WIEGO General Assembly
21-23 April 2006
Blue Waters Hotel
175 Snell Parade
Durban, South Africa
Since it was founded in 1997, WIEGO has held four general meetings: in Ottawa (April 1999), Cambridge, USA (May 2000); Ahmedabad, India (January 2002); and Durban, South Africa (April 2006). The common purpose of all WIEGO general meetings has been to share experiences and knowledge, set priorities and frame issues, and review WIEGO’s past activities and future plans. Another purpose has been to expand and strengthen the WIEGO network.
The general meeting in Durban, held in April 2006, had an additional special purpose: namely, to launch the new governance structure of WIEGO as mandated in the new WIEGO Constitution ratified in October 2005. As such, it was a landmark event for the WIEGO network and marked the first General Assembly of WIEGO Members, both Institutional and Individual. To read the General Assembly Report, click here.
In all, 100 participants from 32 countries participated in the General
Assembly: 38 of the participants were Delegates from the 14 member-based
organizations that are Institutional Members of WIEGO; 37 of the
participants were new Individual Members of WIEGO; and 25 participants
were interested individuals from South Africa and elsewhere. An
additional 70 persons participated in the Urban
Policies Colloquium co-organized by WIEGO, StreetNet International
and the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu
Natal.
From all accounts, the General Assembly was a great success. The first event, on the eve of the General Assembly, was a walking tour of Warwick Junction, the primary transport node and street trade market in Durban, followed by a briefing on the Warwick Junction Renewal Project by Richard Dobson, the architect visionary behind the project. This field visit inspired those of us who participated and reminded us why we are concerned about the working poor in the informal economy; and, by so doing, got the General Assembly off to a very good start. To view photos from the trip to Warwick Junction as well as the meeting, please click here.
Materials from the General Assembly as well as session presentations are available by clicking here. Highlights of the substantive discussions during the General Assembly included the following:
- Governance Structure: WIEGO was
able to explain - and get endorsement of - its new governance
structure, including approval of the new Steering Committee and
election of representatives from the three WIEGO constituencies
to a Nominating Committee. For the out-going WIEGO Steering Committee,
it was a very gratifying moment to witness the official launch
of the governance structure that it had deliberated about for
several years.
- Programs and Plans: the WIEGO Programme
staff were able to present and get feed-back on the five
Programmes of WIEGO during a) two break-out group discussions
per programme; and b) meetings of WIEGO’s three constituencies
(delegates from member-based organizations; researchers and statisticians;
staff of development agencies).
- Budgets: WIEGO was able to explain
- and answer questions - on what costs are covered under its core
budget and programme budgets and how these budgets are developed
and funded.
As planned, the old Steering Committee of WIEGO met right before the General Assembly to discuss the agenda of the General Assembly and related issues. And the Advisory Committees for each of WIEGO's five Programmes met immediately after the General Assembly to discuss feed-back from the General Assembly and to modify the two-year plans for each programme, accordingly. After the Advisory Committee meetings, the Programme and Secretariat staff of WIEGO met over dinner to being strategizing about how to implement the many good ideas coming out of the General Assembly. Finally, the new Steering Committee of WIEGO met right after the Urban Policies Colloquium to debrief on all of the events and to discuss the feed-back on our governance structure, programmes, and budget. The new Steering Committee took the decision to devote a good deal of time, energy, and resources over the next year to develop a Communication and Dissemination Strategy, which was the key suggestion or mandate coming out of the General Assembly.
A number of side meetings - both planned and spontaneous - took place around the General Assembly, including:
- Waste collectors international meeting:
Laxmi Narayan from Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (an organization
of waste collectors in India), Martin Medina of the Institute
for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan, and Chris Bonner
of WIEGO’s Organization and Representation Programme met
to discuss how to move forward on the existing plans (and funding
proposal) to convene an international meeting of waste collector
organizations.
- Street trade in Ghana: 12 participants
from Ghana - including people from each of WIEGO's three constituencies
- caucused to discuss current policies and practices that are
likely to restrict street trade in Accra and result in additional
confrontations with authorities. The caucus agreed to consult
the municipal authorities to try to seek a more effective plan
of action. Most members of this group had met at an
earlier meeting in Accra on the informal economy in Ghana.
