By Repon Chowdury

The Bangladesh Self Employed Union (SEU) held a workshop on the 24th-25th March 2006 to formulate recommendations and an action plan for the development of a national street vendors' policy.

The workshop was attended by 40 participants from 10 hawkers' organisations and six national trade union centres. Four members from the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) as well as repres-entatives from four government and municipal agencies were invited by SEU to attend the workshop.

National policy

During the presentations and group exercises, participants identified the urgent need for the following issues affecting street vendors to be addressed in national policy.

• Recognition of street vending as an occupation;
• Identification of the state body responsible for street and market vendors' and hawkers' issues;
• Registration of vendors and hawkers;
• Recognition of trade union rights;
• Prevention of illegal payment to police and gangsters;
• Welfare and social protection of street vendors;
• Extension of low interest financial support by government;
• Special protection to women vendors working on the streets;
• Elimination of child hawkers and social rehabilitation.

The participants called on the government to form a National Task Force to draft a national vendor's policy immediately' with the necessary representation from street vendor organisations in Bangladesh.

The workshop also demanded that government call an immediate halt to the eviction of street vendors from major streets and markets, and municipal corruption and bribery.

Recommendations

The workshop recommended that participants:

• consolidate unity among street vendor's organisations to achieve common goals and greater welfare among those working in the sector;
• develop integrity with the trade union movement to promote workers' rights and social protection, position and strength;
• develop networks and collaboration among street vendors' organisations in which the Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) can play the role of catalyst.

Action Plan

• Arrange organisational level meetings to inform the members about the discussions and outcome of the workshop.
• Include the demand for a national policy in each organisation's demand list.
• Write a petition letter to the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition and lawmakers to support the urgent need for a national street vendors' policy and to call for a National Task Force.
• Develop the necessary campaign and education materials for the leaders and members of hawkers' organisation on policy issues;
• Conduct a detailed base-line survey on street vendors in Bangladesh, by December 2006;
• Organise a national leadership course for street vendors' organisations to develop effective dialogue and negotiation skills;
• Organise follow-up meetings to review the progress of national policy campaign between May and December 2006;
• Develop a draft policy (seeking assistance of a policy development expert) and organise a workshop to finalise the draft for onward submission to government/National Task Force (January 2007 to June 2007).

This was the first time that different street vendor organisations had assembled to discuss the national policy issues affecting them.

The street vendor organisations present included Bangladesh Hawkers' Federation; Dhaka Zilla Mohila Hawkers Kallyan Kendro; Bangladesh Sinnamul Hawkers' Somity (BSHS); Sangbadparta Sinnamul Hawkers' Somity and Bangladesh Sinnamul Hawkers' League (BSHL).

The national policy workshop was funded by Street-Net. OSHE and the Bangladesh Free Trade Union Congress assisted SEU in organising the workshop.

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