ReturnSEWA’s visit to CNTS in Senegal
By Seyni Man. Ndiaye, Secretary in Charge of Informal Sector CNTS, Senegal and Falguni Patel and Aisa Suleman Pathan, SEWA, India
The exchange visit was discussed by StreetNet affiliates SEWA and CNTS Women’s Committee and a programme drawn up for the visit for information-sharing and learning about the work the respective organisations are doing to develop social security schemes for their members - women working in the informal economy. After corresponding with each other to plan the programme and draw up a budget for the first part of the exchange visit, the SEWA delegation’s visit to Senegal took place between 14-29 Nov 2007.
The delegation comprising SEWA members Falguni Patel and Aisa Suleman Pathan, were welcomed by a delegation from CNTS led by Fatou Bintou, President of the Women’s Committee on the 15th November at the CNTS office. This was followed by a briefing with all the board members of CNTS. Lastly, before closing the session, the visiting delegation shared briefly about the SEWA social security programme for its members.
The SEWA visitors learnt that Senegal is a country having a population of 10.5 million. They have 3-4 million workers in the formal economy. The rest are informal sector workers. It is mainly an agricultural country and few industries exist. Many industries in the field of textiles and fishing were shut down and as a result, many workers were affected. CNTS started to organise informal workers. The majority of the workers who lost work were women.
CNTS is the biggest trade union in Senegal. Membership of informal sector workers is 24 000 and for formal sector workers is 60 000. CNTS has started a bank (mutual for credit) for their women members so that they can borrow and build income with the objective of establishing solidarity. Some of the reasons for the mutual are:
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Financing is an option that helps women to expand their work and increase their income.
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Women’s main problem is access to financial resources, social protection and social security.
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Informal sector workers are not taken into account by the authorities.
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Workers in the informal economy can work when young and usually have access to income. However, they have no protection in their old age as there is neither work nor any kind of social security.
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Since the government is not doing anything about providing social security to the informal sector, CNTS feels that it is the trade union’s responsibility to do something about it.
The CNTS Women’s Committee
The Committee was formed by members of CNTS, associations of women, women of Economic Interest Group (EIG) and street vendors. Every CNTS union in all regions of Senegal has a Committee of Women (CW), managed by the CW president. The objective is to have more people in the Committee of Women and also to bring women to a decision-making position, to have women occupy the national space and have the same advantages as other members. The government has been planning to have a structure for the informal economy but with a new Government in power, the implementation has been delayed.
CNTS calls street vendors’ meeting
SEWA visitors Falguni and Aisa noted on the 15th November:
In the morning, we were told that the street vendors in Dakar were being harassed a lot by the police. The president has ordered to get all the streets cleared up for an Islamic summit coming up in March 2008. The police not only drive away the vendors but also arrest the vendors and take into custody their sellable items (that are never returned). Hence the vendors are facing a tough time at the moment. In order to address this issue, CNTS had arranged a meeting with all concerned - board members and representatives. We were introduced to all those present. …There was a good turnout of people for this meeting.
Day 2: 16 Nov 07 - Visit to social security office
Madjiguène Medor facilitated the meeting between the delegation of visitors and the Women’s Committee with the Social Security office of Senegal, where they were briefed on their social security programme for the family, and disability benefits for the workers in the formal sector. If an informal sector worker wants to join, she pays a monthly fee of 60 FCFA (US$ 0.14). However, most don’t like to join this programme because of the formalities with which they have comply, some of which would preclude them.
The president of the administration council of the Mutuelle d’Epargne et de Crédit for workers solidarity (MECSO), presented on the structure of the institution, emphasising its mission and its development plan. M Alioune Fall, General Secretary of the Fund, explained in detail the implementation plan for social protection in the informal sector. A document which provided more information had been compiled and was given to the SEWA delegation.
In the afternoon the delegation visited a taxi station. From this taxi station, outstation ferrying is done: so it is a home to many drivers and many other workers. They met thelocal women leader of the area and later, many women workers engaged in different trades - running restaurants, selling car oil and spare parts, doing laundry, ironing, selling dry fish, and others. The SEWA delegation noted a similarity to some of the communities in Ahmedabad, particularly “Bhaipura”, “Chamanpura” and the “Shankar Bhuvan” area.
Day 3: 17 Nov 07 -Visit to Rufique town market
On the third day the delegation was welcomed by Fatou Thioune, the President of the Rufique Town Association. She is herself a garment stitcher. They were taken for a walk through the town to meet with the members of the association and met market and street vendors (most of them were fruit vendors), dyers and beauticians. Again, the SEWA delegation observed how similar the problems of vendors in Senegal are to those of Indian vendors, when the vendors said that they are harassed by the police since vending is not considered legal.
Meeting with Sandaga Market vendors
Back in Dakar, the delegation went to the Sandaga market. Unfortunately, on this day, the authorities had initiated a “cleaning operation” and chased vendors from the street. Nothwithstanding, the bitter atmosphere, the delegation was able to visit some of the stalls, to discuss and share with some of the people there and to express their support. Falguni and Aisa noted:
Sandaga market in Dakar is one of the main market places of the city. So we were able to meet many vendors. We also visited a vegetable and meat market. Half the street was deserted mainly because of police patrolling. Some of the vendors were there but they were not selling. They shared with us that some of them had put their belongings in the shop on the street. But they are never sure when the shopkeeper can turn down their request of providing a space for their belongings out of the fear of police… . We shared with them the plight of vendors in India that is very similar to theirs.
Some of the vendors also shared with us that when the present president wanted to come into power he allowed all street vendors to continue with their work. But now that he has been elected he has forgotten all his promises and wants to chase away the street vendors under the pretext of traffic congestion and wanting to clear it for upcoming Islamic Summit.
We were informed that CNTS along with concerned associations is organizing a March on 21/11/07, Wednesday. The march will be from CNTS office to radio broadcasting office. As per our understanding it will be a silent march with no one speaking or protesting but to put their point forward to the Government that whatever that is happening is not correct. Their concern is that the authority should allocate the vendors a vending place so that it is win-win situation for everyone.
On Sunday, the visitors were taken to a nearby island called Gore Island. The island used to be an important port for trading of slaves. Slavery existed in the 16th century and lasted for 400 years.
Day 5: 19 Nov 07 - Visit to Credit Mutual in Pikine District
On the last day the delegation visited one of the banks in the nearby Pikine district where Madame Syni Mané Ndiaye, president of EIG, presented on the structure and explained the functioning of the system and the features of the credit bank (mutual) and its community shop. They learned about the “Economic Interest Group - EIG” (similar to Self Help Group - SHG in India). Women in the informal sector join an EIG. Mainly, they are in need of finances most of the time to carry out their activities or expand their work. Since the EIG is also a part of the bank they get the benefit of getting loans from the bank whenever needed. Apart from that, the other members of EIG contribute in some way when any woman in a group has some ceremony at her place. The minimum strength of an EIG is 7 members while the maximum is 30 members. 60 groups together make one zone. During the course of our conversation, we learned that the average income of workers in the informal economy is 3000 - 4000 FCFA (US $7 - 9). Women need to save a minimum of 1000 FCFA monthly (US$2).
Evaluation of the visit
The last activity of the visit was the evaluation. The visits made by the delegation were discussed. Overall, it was a good experience for both sides. In conclusion, the working visit of the delegation of SEWA was successfully accomplished and very much appreciated by all parties. SEWA looks forward to the second half of the visit which will be made by the CNTS delegation to SEWA in India, to learn about its social security and health programmes for its members.