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StreetNet International Affiliates 

Alliance of Zambian Informal Economy Associations (AZIEA): Formed on October 17th 2002. 

Membership: Open to street and market vendors, hawkers, and informal economy workers in Zambia. Of 12 member association, 4 are street vendor and 8 market vendor associations. There are 47 100 members. Membership fees are paid annually. 

Objectives: 

  • To promote a spirit of unity and solidarity among members;
  • To negotiate for better working environment with local and central government. 

Vision: 

  • To promote the full recognition and protection of informal economy workers in community and national development; 
  • Organise campaigns;
  • Lobbying and advocacy with local and national government; negotiations; 
  • Skills development and capacity building. 

Office bearers: President - Elvis Nkandu, General Secretary - Lameck Kashiwa, National Co-ordinator - Mike Chungu.

Associacao dos Operadores e Trabalhadores do Sector Informal (ASSOTSI): Mozambique. Formed in 1999. 

Membership: City-based alliance of membership-based organisations of market vendors, hawkers and informal sector workers. Members pay monthly subscription. A register is maintained of members. Number of members - 4256. 

Aims: 

  • Promotion and encouragement of unity within operators and workers in informal sector; 
  • Promotion and defence of their rights and interests;
  • Contribute to organisation of the informal sector and improve the quality of services. 

Office bearers: President - Ramos Marrengula, Women's Co-ordinator - Cecilda Mulungo, General Secretary - Jose Ubisse.

CNTG Confederation Nationale des Travailleurs de Guinee (CNTG): Formed in 1960. 

Membership: CNTG organises street and market traders and hawkers among its other members in the formal and informal sectors, and the private and public sectors of the economy. Organises countrywide.  Number of members - 6 500. Members pay an annual registration fee. A membership register is kept. 

Objectives:

  • To offer financial assistance to members ie have financed; traders with micro-credit for purchase of eggs and soaps; 
  • Training. 

Office bearers: Executive Secretary - Fatoumata Bah; General Secretary - Rabiatou Diallou; Women's Committee - Haiwa Bangoma.

CNTS (Confederation National des Travailleurs du Senegal): Formed in 1968.

Membership: National trade union organising informal economy workers, including market vendors, street vendors and hawkers. Number of members - 3 000.

Aims and objectives: 

  • Defend the interest and rights of members;
  • Participate in the economic and social development  of the country.

Vision:

  •  Work for the creation of decent work opportunities;
  •  Unemployment insurance for retrenched workers;
  •  Establish national health insurance fund for informal economy workers. 

Office bearers: Secretary general - Mody Guiro; Informal Economy Organiser - Ngone' Thioure Diop;  Women's Organisation - Fatou Binetou Yaffa.

 

CTCP (Confederacion de trabajadores por Cuenta Propia), Nicaragua: Formed in 2000.

Membership: National alliance of membership-based organisations of street vendors, market vendors and hawkers, co-operatives and associations of own-account workers in the informal economy. 60% of members are informal traders. It has 28 736 members.

Vision:  Institutionalise the work which is performed in the informal sector of Nicaragua through a process of organisation, mobilisation, capacitation, legalisation and mainstreaming of the unions by means of voluntary participation in democracy - economic, political, social and cultural that will guarantee the wellbeing of the workers and their families.

Objectives: 

  •  Encourage among members the need for responsibility, unity, solidarity, cooperation, honesty and respect;

  •  Create a mutual fund for members against illness, occupational accidents and against the effects of natural disasters; 

  • Fund cooperatives with the object of promoting savings among members and to facilitate the purchase of articles that are necessary for the economic and social rights of union members;

  •  Promote study and the intellectual and social development of members;

  •  Be watchful that the legal rights of the workers are protected, and to protest to the department of labour about the irregularities which occur in the context of own-account workers;

  •  Participate in processes for integration of the worker onto conciliation boards, commissions for minimum wage, courts/hearings of workers and other official organs; 

  • Represent affiliated unions in making written demands on behalf of the union leaders in demanding the rights set out in the respective contracts and agreement between central government, the local government and private and the public institutions;

  • Celebrate the collective advances and achievements of the worker and be vigilant  in defending the rights which are contained in social contracts.

Office bearers: Secretary General- Adrian Martinez Rodriguez; Secretary Organisation - Orlando Mercado Mendoza; Secretary International Relations - Marvin Mareno Corea; Secretary Women - Marta Milena Garcia Cerda. 

