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Latest News Waste Pickers | Street Vendors | Home-based Workers | Mega Events | Global Economic Crisis | Informal Economy ARGENTINA Cardboard Collectors of Buenos Aires Thinking Outside the Box Irish Times (5 Apr 2010) In a country where landfills are bulging and recycling is in its infancy, these urban recuperators – as they are known in politically correct conversation – are having a positive impact on the city’s waste management problems. Cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, metal and other materials are diverted from municipal dumps and converted into income for the cartoneros. The government has made moves to formalise the activity by establishing an urban recuperators’ register, providing individuals with workwear and credentials, and encouraging the creation of co-operatives. INDIA Green-Collar Opportunity LiveMint (4 Apr 2010) In India, we have an opportunity to engage in city waste disposal, in ways that can be environmentally safe as well as provide livelihoods to the hard-pressed worker in the informal sector. Enter the more than 1.5 million scrap and waste collectors who earn their livelihood from the collection of paper, plastic, metal and glass scrap for sale to recycling industries. They are now a loose association across India, and through organized collective bargaining, are shaking off middlemen and trying to be their own recyclers and traders. They call themselves green-collar workers. URUGUAY Improving Conditions for Waste Pickers IPS (26 Mar 2010) One of Uruguay Clasifica's aims is to generate conditions to keep children and adolescents in school, or help dropouts return to the educational system, by providing a small cash stipend for families whose children attend school. Uruguay Clasifica is also focusing on training and on improving working conditions, as well as carrying out an awareness-raising campaign. It has begun handing out uniforms to garbage sorters, and distributing pamphlets that explain the work that they do and how to separate household trash. INDIA Nation-wide Rally to Demand Rights of Waste Collectors (9 Mar 2010) Times of India They collect garbage from your door-step, sort it out without the aid of any safety gears and earn their livelihood selling paper, plastic, metal and glass to recycling industries... They help reduce the burden on landfills... However, they are treated with neglect and indifference by the government and the society at large. INDIA Trash pickers in India "Go to Waste" (2 Mar 2010) Marketplace As India asserts itself as a rising power, its capital city is feeling the urge to spruce up its new image. New Delhi is hiring private contractors to collect trash from the streets. But that move isn't good for everyone. Includes insights from Bharati Chaturvedi, director for Chintan, a charity that supports waste pickers. Where dreams are endless Snehal Sonawane Sawant | TNN. (25 Feb 2010) Pune: Just as a doctor’s son aspires to become a doctor, son/daughter of a waste-picker would become a waste-picker, it was assumed. But not any more as the scenario is changing steadily. “Waste Land” Takes Berlinale Panorama Honors IndieWire (20 Feb 2010) Waste Land follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz who travels to Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. He collaborates with an eclectic band of catadores, or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials, and photographs these them as they recycle their lives and society’s garbage. TMA to compensate 394 scavengers to start waste management project Ghana News Agency (20 Jan 2010) The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) is to compensate and re-settle some 394 people engaged in stone quarrying at the Kpone landfill site. KKPKP puts forth the merits of recycling at Copenhagen Times of India (9 Dec 2009) Recycling is one of the easiest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This was one of the points driven home by Laxmi Narayan, general secretary of the Pune-based Kaagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), an organisation that works for the rights of ragpickers, at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, on Monday. Wastepickers of the world unite at climate talks AFP (8 Dec 2009) Ignored, marginalised or despised in many countries, wastepickers from Asia, Latin America and Africa have come together in Copenhagen to lobby for recognition as unsung heroes in the fight against climate change. Waste Pickers Demand Recognition for Doing the Dirty Work IPS (8 Dec 2009) Members of the Global Network of Waste Pickers say recognising the work they do recycling rubbish can make a valuable contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. USA NYC Vendors are Eyes and Ears on the Street Associated Press (5 May 2010) Ask a street vendor, and you'll hear that it's no surprise that it was guys hawking their wares who noticed a car in Times Square