New York City, United States
The Informality, Decent Work and Inclusive Economies Roundtable took place on July 13 2017 in New York City, United States. The event, organized by the Ford Foundation, was a platform for debate on issues regarding informality, decent work, and inclusive economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The conversations gathered civil society organizations such as WIEGO, Circle of Arab Economists, Solidarity Center, and Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. WIEGO’s International Coordinator, Marty Chen, was one of the discussants.
Marty provided an overview presentation about informal work and workers in order to give general understanding about the topic. This included the main dynamics of informality in the labour market (wage workers, own account workers, etc.); the relation between informal work and broader economic growth models and paradigms; gender, race, ethnicity dynamics in informality; and mapping the main players, actors, and stakeholders. Marty was also interviewed by Ghada Abdel Tawab, from Ford Foundation, alongside Samir Aita, from the Circle of Arab Economists.
More Information
- Read Neoliberal policies and informal labor in the Arab region by Mohammed Said El Saadi
- View Samir Aita's presentation on informal employment in the Arab region.
ANND: The Arab Watch Report on Informal Employment 2016
Publications/Resources
- Samir Aita’s executive summary of the Arab Watch report.
- Samir Aita's background paper on Informal Labor in Arab Countries.
- Full report: Arab Watch Report on Informal Employment (only in Arabic).
- WIEGO’s contribution to the Arab Watch report: The Informal Economy in Arab Nations: A Comparative Perspective
- Visit ANND (Arab NGO Network for Development) website