Click here for website CTCP

Eastern Cape Alliance of Street Vendors, South Africa: Formed in 2001 

Membership: City based alliance of membership-based organisations of market vendors, street vendors and hawkers in city areas of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Number of Members - 2960. Members pay annual subscription fee.

Objectives:

  • To combine street vendors of the Eastern Cape and to speak with one voice;
  • To fight for their rights;
  • Is to open the doors to Government for street vendors; hawkers and organisations involved in informal economy organisation. 

Office bearers: Chairperson - Fundile Johnson Jalile. 

FEDEVAL (Federacion Departmental de Vendedores Ambulantes de Lima), Peru: Formed in 1979 

Membership: Street and market vendor associations in Lima. Among the grassroots federations which belong to FEDEVAL are FEDITAR, a district federation of street vendor workers in Rimac, FEDITAS and the District Federation of Street Vendor Workers of San Martin de Porras. Represents street vendor associations of the Lima Metro. It affiliated to Central Unitaria (CUT) in 2000. Number of Members -       10 202. 

Objectives:

  • Promotes  modernization and formalisation of street trade, and creation of self-managed markets;
  • Organisation and representation of street vendors, and improvement of their working conditions;
  • Development of enterprises for informal traders.  

Office bearers: General secretary - Manuel Sulca. 

 

 

FENASEIN (Federation Nationale des Syndicats), Niger: Formed on 27 December 2006. 

Membership: National federation of informal economy trade unions and covers many sectors mostly artisans and includes, stevedores/dockers, taxi workers, commerce, street and market vendors, mechanics, building, wood and forestry, clothing and garment workers/tailers. Members - 3140.

Aims and Objectives:

  • Improvement of living and working conditions of members of affiliates to achieve emancipation and social wellbeing;
  • Unite and organise and safeguard the freedom to organise and to encourage the advancement of  members;
  • Ensure that the economy is organised to serve the people.
  • Promote the social economy and solidarity.

Vision and Mission: Contribute to the promotion of trade unionism that is democratic, builds freedom and social justice and human rights.

Office-bearers: Zada Foumakoye - Secretary General; Souly Zeinabou - Deputy Secretary General; Boubacar Salifou - Secretary Finance. 

FNBCC (Federation Nationale Des Travailleurs Du Bois et Construction du Cameroun): Formed in 1 March 2000.

Membership: National trade union which has among its members market vendors and street vendors, and hawkers. FNBCC has 6405.

Aims and objectives: 

  • Organisation of workers in the formal and informal sector.
  • To protect and watch over rights, interests and development of its members, in the economy, and industrial, commercial and and agricultural sectors. 

Vision: For education, and information-sharing for all its members at all levels and in all places. Organise trade union activism to advance the street traders, market vendors and hawkers. Defend the trade union freedoms and rights, in accordance with the agreement of the CT of Cameroon and the ILO Convention 87 and 98.

Leadership: Secretary General - Mekanda Donald; Treasurer - Monop Valentine. 

FNOTNA (La Federación Nacional de Organizaciones de Trabadores No Asalariados) (CROC), Mexico: Formed in 1982

Membership: National alliance of organisations of non-salaried or own-account workers.  70% of members are informal, market and mobile traders. Informal sector workers form part of the agricultural and forestry sectors, in mining, manufacturing (crafts, etc), as well as the construction sector.  However, where this sector has the most impact is on services provided, micro trading, street vending, transport of goods and passengers by taxis, various types of repairs, domestic workers; amongst many others, in these type of activities, capital is non-existent or very limited and quick income is obtained, although this income can hardly be considered a product of entrepreneurial  activity. There are 7000 members.

Objective: Organise non-salaried or own account workers.

Activities: The actions of FNOTNA have been directed to providing social security, housing, life insurance and funeral insurance, as well as ways of accessing credit, to non-salaried workers.

These services are paid by the non-salaried workers affiliated to FNOTNA, by means of agreements which reduce the cost of obtaining these services, however there is a long way to go with regard to protective mechanisms with costs that can be afforded by the workers themselves, such as: sickness subsidies; accident compensation; annual vacations and maternity leave – these are practically non-existent for workers in the informal sector.

Within FNOTNA it is recognised that the opportunities for generating union strategies for this sector are still limited, although there is a great need to protect the labour and social rights of workers in the informal sector.

