This article was originally published here by the C40 Knowledge Hub. It is part of a new report Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery set out by leading mayors and a complementary set of policy briefs written by C40 for cities beginning their recovery phases which can be found here.

In many cities, the informal sector is larger than the formal sector, contributing huge numbers of jobs and more than a third of gross value added. In 2016, an estimated 80% of households in cities across Africa, Asia and Latin America relied on informal employment.

Informal economies also play a crucial role in sectors that have been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the Global South – for example, street food markets and vendors, waste management and recycling, and urban passenger transport. At the same time, informal workers often depend on natural resources for their livelihoods and the limited reach of environmental regulation means that the informal sector can add to environmental degradation, depletion or damage.

The good news is that by integrating and collaborating with informal workers, cities can support them to safely provide essential services during the pandemic and beyond, and even be a driver of environmental protection.

Establishing partnerships with informal workers

A collaborative and integrated approach is critical to supporting cities’ informal economies as part of a green and just recovery. Many cities are already adopting such an approach, by including and recognising informal workers and systems in public service provision.

Tapping the creativity and innovation of informal entrepreneurs can open the door to testing new and more inclusive business models that can be applied in the mainstream economy and deliver wider benefits

Cities that had already established partnerships or integrated approaches with informal workers have been better equipped and better able to mobilise these networks in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, in Johannesburg, well-organised informal cooperatives collect as much as 80% of post-consumer packaging and paper, saving the city an estimated ZAR 750 million per year in landfill. Recognising this contribution, as part of its Covid-19 response, the city gave informal traders special permits to continue working.

Here, we outline four actions and considerations for cities to establish strong partnerships with informal sectors as part of their sustainable pandemic recovery.

1. Open up spaces for dialogue, capacity-building, co-learning and collaboration

  • Inclusive and accessible spaces for dialogue and negotiation with informal-worker networks: Design spaces to invite and enable inclusive participation. For example, formal meeting rooms in official government buildings with high-tech power points can be less inclusive and accessible than a community centre with posters or an open public space. Think about what you want to achieve, how different communities already meet, and what will work best in their community context.

  • Provide training for informal workers in advocacy and negotiation: Capacity-building can support informal workers in strengthening their voice and applying advocacy or negotiation best practice.

    • The City of SĂŁo Paulo has been working with waste-picker cooperatives since 2002, providing basic equipment, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), to workers in sorting centres. In 2009, the city set up a municipally funded training programme for waste-picker associations to gain qualifications in basic resource salvage, the management of cooperatives and solidarity economy enterprises. All profits from the sale of recyclables goes directly to the cooperatives.

  • Encourage organised informal-worker cooperatives and leaders to take part in decision-making**:** In many cities, informal-sector cooperatives and leaders are increasingly representing members’ needs, priorities and capacities, leading to better outcomes for both workers and the city. Still, too often, informal workers remain invisible in decision-making processes.

    • In 2012, a cooperative of waste pickers in Bogotá submitted a bid for the city’s waste-management contract. After much negotiation, the association formally became part of the city’s waste-management system in 2013. In 2014, Colombia passed a national ruling to replicate the model throughout the country.

  • Support the self-organisation of workers’ cooperatives, assist them in the mapping and identifying key stakeholders with whom they can negotiate and bargain, who they can tap for knowledge to co-design supportive policies, practices and services. Informality and Inclusive Green Growth goes into more detail on this topic.

2. Work to shift perceptions and strengthen evidence-informed decision-making

  • Promote a shift in perceptions about informal economies, also by publicly recognising the contribution of informal workers to their cities: Informal work is often associated with loss of revenue, illegality, unfair competition, human-rights abuses and environmental degradation. However, it should be recognised for the resilience, entrepreneurship, resource efficiency, flexibility and innovation of its activities and workers, as well as the contribution those workers make to their cities, such as keeping cities clean and reducing waste. This will help to facilitate a city-wide shift towards a more constructive and collaborative relationship with informal-sector groups and workers.

    • Cape Town’s 2009 Informal Trading by-law, last amended in 2013, is an example of an open declaration about the positive contribution of informal traders to the city.
    • Bogotá has launched a "recycling is the way out" campaign that asks its citizens to separate their waste during quarantine to ensure that it is delivered to cooperatives in good condition, publicly recognising the valuable work and effort of recyclers in the city.

  • Collaborate with informal groups to build an evidence base on informal workers’ demographics, needs, capacities and vulnerabilities: Women, children, indigenous people, migrant populations and youth are often overrepresented in the informal economy. A lack of information is a key driver of exclusion. With an evidence base, cities and workers can better inform supportive and protective policies, particularly with respect to workers’ rights.

