WIEGO is conducting a series of workshops as part of the inception phase of a new five-year participatory research and advocacy project on workers’ health funded by Co Impact, with the first workshop currently underway in Salvador, Brazil.
Building on previous engagements in India and Brazil as part of WIEGO’s Workers’ Health pillar, these workshops will bring together workers in informal employment, as well as researchers, activists, government representatives and public authorities. The workshops aim to deepen understanding of workers' experiences with the Brazilian and Indian health systems, explore popular demands related to health and safety at work and discuss possible action strategies to strengthen the public health systems in order to meet the needs of workers in informal employment in Brazil and India.
“These workshops are crucial for bringing together important stakeholders – including policy-makers, academics, activists and health practitioners – who, ordinarily, do not directly engage with one another on the topic of health and safety and the informal economy”, says Christy Braham, who serves as WIEGO’s Workers’ Health Coordinator and is the research lead of this project.
“Organizations of workers in informal employment who are members of our network have played a leading role in co-constructing the agenda of these workshops and this broader project - creating space to amplify workers’ voices and lived realities of exclusion from the right to health, and building an inclusive dialogue with policy-makers, researchers and practitioners. During these dialogues we draw out our shared priorities with regards to strengthening the health system in favour of those in the most marginalized forms of work, where risks to health, livelihoods and dignity are the greatest,” says Braham.
The two-day workshop in Salvador, Brazil – held on 11-12th March – is hosted by the Instituto de Saúde Coletiva (Institute of Collective Health) of the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) and Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia (IFBA).
In India, WIEGO has collaborated with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (ICMR-NIOH). A workshop focused on state-level engagement in Gujarat will be held on 18th March in Ahmedabad - followed by a national roundtable on 4th April in Delhi.
WIEGO will also be represented at the workshops by Kuhika Seth, Project Manager, Ana Carolina Ogando, Research Coordinator, and Sonia Dias, Waste Specialist.