Office bearers: Secretary General - Gilberto Vasquez Muro; Secretary International Relations- Herhandez Hoyuela; Juan Castill Paz - Executive Committee.    

click here for website of FNOTNA

Ghana StreetNet Alliance: Formed in 2003. 

Membership: National alliance of membership-based organisations of street vendors, traders and hawkers. Member organisations are 10 of the Ghana Trade Union Congress' 17 national unions involved in informal sector trading activities and the Centre for Informal Activities and Development. Other members are: Makola Market Traders Union; Takoradi/Sekondi Market Traders Association, Ghana Young Christian Workers, Street Food Vendors Association and other associations. Plan to cover all of Ghana's 10 regions. The Alliance's vision is to protect and promote the rights of street and market traders. There are 5 810 members.

Objectives:

  • Expand organisation at district, regional and national levels;
  • Build capacity and leadership of women;
  • Build base of information on street traders' numbers and situation;
  • Document and disseminate information on effective strategies for promoting and protecting the rights of street traders;
  • To prioritise the interests of low income street vendors;
  • Advocacy efforts, national campaigns to promote policies that can contribute to improving the lives of members. 

Office bearers: Chairman - FX Owusu; Vice Chairperson - Deborah, Yemotely Quaye; Treasurer - Lucy Phillis Addipah; Secretary - Juliana Brown Afari.

 

 

 
Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT): Formed in 2005.  

Membership: National alliance of urban street vendor and informal trader' associations. Street vendors and informal traders become members of the Alliance through their urban alliances. There are 6 050  members drawn from 140 local associations that form the seven urban alliance: Mombasa, Machakos; Migori; Nakuru; Kisumu; Eldoret and Nairobi. The Alliance's organisational structure is: National Executive Committee; Management Committee; Urban Alliances Committees and Local Association Committees. 

Vision: The vision of the Alliance is to transform street vending and informal businesses into corporate establishments. 

Mission: The Mission of the Alliance is to organise and empower street vendors and informal traders in order to improve their business though training, access to credit, dialogue with local authorities and other relevant authorities on appropriate by-laws and policies that give recognition to, and bring an end to harassment and discrimination against traders. 

Aims and objectives:

  • Fight for full recognition and support of street vendors and informal traders;
  • Ensure equal representation of women and men in leadership positions; 
  • Represent street vendors and informal traders national and internationally. 

Office bearers: Chairperson - Simon Sangale Nasieku; Vice-Chairperson - Teresa Akong'o; General Secretary - Peter Odhiambo Okello; Vice Secretary General - Bernard Maingi Isika; Treasurer - Virginia Wangui; Organising Secretary - Reuben Oraba; Vice- Organising Secretary - Rose Simon.

Khatang Tema Baitsukuli Association, Lesotho: Formed in October 2000.

Membership: The association is open to street and market traders and informal economy workers. It organises in 10 districts of Lesotho. Membership - 111 paid up members. 

Aims and objectives: 

  • Buying of commodities in bulk to reduce expenses eg transport; 
  • Building members' wholesale markets;
  • Building one team to fight for members' rights; 
  • Spread the association to districts. 

Vision and mission statement:

  • To sell and market fruits and vegetables and to provide meals and clothing along the streets;
  • to provide training and education to our members to enable them to run their business; 
  • to build the economy and develop the families of the entire membership. 

Leadership: President- Tsolo Lebitsa; Members of executive committee - Lucia M Konyana; Alice Semamane Moqatoselile. 

Korean Street Vendors' Confederation (KOSC): Formed in October 1988.

Membership:  Street and market vendors. Organised by regions (a region has more than 50 members) and branches (less than 50 members). KOSC was formed after street vendors held a Convention to Protect Street Vendors' Right to Live in Seoul in 1988. The KOSC is composed of more than 30 local federations which have their own branches, with 5 681 members. Members pay their fees to branches, branches pay a portion to their local federations, and local federations to the centre of the KOSC. 

Objectives:

  • To stop the repression against street traders and obtain the  legal rights of street vendors to earn a living;

  • To stop the repression against street traders and obtain the  legal rights of street vendors to earn a living;

  • To build street vendors' unity and the legal recognition of NFSVK; 

  • To obtain free medical service for the poor; 

  • To obtain social security for the elderly;

  • To acquire permanent rental housing for street vendors without homes; 

  • To acquire a cost of living allowance from the government for those selling their goods for less than 180 days or who earn below minimum cost of living; 

  • To realise the free education for the children of street vendors; 

  • To acquire free credit as street vendors' seed money from the government; 

  • To eliminate all laws, institutions and traditional practices which oppress street vendors   and deny them their right to free political activity; 

  • To eliminate underemployment which continuously creates street vendors and the poor;

  • To support social responsibility of street vendors ie 1 stall for 1 family, prohibiting the buying or selling of a stall, cleaning near the stall; 

  • To work for the democratisation and unification of Korea and progress of the society. 

