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Bigué Cissé, a waste picker at the Mbeubeuss dumpsite near Dakar, Senegal, has been collecting plastic recyclables for 16 years to support her family of eight, including three children.

Bigué Cissé, is a waste picker who collects plastic recyclables at the Mbeubeuss dumpsite near Dakar, Senegal. She has been working in Mbeubeuss for 16 years and there are 8 people depending on her income, 3 of them are her children. Photo by Marta Moreiras

About Our Work in Dakar

In Dakar, since 2017, WIEGO has been working to support workers in informal employment to secure increased rights and protections and supportive policies. WIEGO’s work in the city currently focuses specifically on supporting organized waste pickers.

Goals What Are We Working to Achieve?

  • Waste pickers in Dakar are threatened by waste modernization projects that do not include them as stakeholders and that will eventually displace them from sites of work on dumpsites. WIEGO supports organized waste pickers in Dakar to secure a seat at the table in defining how their livelihoods should be protected in these projects. This includes support to articulate proposals for integration into the solid waste management system on secure and supportive terms, including through cooperative formation and doorstep collection. WIEGO’s support also involves capacity building in collective bargaining for waste picker leaders to advocate on the basis of these proposals with local and national governments.

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    The Waste Commons

    Enclosing open-air dumps and outlawing waste picking are key approaches to modernizing cities around the world. THE WASTE COMMONS explores the dramatic transformations involved in the impending upgrade of the city waste dump in Dakar, Senegal, and the lives that hang in the balance. It follows charismatic Zidane, trailblazing Adja, and their waste picker community, as they battle to defend their carefully crafted worlds and rights to waste.

  • Administrative justice is an avenue for workers’ organizations to defend their rights. In collaboration with WIEGO’s Law Programme and Organization and Representation Programme, Focal Cities Dakar works to build the capacity of organizations of waste pickers and street vendors to challenge decisions by local authorities that violate the principles of administrative justice, including the responsibility to behave lawfully, reasonably and fairly.

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How We Work

  • Research

    We coordinate and support action research, statistical and budget analysis, and good-practice documentation to ensure workers have a strong evidence base to support their advocacy.

     

  • Support to Workers’ Organizations

    We build capacity and organizational strength through skills training, leadership development, coaching and overall support to membership-based organizations of workers in informal employment in areas they identify as priorities.

     

  • Policy Advocacy

    We walk alongside workers organizations to co-create innovative proposals for policy change, drawing on both lived experiences and technical knowledge of their sectors. We bring together workers’ organizations and allies in advocacy efforts to engage government and other stakeholders on these proposals and fight for reforms.

The Latest Statistics on Work in the Informal Economy in Dakar

WIEGO does groundbreaking statistical work to help policymakers and workers understand the size and characteristics of the informal economy in cities across the world.

Access the latest statistics
  • 346,470

    Number of workers in informal employment in Dakar

  • 81%

    Of total employment in Dakar is informal

  • 91%

    of women’s total employment is informal in Dakar, while 77% of men’s employment is informal.