental rethinking of the future of the informal economy.