parked where it shouldn't have been. Street sellers Lance Orton and Duane Jackson saw the SUV last weekend, keys in the ignition but no driver in sight. They notified police, who investigated what turned out to be a potential bomb. Since then, the vendors have been thanked by everyone from others on the street to President Barack Obama. USA Keep Our Eyes on the Street Open Huffington Post (5 May 2010) While you usually don't hear the words street vendor and hero uttered in the same breath, just two weeks after the Bloomberg administration proposed to drastically cut the number of art vendors allowed in four popular city parks, two Times Square vendors (and Vietnam veterans) are being hailed as heroes for alerting police officers to a suspicious-looking abandoned Nissan Pathfinder, packed with explosives, near the tourist-clogged intersection of Broadway and 45th Street.The scene could have come straight out of Jane Jacob's The Death and Life of American Cities, the classic book published in 1961 that has influenced how generations of urban planners think about city street life. Jacobs herself would have called these hero street vendors "public characters" who make streets safer because they have their "eyes upon the street." USA T-Shirt Vendor Takes On New Persona: Reluctant Hero of Times Square NY Times (2 May 2010) The T-shirt vendor who alerted the police to the bomb in Times Square spoke to officers Sunday morning. About 12 hours had passed since a T-shirt vendor in Times Square had alerted police to a suspicious S.U.V. that was packed with a bomb. But by 7 a.m. Sunday, with the S.U.V. towed away and the streets safe and reopened, the vendor was tired, cranky and reluctant to say much about his feat. USA Oakland Park Delays Vote on Law Targeting Street Vendors, Beggars Sun Sentinel (8 Apr 2010) Dare to buy red roses or a gray newspaper from a street peddler in Oakland Park, and you may be breaking the law. That's if commissioners give final approval in June to a city law that would also make it illegal to give beggars or street vendors money or any "article of value" on an Oakland Park street. Violators would face a fine or up to 90 days in jail. INDIA Street Vendor Census on the Cards in Ahmedabad DNA (8 Apr 2010) The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has finally begun the work of organising street vendors. Results of the survey will help in defining a better planning strategy. INDIA Delegation of Street Vendors of India Reaches Berhampur The Hindu (4 Apr 2010) The delegation of the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), which is now on a nation-wide campaign for the protection of rights of street vendors reached the city on April 3rd. This campaign had started from New Delhi on November 25 last year with an aim to unite all street vendors of the country for the protection of their livelihood and lives. NASVI is a national federation of street vendors from across India. BRAZIL Brazilian Crackdown: It’s Giuliani-Time as Rio de Janeiro Goes for the Gold The Indypendent (2 Apr 2010) Ever since Rio de Janeiro learned it would host the 2016 Olympics, police have begun shutting down colorfully painted street vendor stands that line the city’s famous beaches. Vendors are told that in order to regain their livelihoods they must apply for and secure a license. If they’re allowed to return, they’ll have to operate out of a generic white tent. INDIA In the Name of the Games Dawn.com (30 Mar 2010) What cannot be removed must be covered – such is the policy of the Indian government towards the country's slums as Delhi gets ready to host the Commonwealth Games in October 2010. Government officials had initially said the games could benefit slum-dwellers as they would be provided with better homes ahead of the event. But on the ground, the reality seems to be different. Small Premiums, Long-term Benefits: Why Poor Women Need Microinsurance (6 Mar 2010) MyNews. In 15 years have passed since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing decided on a global platform for action on gender equality and women’s empowerment. For poor women in developing countries, microinsurance coverage is an important safety net, providing a powerful tool to protect their households and productive assets. In India, a program is meeting women’s unique needs in a sensitive, sustainable way. SEWA Bank offers its clients – all self-employed poor women – a choice of three microinsurance schemes covering death, health and assets.
SOUTH AFRICA It's A Hard Life On The Streets (7 Mar 2010) Times Live Joburg is cleaning up its pavements for the 2010 World Cup, but for the smallest of small businesses this is bad news, writes Tsidi Bishop.