- "Organizing in the Informal Economy"
international meeting: Members of the International Coordination
Committee (ICC) met to discuss plans for the September 2006 meeting
in Ghana on organizing in the informal economy.
- Exposure Dialogue Programme in Durban:
Namrata Bali of SEWA, Karl Osner of the German Association for
the Promotion of North-South Dialogue, Imraan Valodia from the
University of KwaZulu Natal, and Thandiwe Xulu, a former organizer
of SEWU, met to discuss preparations for the Exposure Dialogue
Programme being planned for March 2007 in Durban as part of the
on-going dialogue between Cornell University economists, WIEGO
researchers, and SEWA organizers and members. Namrata and Karl
spent one day and one night with Thandiwe and her family to determine
how the exposure methodology might need to be adjusted to suit
the context of Durban and neighboring townships.
- ILO Convention on Homework: Dan
Gallin and Karin Pape of the Global Labour Institute met with
representatives of HomeNet South and South East Asia to discuss
plans for pushing for ratification of the Convention and/or national
policies based on the provisions of the Convention in different
countries.
- UN Habitat-WIEGO joint panel on\for the World Urban Forum: Sharit Bhowmik of WIEGO Urban Policies Programme, Caroline Skinner of the University of KwaZulu Natal, and Marty Chen met with Frederico Neto from UN Habitat to plan our joint panel at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver in June 2006.
In addition to meetings and side-meetings, there were a number of
more light-hearted happenings during the General Assembly, including:
- "Fun Dinner” at the BAT Centre
in Durban Harbour area: Francie Lund and Shannon Moffett
organized the evening at which participants were greeted and,
later, serenaded by street musicians. WIEGO participants feted
Ela Bhatt, the out-going and founding chair of WIEGO and founder
of SEWA, we paid tribute to Beth Graves, Marais Canali, Shannon
Moffett, and Suzanne Van Hook (the Logistics Committee), Francie
Lund and Caroline Skinner (our remarkable Durban hosts), and Chris
Bonner (who helped plan the event) – each of whom contributed
in so many ways to making the General Assembly work so smoothly
and making the participants feel so welcome.
- Singing and dancing: WIEGO participants
sang and danced after a couple of the dinners. On one occasion,
Linus Ukamba led the group in singing trade union and civil rights
songs, changing the lyrics of some to incorporate WIEGO issues
and personalities.
- Sand sculpture of WIEGO logo: At
the end of the General Assembly, William (Biff) Steel announced
that participants should all go out to the beach in front of the
hotel for a group photo - when they reached the beach we found
a large sand plaque with the WIEGO logo on it. Biff Steel, Renana
Jhabvala, Imraan Valodia and Sarah Gammage had commissioned two
local beach artists to make a sand sculpture of the WIEGO logo
on the beach in front of the Blue Waters Hotel where the General
Assembly was held.
- WIEGO limerick and song: After most major WIEGO events, Biff Steel composes a limerick. This year’s limerick is called “WIE GO to Durban”. Some years ago, Biff changed the lyrics of "Hi! Ho! Hi! Ho! It's Off to Work We Go" to "WIE GO! WIE GO!”.
Many participants in the General Assembly stayed on in Durban for another successful event: the Urban Policies Colloquium called “’World Class Cities’ and the Urban Informal Economy: Inclusive Planning for the Working Poor”. The Colloquium featured an opening session to set the stage (including a vision and framework for inclusive urban planning); a session on workers’ perspectives (featuring representatives of home-based workers, waste collectors, and migrant workers); a session on comparative experiences of implementing inclusive urban plans (from India, Brazil, and Durban itself); and a two-part policy dialogue (featuring current initiatives in South Africa, from Pietermaritzberg/Msunduzi, KwaZulu Natal province, and Cape Town, to include street vendors in urban and provincial plans and current efforts by organizations of street vendors to negotiate inclusive urban plans in Brazil, India, and Zambia).
Conference Information
- General
Assembly Agenda
- Session Materials
and Presentations
- WIEGO General Assembly
Photo Album
- General
Assembly Participant List
- List of WIEGO Members