WIEGO’s Organization and Representation Programme supports groups of workers in informal employment to unite into membership-based organizations and networks across cities, countries and regions.
The Programme uses research and education tools to ensure workers in informal employment have the confidence and skills to achieve their goals, and be recognized as workers.
We also strengthen the links between worker organizations and the trade union and cooperative movements, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other global institutions.
The Organization and Representation Programme supports the depth and scale of organizing by membership-based organizations so they can improve the working conditions and livelihoods of their members.
We ensure organizations have access to worker education so they can navigate collective negotiations, advocate effectively, mobilize and build alliances.
Collective voice is a precondition for worker organizations to assert their position as negotiating partners. The Organization and Representation Programme supports workers in building strong, democratic membership-based organizations that are led by workers.
With the solidarity, knowledge and skills to fight for their rights, worker organizations can achieve change. These wins are tangible – for example, legal and social protection, basic services, and access to resources.
Governments, corporate actors and others who exploit workers know no borders – so the fight against this exploitation must be global.
The Organization and Representation Programme supports workers in informal employment to unite into membership-based organizations at all levels, including international networks.
This means providing worker education through the WIEGO School, so workers can exchange the knowledge and skills they need to organize effectively, maximizing their ability to build collective power and influence.
It also involves documenting strategies from the Social and Solidarity Economy – a way of organizing work that centres human well-being, democratic and participatory decision-making, and collective ownership.
We support workers to bring their voices to the world stage with demands and policy positions at international forums, on issues such as labour rights and climate change.
For more than 25 years, WIEGO has helped workers voice their issues at the International Labour Conference to influence the creation of international labour standards that regulate the world of work.
We use various formats to communicate workers’ demands: position papers to establish their perspectives, data and arguments on policies, briefing notes to inform and influence decision-makers, and a platform of demands to outline what workers want and why.
The Programme also provides training on strategies to implement ILO Recommendation 204 on the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy, so that workers across sectors of the informal economy can use the standard to negotiate.
The Organization and Representation Programme conducts participatory research alongside worker organizations to document worker victories and good practices in organizing.
We support worker organizations to influence policies, working alongside them to share their demands, arguments and evidence to inform decision-makers.
The Programme helps build the organizational and negotiating capacity of organizations of workers in informal employment, and develops worker education training and materials through the WIEGO School.
The Organization and Representation Programme works with organizations and networks of workers in informal employment to support them as they create and maintain robust membership, effective elected leaders, accountable and democratic structures, and financial self-sufficiency.
This project, which began in 2018, works to document and enhance the contribution of waste picker organizations in preventing ocean waste pollution. It improves the capacity of waste picker organizations to be formally integrated into solid waste management in their cities.
Read MoreThe Reframing Informality for Economic Recovery project is designed to bring workers in informal employment into economic policies on terms that support their agency.
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Achieving gender balance and democratic leadership for all workers in informal employment is the focus of this MBO Newsletter. Many questions...
Read MoreThe Statistics Programme works with official statisticians and data users (including workers in informal employment) to improve statistical methods that will make visible the size and significance of the informal economy and the situation of those working in it, and shares the data in accessible formats.
Statistics ProgrammeThe Urban Policies Programme works to improve workers’ incomes and the security of their workplaces and homes, and supports workers in negotiating gains in urban policies and practices.
Urban Policies ProgrammeThe Social Protection Programme supports workers in informal employment to access social protections throughout their life cycle, helping them to mitigate risks to their incomes and cope after shocks.
Social Protection ProgrammeThe Law Programme strives for the recognition, inclusion and protection of all workers’ rights in laws and regulations. We also train workers to use the law in their fight for labour rights and protections.
Law Programme