India Loses If Women And Girls Aren't Allowed To Fulfill Their Potential (8 Mar 2010) Huffington Post Article by Ela Bhatt, SEWA founder and a member of The Elders. INDIA A Harsh View From The Sidewalk (8 Mar 2010) Times of India NEW DELHI: You can't tell the hardship she faces from her cackle of a laugh. Her face is creased with tiny lines, there's no hope in her eyes, no twinkle, no spark, certainly no fight. Triveni Devi is verily the face of urban poverty but she manages to laugh at her fate. A vegetable vendor, on a good day, she could make Rs 50 to Rs 75 selling potatoes and tomatoes, but now there are stretches of no income whatsoever. INDIA NASVI Holds Women Vendors’ Meet (8 Mar 2010) Indian Express The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), a national federation of street vendors across India, held a women vendors’ meet to create a common platform to raise their voice against harassment by the police and demand basic rights that protect their livelihoods and their lives. INDIA How Long Before Hawking Zone Policy is Implemented? Ahmedabad Mirror USA Bathroom Rule Rankles Vendors New York Times (23 Feb 2010) More than 20 street vendors gathered outside the headquarters of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday to protest a policy that bans vendors from leaving their carts, even for bathroom breaks. SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women Traders Demand Support IPS (19 Feb 2010) "This year we want them to recognise that cross border traders contribute to the GDP (gross domestic product) and put in place legal frameworks which protect us because there is a lot of harassment by government officials during transit," Charity Mombeshora, the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association's secretary for gender and women's affairs told IPS. Chicago street vendors demand relief from high fines, police crackdown Medill Reports (18 Feb 2010) Chicago's street vendors battle the cold, high fines and even jail time to make a living. SEWA demands inclusion of street vendors in Bhadra development plan Indian Express (7 Feb 2010) Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has welcomed restoration of around 350 vendors in the Bhadra area on Saturday after the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had barred them from doing business in the area since January 24. The premier trade union outfit has demanded the inclusion of vendors in the Bhadra Fort area development plan. Cubans Thank God and Communist Party for Small Favors ABC News (2 Feb 2010) Cuban Communist Party Makes it Easier to Acquire Food Vending License "For a long time when you picked fruit from your patio and went to sell it on the highway, the police would appear, jump all over you, and take it away, when really we were doing nothing wrong," he said. "You can imagine what it means to be able to bring our fruit here and not have that struggle. The fruit no longer rots on the trees, the animals no longer eat it, Cubans eat it." Students from Denmark write about their experiences with Kenasvit kenasvit.wordpress.com (2 Feb 2010) Through six weeks in Kenya, we learned how the members are facing a range of different challenges such as land and space issues, lack of water and sanitation at the work place, harassment, lack of security and lack of political influence and representation. In this respect, KENASVIT has done a lot to improve both the relation to the authorities and the general conditions of street vendors and informal traders. Zambia: We will rid Lusaka of street vendors – Muteteka Lusaka Times (29 Jan 2010) Government says it is working hard to ensure that all street vendors are accommodated in designated market places. Thousands of Street Vendors to be Developed with Special Location Berita Jakarta (29 Jan 2010) Jakarta Capital City Government is to relocate around 13 thousand street vendors to special locations designated to helping the vendors develop their businesses. However, only eligible street vendors can occupy the area.
Rags to riches: Erin O'Connor's fairtrade fashion (24 Jan 2010) The Guardian SOUTH AFRICA Call to Use World Cup Profits to Aid Street Vendors (22 Jul 2010) Weekend Post PART of the 2010 Fifa World Cup profits should be channelled into programmes to support street vendors in Nelson Mandela Bay and other host cities who lost their income during the tournament. This was the call by trade unions, street vendor organisations, NGOs and Mandela Bay Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile at a workshop in Port Elizabeth which started on Monday. “At the very least, 0.7% of the profits from the World Cup should be channelled into development programmes for street vendors in the nine host cities to be drawn up together with their representatives,” said Streetnet International co-ordinator Pat Horn. INDIA The 2010 Commonwealth Games: Delhi's Worrying Transformation (19 July 2010) Monthly Review Delhi residents expect that their upturned streets, recurrent blackouts and impassable traffic jams will soon give way to something spectacular. On the horizon, or so they are told, is the transformation of India's congested national capital into a 'world class city' -- a gleaming global metropolis