  • Advocate for national-level changes in attitudes and policy: For example, changing legislation to enable city governments to integrate informal transport systems and workers, also by bringing private systems under public control where appropriate, as advocated by Dan Mihadi, general secretary of the Transport and Allied Workers’ Union in Nairobi in an International Transport Workers’ Federation podcast. This has been done in some Latin American cities, including Bogota and Santiago.

3. Improve working conditions, building on Covid-19 response initiatives

  • Scale-up understanding of safety measures: Informal working conditions often involve higher exposure to occupational hazards and safety risks, as well as an increased likelihood of suffering from environment-related illnesses, accidents or death. Many informal occupations are also more exposed to Covid-19. Helping workers to reduce their exposure will not only reduce community transmission of the virus and the impact on informal workers, but also help to build trust and motivate opportunities for collaboration long term.

    • During the pandemic, Cape Town has shared guidelines for informal traders operating in streets, open-air markets and local spaza shops, developed by WIEGO. The city has also installed temporary washing facilities to help informal traders work safely. These measures have reduced risk for the traders and helped to maintain safe access to food for low-income communities.

  • Scale-up provision of appropriate health, safety and protection equipment: For example, Curitiba has provided protective equipment and prevention training to informal workers who are continuing to work as waste pickers during the pandemic_. Meeting demand for PPE, hospital beds and other equipment_ includes some information on sourcing protective equipment.

  • Improve physical working environments: During Covid-19, many cities have taken measures to reduce transmission of the virus, such as laying out clear separations for vendor carts and improving access to water and toilet facilities. Cities can build on this work to ensure that these improved spaces and facilities remain available to vendors after the pandemic.

    • In Ahmedabad, the city government is partnering with street vendors to provide a "vegetables-on-wheels" service. Vendors are issued a curfew pass so they can purchase food from wholesale markets, and the city government provides rickshaw drivers to drive the vendors and their stock on a designated route to sell produce.
    • In Fazilka, cycle-rickshaw drivers were organised as a registered enterprise, called Fazika Ecocabs. The municipal council created rickshaw stands in five zones. The smaller stands have a toilet and tea stall, while the larger stands also have a repair shop and canteen. In return for the rent-free space, the tea vendor often acted as a coordinator, dispatching rickshaws. By 2018, Ecocab was working in 22 cities in Punjab representing approximately 300,000 cycle-rickshaw drivers.
    • In Indonesia and Pakistan, informal settlement upgrading projects also include the improvement of marketplaces and kiosks for street vendors.

4. Integrate or regularise informal economies and innovate in formal sectors

  • Provide affordable and accessible services and processes. The level of integration of informal economies into municipal systems varies from city to city, but is gaining momentum, especially in the waste sector. By 2007, Quezon City, Pune and Lima were among the cities already on the path to integration; Pune was providing waste pickers with identity cards and health insurance, for example. To integrate informal economies and workers, cities can provide permits, social protection schemes, affordable and accessible healthcare, set basic incomes and make formal processes, such as business registration or tax regulations, accessible and affordable.

  • Integrate informal service economies with public service systems. For example, SĂŁo Paulo, Johannesburg, Curitiba, Bogotá and Accra have integrated informal waste and public transport operations into their public service systems and are reaping the benefits.

    • The experience of Bogotá demonstrates the potential of city-level actions and policies to influence, teach and leverage national-level policy change. The Bogotá-based, cooperative-led waste-management system now being replicated across Colombia has led to greater job security and a shift in incentives for workers to invest in their own houses, technologies and workspaces. Since 2009, Bogotá has also incrementally integrated and regularised the informal bus economy, with the Sistema Integral de Transporte Publico.
    • In Accra, the collaboration between the informal sector and the city government has increased waste-collection coverage from 75% to 90%, waste capture from 53% to 90% and recycling rates from 5% to 18%, saving the municipality $5,460,000 in annual operating costs.
    • Johannesburg successfully formalised informal minibus and paratransit networks by replacing 585 minibuses on popular routes with public buses. Under the scheme, existing minibus companies and drivers were invited to set up associations, through which they could buy shares in the new Rea Vaya bus network. Over 300 minibus-taxi operators became part-owners of the new service. Read how in the case study, Negotiating the deal to enable the first Rea Vaya bus operating company.
    • In Buenos Aires**’** Barrio 31 neighbourhood, informal settlement upgrading projects include an Employment and Entrepreneurship Development Centre that is helping to formalise 900 informal businesses operating in Barrio 31.

  • Learning from and integrating the inherent creativity, innovation and flexibility that exists within informal sectors: Tapping the creativity and innovation of informal entrepreneurs can open the door to testing new and more inclusive business models that can be applied in the mainstream economy and deliver wider benefits. For example, when competing traders work together by pooling resources or providing support, they build coalitions and social capital, which help to build resilient communities. Again, Informality and Inclusive Green Growth explains more about this.

More resources on informal workers and the pandemic

(Picture credit: Unsplash)

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