Office Bearers: Chairperson - Lee Pil-du; Co-ordinator - Shin Hie-Chul.  

Click here for website KOSC
LDFC (Ligue pour les Droit de la Femme Congolaise): Formed on 15th May 1999.  

Membership: Street and market vendors, hawkers and informal sector workers. The organisation has 265 street vendors, 135 market vendors and 100 hawkers members and a total membership of  720. The members are based in three provinces, Kishasa, Bandundu and Bas Congo.

Objectives:  

  • Empower women to know and defend their rights;
  • Assist women to discover the potential and to exploit these for their development and to resolve the problems of the community; 
  • To ensure the organisation of the young women who are destitute and without means by income generating activities; 
  • Promote equality and respect for people in the work environment;
  • To work for equal participation and integration of the women in decision-making;
  • Initiation of micro-projects through a participatory approach.

Vision: The women of the Congo are capable of protecting and defending their rights and also capable of participating in all decision-making; 

Mission: The promotion and protection of the rights of the Congolese women and to ensure their harmonious development. 

Interventions: 

  • Defence of women's rights and democracy and training (men and women) on gender rights and management; 
  • Development and fight against poverty: new cultural techniques; spread appropriate technology and management approaches; start kitchens for people who are destitute; active solidarity in the case of catastrophe.
  • Information-sharing and reinforce the partnership between men and women based on equal opportunity.

Office-bearers: Angélique Kipulu Katani - Secretary General; Huguettee Songabau - Deputy Secretary General; Francois Munganga - Administrative Secretary; Urbain Bizadi - Projects. 

Malawi Union for the Informal Sector (MUFIS): Formed in 2002.

Membership: Street and market vendors, hawkers and informal sector workers. Of its members, 1400 are street vendors, 500 market vendors and 150 hawkers (mobile vendors). Members pay monthly membership fees. Paid up members - 5 000.

Objectives: 

  • Protect the rights and interests of members;
  • Encourage full participation by members in the union; promote legislation that is in members' interests;
  • To affiliate with both local and international organisations that have similar objectives to MUFIS. 

Vision: 

  • To assist, represent and educate its members to further their businesses. 

Office bearers: President - Ken Williams Mhango; Vice-President - Patricia Chimbayo; General Secretary - Davies Chimombo.

National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI): Formed in September 1998

Membership: Registered under Societies registration Act of 1860, NASVI constitution provides for: membership to Trade Unions, community based organizations, NGOs and professionals like Lawyers, Teacher, Doctors who have been associated with the cause of street vendors. Membership based organizations contribute 50 paise per vendors member of that organization annually. NGOs and individuals pay Rs. 100 annually. Only membership-based organizations have the right to vote. Open to all vendor organisations. 226 organizations representing vendors from 18 states. Members - 50 100.

Objectives: 

  • Was formed at the initiative of SEWA to work for the formulation of a National policy for street vendors; 

  • Lobbying for policy changes at city, state and national levels; initiating dialogue to find solutions to problems in which there is direct communication between street vendors' representatives and the authorities; 

  • Organising meetings in cities and towns of India and building local networks on issues where interventions are necessary ie; hawking zones, licences; 

  • Capacity building of street vendor organisations which focus on need to develop long term strategy, sustainable organisation, to face municipal corporations, build linkages and involve women in leadership;  

  • Build an alliance of membership-based organisations and strengthen them; build and strengthen leadership of vendors and develop database on their numbers, conditions etc; document and disseminate successful organising strategies; 

  • Advocate for the rights and for legal aid of vendors and forge links with organisations for the benefit of street vendors in policy-making and law; to make available census information and the issue of ID and licences to vendors and encourage the propensity of the natural market place;

  • Advocate mechanisms for co-ordination among vendors and the different urban/district/regional authorities;

  • To promote different organisations like trade unions, co-operatives, associations and others among vendors; 

  • To make financial services available to street vendors and link them to the mainstream economy; 

  • Lobby and network for inclusion of spaces/places for vendors in urban master plans; to promote social security, including pension, insurance, health facility among vendors; 