worthy not only of hosting this prestigious sporting event, but of India's emerging status as the next Asian superpower. The purveyors of this sweet but tenuous dream, which is still buried beneath layers of scaffolding and rubble, would rather not be reminded that 77 percent of the India's population live on less than INR 20 (USD 50 cents) a day. INDIA SC funds diverted for Games: RTI activists Hindustan Times online (15 July 2010) “Civil society representatives on Thursday alleged that the funds meant for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes were being diverted to Commonwealth Games projects. According to Right to Information (RTI) activist and associate director, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) Shivani Chaudhary, as much as Rs 744.35 crore from Delhi’s special component plan (SCP) - which aims to improving the standard of living of the poor sections of the community through various government schemes and programmes - was diverted to the Games projects…” INDIA Protest over 2010 Commonwealth Games in Varanasi Sify Sports (12 July 2010) “The members of 'Paharuaa Jann Sangathan', a voluntary organisation, staged a highly charged protest against the Queen's Baton and the hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi city on Monday…” INDIA Shining India' makes its poor pay price of hosting Commonwealth Games The Guardian (UK) online (11 July 2010) “…Organisers of the games are acutely aware that the din and filth of the Indian capital could shock visitors. So, along with the construction of new sporting facilities, roads, flyovers, metro lines and an airport, dozens of long-standing slum communities built on public land, vacant lots, by railways or INDIA Hundreds of thousands displaced in New Delhi to make way for Commonwealth Games The Washington Post online (10 July 2010) Reports on the massive infrastructural developments being undertaken in preparation for the Delhi Games and claims “the glitz and gleam of the construction are leaving a long trail of forced evictions and displacements, joblessness, labor law violations, environmental damage and huge cost overruns”. along rubbish-strewn stream beds have been destroyed; hoardings conceal others…”INDIA For Village security, school razed Times of India (9 July 2010) “In an attempt to secure the Commonwealth Games Village, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Wednesday razed a school on the Yamuna Khadar, right behind the Akshardham Temple. The school catered to about 180 children of farmers and labourers working in and around the river bed… While officials maintained the building was totally illegal and no structures were permitted on the river bed, those associated with the school pointed out that compared to the number of unauthorized structures that had come up on the river bed, many of them with the sanction of the government, this was only providing education to poor children who otherwise would never be able to afford going to school…” INDIA INA market shop owners protest razing Hindustan Times online (29 June 2010) “Displaced Kashmiri pandits, who owned the shops in INA Market that were demolished on Saturday, held a protest march in front of the Market. The MCD had demolished 36 shops as part of the beautification process for the upcoming Commonwealth Games…” **INDIA Shops at INA market demolished Press Trust of India (27 June 2010) “Shops belonging to displaced Kashmiris at a popular south Delhi market have been demolished by authorities as part of a beautification drive for the Commonwealth Games. The 36 shops, located at the INA market here were, demolished yesterday and the shopkeepers alleged that they were not served prior notices before the exercise was carried out…” ** SOUTH AFRICA Thousands protest against FIFA, World Cup excess Mail and Guardian (16 June 2010) Thousands of South Africans held a march in Durban today to protest against the government's massive spending on the World Cup. They were joined by hundreds of stewards caught up in the ongoing dispute over low wages, which saw riot police break up a demonstration with tear gas and percussive grenades on Sunday, and which has now spread to five of the ten South African World Cup stadiums. SOUTH AFRICA Thousands protest against World Cup spending Mail and Guardian (16 June 2010) Thousands of South Africans staged a march on Wednesday to protest against lavish spending on the tournament and the sacking of security staff, inflicting a new embarrassment on organisers. As the country marked the 34th anniversary of the Soweto uprising against apartheid rule, about 3 000 people marched in Durban to denounce Fifa and the government for their spending priorities when millions live in poverty. SOUTH AFRICA Winners and Losers The Age (16 Jun 2010) They have come to watch the opening rounds of the 2010 World Cup in a park surrounded by a two-metre, razor-tipped steel picket fence. At one end sits a vast plasma screen perched on a