WIEGO seeks to promote a better understanding of how the working poor in the informal economy are inserted into the global economy, and with what consequences; and to identify strategies to promote fair trade for informal producers who want to export their goods and ethical trade for informal wage workers or homeworkers who work in global value chains.
Because the garment sector is one of the most globalized sectors and employs large numbers of women under poor working conditions, garment workers were the first category of the global informal workforce that WIEGO focused on.
The 10-city Informal Economy Monitoring Study (IEMS) evaluates the realities that informal workers face. Qualitative and quantitative research methods together have provided an in-depth understanding of how home-based workers, street vendors, and waste pickers are affected by economic trends, urban policies and practices, value chain dynamics, and other economic and social forces.
