Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) is a
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
-based global
research
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
-
policy
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...
network focused on improving conditions for
workers in the
informal economy
An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither Taxation, taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developin ...
. WIEGO's members include membership-based organizations of workers in the informal economy, researchers and development professionals.
[Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing & Organizing](_blank)
(WIEGO)
The WIEGO network was founded in 1997 by a group of ten activists, researchers, and development practitioners, following a specialist's meeting on the informal economy in
Bellagio, Italy.
Among the founders was Professor
Martha Chen
Martha Alter Chen (born February 9, 1944) is an American academic, scholar and social worker, who is presently a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior advisor of the global research-policy-action network WIEGO (Women ...
, a
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
Lecturer in Public Policy and currently a senior advisor with the network. The founding steering committee chair was Indian civil rights leader Dr.
Ela Bhatt
Ela Ramesh Bhatt (7 September 1933 – 2 November 2022) was an Indian cooperative organiser, activist and Gandhian, who founded the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) in 1972, and served as its general secretary from 1972 to 199 ...
.
In July 2007, WIEGO was registered as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee in the UK (WIEGO Ltd.) with a formal Constitution and Articles of Association. In 2011, WIEGO was granted charity status by the
Charity Commission for England and Wales
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Government that regulates Charitable organization, registered charities in En ...
(Registered Charity No. 1143510).
[
In 2023, WIEGO, through its International Coordinator, Sally Roever, was recognized at the Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Awards.
]
Mission and Goals
WIEGO's stated mission: "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." Its objectives, as detailed in the Register of Charities,[Charity Commission, England and Wale]
1143510 - WOMEN IN INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: GLOBALIZING AND ORGANIZING (WIEGO) LIMITED
/ref> are "to relieve poverty in particular the poverty of the working poor in the informal economy caused by low earnings, high risks, and adverse working environments and conditions associated with the informal economy worldwide (including non-standard or unprotected employment for formal firms)".
Programmes and Activities
WIEGO supports working poor women by aiming to ensure they have adequate information, knowledge and tools and can mobilize around their rights, enhancing their safety and their earnings. The network does not set an agenda but rather supports domestic workers, street vendors, waste pickers, garment workers, smallholder
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...
farmers and others in articulating their own demands and participating directly in policy and planning processes.
Specific Research and Action
WIEGO commissions research that focuses on improving statistics on, and analyzing policies relating to, the working poor
The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...
who make their living in the informal economy
An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither Taxation, taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developin ...
. Membership-based organizations (MBOs) of informal workers are always involved in the identification, prioritization and design of WIEGO activities.
Impact of Global Recession: In 2009 and again in 2010, WIEGO coordinated Global Economic Crisis studies to determine how informal workers were being affected by the global economic downturn. The study was executed by organizations involved in the global Inclusive Cities project, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Two rounds of interviews and focus groups were conducted with 102 home-based workers, 63 street vendors and 54 waste pickers in 14 cities across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2009, 77% of respondents reported their incomes had fallen in recent months, while 52% reported another decrease between mid-2009 and 2010.
Findings from the first study, completed in 2009, are captured in "No Cushion to Fall Back On: The Global Economic Crisis and Informal Workers". Findings from the second study are found in "Coping with Crises: Lingering Recession, Rising Inflation, and the Informal Workforce".[Inclusive Cities Study]
Coping with Crises: Lingering Recession, Rising Inflation, and the Informal Workforce
Synthesis Report by Zoe Elena Horn. January 2011
Domestic Workers' Rights: From 2009-2011, funding from the Government of Netherlands MDG3 Fund allowed WIEGO to assist domestic workers in their struggle for an international convention that would help secure their rights as workers. WIEGO helped establish the International Domestic Workers' Network (IDWN), and provided technical and strategic advice, research and capacity building, as well as assisting the IDWN in fund raising. Such practical support allowed domestic workers to represent themselves at the International Labour Conference (ILC) in 2010 and 2011. On June 16, 2011 governments, employers and workers from around the world adopted the Convention and accompanying Recommendation on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (Convention 189) at the 100th ILC in Geneva, Switzerland.
Structure
WIEGO represents a collaboration between membership-based organizations of workers in the informal economy, support non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
s, research and statistics institutions, national government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
s, and international development agencies.[WIEGO]
How We Are Structured
/ref>
Membership-based organizations of informal workers that are actively involved with WIEGO are asked to become Institutional Members. Individuals from the other two constituencies who are involved with WIEGO can become Individual Members. As of March 2014, the network had 172 Members – 33 Institutional and 139 Individual Members – from 40 countries.
A 11-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
Renana Jhabvala is an Indian social worker based in Ahmedabad, India, who has been active for decades in organising women into organisations and trade unions in India, and has been extensively involved in policy issues relating to poor women ...
, Self Employed Women's Association
Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), meaning "service" in several Indian languages, is a trade union based in Ahmedabad, India, that promotes the rights of low-income, independently employed female workers. Nearly 2 million workers are m ...
(SEWA)
* Mirai Chatterjee
Mirai Chatterjee is a leader of the Self-Employed Women's Association, SEWA (India). She joined SEWA in 1984 and was its General Secretary after its Founder, Ela Bhatt.
Mirai Chatterjee is currently the Director of the Social Security Team at ...
(Chair), Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)/India
* Lin Lim Lean, Independent Consultant/Malaysia
* Barbo Budin, Gender Equality and Projects Officer at the IUF
* William Steel, University of Ghana
The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country.
The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...
/Ghana
* Debra Davis
* Luciana Fukimoto Itikawa, Institute of Advanced Studies/ University of Sao Paulo
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
* Patrick Ndlovu, Asiye eTafuleni
* Uma Rani, International Labour Organisation, India
* Elizabeth Tang, International Domestic Workers Federation
* Gabriela Calandria, StreetNet International/AFFE, Uruguay
Key funders
* The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
* Department for International Development
The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...
(DFID)
* The Ford Foundation
* The Hewlett Foundation
* Government of the Netherlands, MDG3 Fund
* International Development Research Centre
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; , ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation. As part of Canada's foreign affairs and development efforts, IDRC champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developi ...
(IDRC)
* Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (, ) is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing coun ...
(Sida)
Notes
External links
*{{official website
Charities based in Manchester
Environmental justice organizations
Harvard University
Informal economy
International women's organizations
Organizations established in 1997
Precarious work