stand several metres high. The images projected on the screen are fuzzy and washed out by the setting sun, but nobody seems too worried. These so-called TV parks were set up across South Africa by a local telecom to bring television to poor communities. Rachael Zulu, a 43 year-old mother of two, is sitting patiently on the grass waiting for the match between South Africa and Mexico to kick off. She says there is no way she could afford to buy a ticket to see the national side ''Bafana, Bafana'' play at any of the new stadiums. ''I don't know of anybody living here who is going to the World Cup; we are all poor,'' she says. ''I am a piece worker, everything I make goes to keeping my girl at school.'' INDIA India shuns poor in Commonwealth Games makeover AlertNet (15 June 2010) “As millions across the globe focus their attention on the World Cup in South Africa, the Indian capital New Delhi is busy preparing to host another international sporting event - the 2010 Commonwealth Games… But social activists say government efforts to portray the city as a global sporting hub come at the expense of thousands of poor urban Indians who have been evicted, displaced or exploited as a result of the Games…” SOUTH AFRICA Crumbs Only for Poor as Gold Rush Fails to Take Off Reuters (15 June 2010) The gold rush supposed to come with the World Cup has passed by Angela Ncube, an impoverished street vendor who hoped to earn a few rand for herself from the richest sporting event to hit the continent. Tough regulations on commercial activity and overly optimistic expectations of windfalls have dashed the hopes of millions of the country's poor such a Ncube, private home owners and struggling merchants. "The only people who benefit are FIFA and the rich. We, the poor, we don't benefit anything," Ncube said after she was forced to move away from one of the main football stadiums in Johannesburg where she tried to sell sweets and snacks to the tens of thousands packing the venue. SOUTH AFRICA Struggling to Locate African Experience ESPN (14 Jun 2010) "KeNako - Celebrate Africa's Humanity" - a FIFA motto that litters the stadia of South Africa's World Cup. A worthy concept, yet not one that was reflected on my first foray into the world of the paying fan. In partnering with various multi-nationals to provide food, drink and no doubt a hefty wedge of endorsement cash, FIFA can be held responsible for the fact that the stadiums do not reflect African culture in any fashion other than the infamous pariah that is the vuvuzela. Add in the fact the local economy's hopes of making a bonanza from the footballing festival have been denied by the exclusion zones placed against all but endorsed products and you have a tournament that could well be being played anywhere on this earth. SOUTH AFRICA Out of Bounds? Cape Town's Cleanup for the World Cup CIR Web Exclusive Video (8 June 2010) As soccer stars and fans converge in South Africa for the World Cup, Christopher Werth travels into the Cape Town slums to investigate reports that people are being displaced to make way for. The report brings viewers into the reality of informal housing, forced relocations and the temporary camps that the government has provided. SOUTH AFRICA South African Street Vendors Protest as Official Sponsors Move In EuroNews (June 8, 2010) It is hoped that the World Cup will bring economic benefits to host nation South Africa, but local street vendors in Johannesburg won’t be seeing the profits. They’ve been cleared off the pavements to make way for official FIFA partners – Pinky Pinkoli, for example, has had to give up the central spot she’s held for 26 years. SOUTH AFRICA Kicked Out for the Cup? Newsweek (4 June 2010) Local headlines accuse South African police of rounding up the homeless and dumping them miles away, while residents from across Cape Town claim they’ve been relocated from their squatter settlements and dilapidated buildings to a temporary camp on the outskirts of town before the football fans arrive. In addition, FIFA’s demands for a commercial exclusion zone around the venues for its official sponsors such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have come as a blow to thousands of South Africa’s street traders, who say they’re being pushed out for the month-long event. SOUTH AFRICA World Cup Pushes Out South Africa's Poor American Public Media (June 3, 2010) South Africa has spent more than $2 billion on infrastructure to get ready for the World Cup. But critics say a lot of the money is pushing aside the poor. Nkosinathi Jikeka with StreetNet International, a global network of informal traders, says "everybody's told that this is our World Cup and that all of us are going to benefit. But an ordinary person on the street, the layman, the poor South African, he's not going to benefit." Jikeka says that unless they get access to the huge market of World Cup tourists, only big business will come away the winners. SOUTH AFRICA South African