Workshop/Consultation/Course

World Urban Forum 9, Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Street vendor in Bangkok

Photo by: Paula Bronstein, Getty images / Reportage

 

WIEGO attended the World Urban Forum 9 (WUF 9) with workers and organizers from HomeNet Thailand and the Federation of Informal Workers of Thailand. The delegation brought attention to the need for cities to work with informal worker organizations as they implement the New Urban Agenda to achieve truly Inclusive Cities.

The World Urban Forum is the foremost global arena for interaction among policymakers, local government leaders, non-governmental organizations and expert practitioners in the field of sustainable urban development and human settlements. WUF 9 focused on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda adopted at Habitat III.

 

WIEGO Side Event

Monday, 12 February

17:00 - 18:00
Room 401

Side Event - Towards Decent Work in Inclusive Cities

WIEGO, HomeNet Thailand, Oxfam, Street Vendors Project and the City of Songkla, Thailand present this side event on how promoting decent work – particularly for the majority of the world’s workers, who work informally – can contribute to inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities. In doing so, it directly addresses challenges laid out in both SDG 8 and 11 as well as the NUA. 

Additional Events

Friday, 9 February

15:00-17:00
Room 304

Networking Event - Cities for All: Addressing Forced Evictions

This networking event will showcase innovations and explore partnerships for slum enumeration, policies and practical approaches that increase spatial, social and economic inclusion. A strong focus will be devoted to the critical interface of forced evictions with gender inequality and migration flows. 

Sunday, 11 February

11:00-12:00
Next City World Stage

The contribution of informal worker organizations in building inclusive, safe, sustainable, and resilient cities (experiences from Thailand)

The contribution of informal worker organizations to SDG 11: Experiences from Thailand. Members of Federation of Informal Workers of Thailand will present along side WIEGO and HomeNet Thailand on how promoting decent work – particularly for the majority of the world’s workers, who work informally – can contribute to inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities.

14:30-16:30
Banquet Hall

Stakeholders' Roundtable - Trade Unions and Workers

While representing the large majority of city dwellers and urban communities, city workers – be them formal or informal, young, women, elderly or migrant – city workers and their trade unions are often invisible and underpaid, working and living in precarious conditions. This session will highlight and share the initiatives, partnerships and good practices through which trade unions, workers, mayors, allied civil society organizations and the ILO are fostering and contributing to the implementation of the NUA transformative commitment to decent work and to making cities and local communities equitable and inclusive.

Monday, 12 February

15:00-17:00
Room 407

Networking Event - Public Space as the Driver of Equitable Economic Growth in Cities, DFID/Cities Alliance

This networking event, hosted by the Department for International Development (DFID), elaborates on the potential of public space as a driver of equitable economic growth in cities. Building on the experience of the diverse membership of the Cities Alliance Joint Work Programme for Equitable Economic Growth in Cities the event highlights viable strategies and policy approaches available to cities to leverage the asset of public space as an enabler of economic and livelihood opportunities for all. A panel discussion will draw on the perspectives of Cities Alliance Members how inclusive public spaces can serve as a driver of vibrant city economies.

WIEGO Member Events

Friday, 9 February

14:00-15:00
Room 406

Women as Leaders in Meeting Slum Upgrading Goals: Learnings from India

Both the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs call for improving the habitats of the world’s one-billion slum dwellers (UN_Habitat). The implementation process to achieve these goals is “anchored in participatory urban processes.” Yet most participatory systems continue to marginalize the voices of those most impacted by poor quality housing – women members of these communities. This event will present a case study of the redevelopment of Abhuji Na Chhapra slum in the western Indian city of Gujarat. The case showcases a unique and replicable collaboration between a women-led communitybased organization (CBO), private developers and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. 

 

    WIEGOGlobal    @wiegoGlobal  Visit WIEGO’s Facebook and Twitter feeds for updates following this event.

    Additional Information

    Visit WIEGO's Habitat III page
     
    This document was developed by WIEGO through participatory consultative processes (including focus groups, surveys, and interviews) with member-based organizations (MBOs) of urban informal workers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America from May to July 2016. These expressed needs of informal workers can provide helpful guidance for local and national authorities as they seek to implement the New Urban Agenda in a participatory and inclusive way.
     

     

       

       

       

       

      Blog Posts and Articles

        Sally Roever World Urban Campaign piece: The People’s Economy and the Future of Cities
        Mike Rogan and Sally Roever, Creating "Cities for all" requires more than one-size fits all regulation
        Read WIEGO's response to the Zero Draft of the New Urban Agenda.
        Marty Chen Citiscope article: The New Urban Agenda must prompt planners to recognize informal labor
        Rhonda Douglas, Implementing the New Urban Agenda (WIEGO Blog, Jul 2016)
        Citiscope, via Asia Correspondent (Jan 2018): What Bangkok's crackdown tells us about the multiple roles of street vendors everywhere

       

       

      WIEGO WUF9 NUA logos

       

       

       
      Informal Economy Theme