media question benefits of the World Cup playthegame.org (1 June 2010) As the 2010 World Cup in South Africa approaches, the question of what South Africa actually gains from hosting this mega-event is raised more frequently. The South African organisers proclaim that the World Cup will benefit South Africa and the African continent for years to come, but critical voices are joining in, asking who actually benefits from the 2010 World Cup. SOUTH AFRICA Cup Might Trigger Clashes Times Live (May 31, 2010) With the World Cup soon to take place in South Africa, SEWA's Ela Bhatt is one among several eminent global leaders of an Elder Group expressing concerns -- one being that street traders won't be allowed to operate inside World Cup stadiums. SOUTH AFRICA African Football Shorts: The food vendor BBC (28 May 2010) Miriam Balang is a food vendor who lives in an area called 17 houses, around 100 metres from Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium. She is frustrated with the local council as they will not allow her to sell food to spectators during the World Cup. SOUTH AFRICA 'South Africans left with white elephants' Independent Online (23 May 2010) The World Cup has brought Port Elizabeth a stunning new landmark in its oceanside stadium, but questions remain about who will fill the stands once the global football fans leave. "In the South African case, all the stadiams were either renovated or constructed by the government. That means that the commercial consideration was never primary," said economist Stan du Plessis of Stellenbosch University. "Some of these stadiums are simply not going to be in a position to cover their running costs. In that sense, they will be loss making." SOUTH AFRICA Hawkers want in on World Cup share Sowetan (18 May 2010) Street vendors have urged the government to work with their local organisations during the World Cup to ensure that they can continue trading on match days. The vendors represent some of the poorest and most marginalised of the urban poor, according to Pat Horn, coordinator of StreetNet International. “We are also demanding that the government set up street vendors’ bargaining forums to develop policies to support vendors and provide them with social protections.” SOUTH AFRICA The World Cup Runneth over, but Not for All South Africans Irish Times (15 May 2010) The street traders from the Grand Parade market in Cape Town were among the millions of South Africans who bought into the idea that hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup in their country would benefit all its citizens. The fact that hawkers and traders across the country looked set to be sidelined during the tournament prompted StreetNet International, a Durban-based federation of street trader organisations, to initiate the World Class Cities for All Campaign (WCCA) campaign in 2007 to fight for their rights. It was only after months of protests and court actions that city officials in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Mbombela offered a select few traders limited access to World Cup sites. But protests are still ongoing in these cities, as traders say the new sites are not within reach of World Cup visitors. The seven remaining host cities have yet to give their urban poor any opportunity to cash in. INDIA In the Race to the Commonwealth Games, Delhi's Wastepickers are Left Behind The Wip online (10 May 2010) “…In an attempt to make the city greener and cleaner for the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi in October, the government has been experimenting with several new ventures, including a plan to privatize the city's waste collection systems. Until now this work has been handled by the informal sector which is not recognized by the government. It includes people who pick trash in the landfills, the door-to-door collectors, and two levels of middlemen, who sell plastic, paper, and metal to factories to be recycled. Privatization has already begun in seven out of the twelve administrative zones…” SOUTH AFRICA South Africa World Cup 'just for the rich' BBC News (10 May 2010) Mr Mzimela is upset at what he calls "hostile raids" by Durban's municipal police, against traders found operating near the stadium or any of the sites earmarked for the World Cup. Regulations imposed by football's world governing body Fifa on host countries stipulate that no-one but its commercial partners be allowed trade or promote their products in the immediate vicinity of all World Cup sites. BRAZIL Brazilian Crackdown: It’s Giuliani-Time as Rio de Janeiro Goes for the Gold The Indypendent (2 Apr 2010) Ever since Rio de Janeiro learned it would host the 2016 Olympics, police have begun shutting down colorfully painted street vendor stands that line the city’s famous beaches. Vendors are told that in order to regain their livelihoods they must apply for and secure a license. If they’re allowed to return, they’ll have to operate out of a generic white tent. INDIA In the Name of the Games Dawn.com (30 March 2010) What cannot be removed must be covered – such is the policy of the Indian government towards the country's slums as Delhi gets ready to host the Commonwealth Games in October 2010. Government officials had initially said the games could benefit slum-dwellers as they would be provided with better homes ahead of the event. But on the ground, the reality seems to be different. INDIA A Commonwealth shame? BBC Soutik Biswas’s India (22 Mar 2010) Biswas recently finished reading a 116-page report by a committee appointed by the Delhi high court on the "condition of workers" engaged in construction work on Commonwealth Games sites in the Indian capital. The October Games, on which the government is spending more than $2bn, is the biggest international sporting event India has ever hosted. The report is shocking. It confirms Delhi's worst kept secret - how the shiny new stadia and other infrastructure hide the exploitative and unsafe conditions that 150,000 workers have to work under. Informal workers hit by global recession (29 Jan 2010) Dawn.com Amna Shakoor dreams of having a day off simply to have “a long, uninterrupted sleep.” But for the time being there is little chance of that for this 45-year-old mother of 12. Amna lives in a two-room rented home in Orangi, Karachi, with her children and husband. She supplements her husband’s erratic income by rolling biris all day, and sometimes well into the night. Still, the global recession is making it impossible for the Shakoor family to meet their needs. Financial crisis threatens to set back education worldwide, UN report warns (19 Jan 2010) UN News Centre. The global financial crisis threatens to deprive millions of childr in the world’s poorest countries of an education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, with a knock-on effect on future economic growth, poverty reduction and progress in health and other areas, according to a United Nations report released today. In the Shadows, Day Laborers Left Homeless as Work Vanishes Jan. 1, 2010. With their isolation and day-to-day existence, the laborers are perhaps the most invisible and hardest-to-reach victims of the recession, advocates and New York city officials say. By Fernanda Santos, New York Times. Anbody Seen Pati? Dec. 26, 2009. The recession in the U.S. is felt at a grass-roots level in Honduras. By Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times. GUATEMALA Women Eke Out a Living in Informal Economy IPS (16 Feb 2010) According to the third regional report on the labour market in Central America and the Dominican Republic produced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Central American Integration System (SICA), 64 percent of women in the labour force in the region work in the informal sector, compared to 50 percent of men in the workforce. Progress Towards Gender Equality, Women's Empowerment "Uneven," Says Top UN Official (3 Mar 2010) Progress across the globe for gender equality and women's empowerment remains "uneven," particularly in economic and social policies, a top UN official stated as the United Nations opened up a two-week-long 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Also highlighted were several areas of the uneven progress, namely in the workforce where women are disproportionately represented in informal work and poorly paid. "The persistent unequal sharing of unpaid work between women and men, including caregiving, adversely affects women's choices and opportunities in the labor market." Ela Ramesh Bhatt of India to Receive 27th Niwano Peace Prize CNW Group (24 Feb 2010) The Niwano Peace Foundation will award the 27th Niwano Peace Prize to Ms. Ela Ramesh Bhatt of India in recognition of her contribution for more than 30 years to improving the lives of her country's poorest and most oppressed women workers. Ms. Bhatt, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi's teachings, is widely recognized as one of the world's most remarkable pioneers and entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development. Known as a "gentle revolutionary," she founded in 1972 the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a trade union now with more than 1.2 million members. Better Living Through Artistry Design Observer Group (18 Feb 2010) SEWA’s Trade Facilitation Centre, a cooperative textile manufacturing company in Ahmedebad, India, is no sweatshop, but part of a vast, productive network of self-employed women. CENTRAL AMERICA: Women Eke Out a Living in Informal Economy IPS (16 Feb 2010) According to the third regional report on the labour market in Central America and the Dominican Republic produced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Central American Integration System (SICA), 64 percent of women in the labour force in the region work in the informal sector, compared to 50 percent of men in the workforce
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