  • Do awareness campaigns on health-related problems and make arrangements for preventative and curative methods; facilitate education (informal and technical) for vendors and their dependents, provide scholarships for dependents of vendors and child vendors; make street vendors a special component of the plans for urban development by treating them as an integral part of the urban distribution system; 

  • Sensitize officials and public about the issues affecting street vendors

  • Impart skills development in alternative employment; 

  • Enforce regulations and promote self-governance amongst street vendors; 

  • Organise special benefit programmes for women and physically challenged vendors and to build an old age home; 

  • Print and create media and documents to create awareness among street vendors and society;

  • Undertake relief work during disaster/emergency situations;

  • Encourage environmentally-friendly and cultural activities; 

  • Establish/construct markets for street vendors; 

  • Undertake programme to eliminate bad practices and habits of street vendors.

Office bearers: National Co-ordinator - Arbind Singh; Executive members - Manali Shah, Suresh Kapile. 

Click here for website National Alliance of Street Vendors of India (NASVI)
National Union of Informal Economy Workers' Organisations, (NUIEWO) Uganda: Formed in 2004.  

Membership: City-based alliances of membership-based organisations of informal economy organisations, in which market vendors, street vendors and/or hawkers are the main focus. Their are 420 000 informal traders who have joined, 80 000 who are paid up.

Objectives: 

  • To promote respect and observance of Informal Economy workers' rights; 
  • To work as a link between the members and the relevant authorities in representing the members and negotiating for better terms and conditions of work; 
  • Provide educational programmes that help address the needs of informal economy workers;
  • Undertake activities that help informal economy workers' organisations to build capacity in offering better services to their members; 
  • To undertake continuous recruitment and organising of new members into the union; 
  • Foster good industrial relations and encourage maintenance of good work practices;
  • To perform other duties and engage in other business as union may lawfully undertake.

Vision: To build an informal economy work force that shall enjoy its full rights for promotion of development. 

Office bearers:  National Chairman - Kayonga Godfrey Nkajja; General Secretary - Kalema John; Deputy Secretary General - Jjemba Barbra; National Treasurer - Nabunya Sarah; Woman Leader - Nakayemba Jancent. 

Nepal Street Vendors' Union (NEST): Formed in January 2001

Membership: A national trade union organising market vendors, street vendors and hawkers as well as small shopkeepers. NEST is organising in Kathmandu and has committees and membership in 15 districts. There are 4 410 paid up members.

Objectives:

  • Organise and safeguard the occupational interests of the street vendors;

  • To change the working conditions and improve the socio-economic conditions of the street vendors; 

  • To maintain good relationships with vendors and customers and others; 

  • To launch educational campaign for vendors; 

  • To advice the government in relation to labour policy and vendor policy;

  • To organise workshops and seminars and publish useful materials to uplift the socio-economic status of the self-employed and street vendors;

  • Hold dialogues for the protection of the vendor's interest; 

  • To guide and control member unions; 

  • To extend solidarity and moral support to the genuine demands and movements of people's organisations and trade unions in the nation and internationally; 

  • To work with various labour organisations and units under the policy and in consultation with GEFONT; 

  • To operate long-term funds for contingencies to assist vendors in crises; 

  • To publicize events and the cases of the humiliation and suppression of vendors and the launching of creative activities for improvement; 

  • Establish and operate co-operatives or other kinds of financial funds for the welfare and interests of the workers.

Office bearers: President - Narayan Neupane; Secretary - Lila Adhikari; Treasurer - Bharat Timsina. 

Self-Employed Union (SEU), Bangladesh: Formed in December 2001 

Membership: National union for self-employed people working in the streets as vendors and as home-based workers. Number of members - 2580 (2004). Members pay monthly subscription. Is affiliated to Bangladesh Free Trade Union Congress (BFTUC).

Vision: Protect the interests of the street and working women and men as well as to change their socio-economic position in society and the labour market by collective actions.

Aims and objectives:

  • Protection of working rights of self-employed men and women in the streets as well as in the informal sector;

  • Dialogue with the the government on the issue of policy and demands of the street workers;

  • Organising the unorganised men and women working on the street;

  • Conduct education and capacity-building training programmes for SEU members;

  • Gender Equality & Occupational Health and Safety;

  • Networking, advocacy and lobbying.

Office-bearers: President - Farida Akter; General Secretary - AR Chowdhury Repon.

Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), India: Formed in 1972

Membership: "Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) was registered as a trade union in 1972 and since then has been organising women in the informal economy. Belonging to various trades and services, SEWA members are divided into four major categories on the basis of their work. They are home based workers, vendors, hawkers, laborers and service providers and small producers."

The informal economy accounts for 93% of Indian work force. Of the women's work force in India, more than 94% are in the unorganised sector. They work for long hours, on very low wages and are mostly illiterate. There are no protective laws for them who are economically very active, contributing significantly to the Indian economy and the society but are nonetheless exploited, discriminated against and marginalized.

SEWA has worked towards their visibility and for integrating them in the mainstream. Their needs, struggle and development have always been central to our objectives. Today, SEWA has 700,000 members located in 7 states of India. Membership of paid up hawkers and vendors is 50 050.

Activities:

SEWA believes in the Gandhian philosophy of Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Sarvadharma (integration of all faiths, all religion) and Khadi (preparation of local employment and self reliance).

SEWA organized women through its joint strategy of struggle and development. It undertakes several activities based on members needs and priorities. Some of these are union struggles, cooperative economic, organizations, supportive services like banking and credit, health care, child care, shelter, legal-aid, insurance, capacity building, training through Sewa Academy, research and communication services.

SEWA members are the Directors of the SEWA Bank, managers of their cooperatives, leaders of their trade groups, camera persons, designers, and barefoot doctors, engineers, researchers, bankers. They change their own situation for the better and in doing so change society and their own men folk. In the SEWA movement, women are the leaders.

Today, we are very pleased to be users of the digital technologies in reaching out to our members and also new and extensive audiences. We do this through satellite communication, Video SEWA, and our websites. " (We the Self-Employed, Vol. 1, No. 1)

SEWA is the largest union organising informal economy workers and has made application to register as a national Central Trade Union.

Office bearers: National Co-ordinator - Renana Jhabvala; Vice President - Manali Shah. 

Click here for website  Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA)

SINTEIN (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores na Economia Informal de Sao Paulo): Formed in 1992

Membership: Regional alliance of informal economy trade unions and associations organising market vendors, street vendors and hawkers. Number of members - 3 000. 

Aims and objectives:

  • Organise informal economy workers and street and market vendors and hawkers;
  • Legalisation of all unlicenced street vendors (not only the elderly and disabled) in order that they can earn an honest living without harassment;
  • Build solidarity among workers in different sectors of the informal economy;
  • Work for the creation of legislation that gives informal economy workers recognition and accords them the same rights as workers in the formal economy;
  • Negotiate with lending organisations to secure lower interest rates and longer periods for loans to be repaid to properly service the needs of the working poor of the informal economy.
  • Creation of an economic forum with stakeholders from all relevant sectors (municipal, government, business, labour, police, financial institutions, environment and heritage organisations, to debate the use and preservation of the public space and environment. This will create a conducive atmosphere for all to live in peace and harmony, to work and  produce goods and services in the city for the benefit of the community.

Office bearers: President - Jurici Sampaia; Finance - Yara Machada; Secretary - Ricardo Moreno.

Website: SINTEIN (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores na Economia Informal de Sao Paulo)

 

Street Vendor Project, New York, United States: formed in 2001.

Membership: A city-based alliance of membership-based organisations of street vendors and hawkers in New York.

Aims and Objectives: 

  • To create and advance social and economic justice for the 10 000 hardworking entrepreneurs who sell food and merchandise on the streets and sidewalks of New York City. 

Vision:

  • We believe that people who wish to vend on the streets of New York City should have a fair chance to do so; 
  • That vendors should have a voice in the political system that determines their rights; 
  • That vendors are a central part of the fabric of our city. 

Office bearers: Director - Sean Basinski; Organiser - Judi Gatore F. Mukarhinda.

 Click here for the web site of Street Vendor Project 

SUDEMS (Syndicat Unique et Democratique des Mareyeurs du Senegal): Formed in July 2000.

Membership: Fish vendors, distributors and processors working in different regions of Senegal. It has 3258 members.

Objectives:

  • Organise all the workers in the fishing sector into one big organisation; 
  • Put forward and defend the rights and material, moral and cultural interests of their members;
  • Coordinate action in the struggles against all the systems of oppression, alienation and the satisfaction of workers' legitimate demands; 
  • Struggle to safeguard the respect and extension of trade union rights; 
  • Organise for the unity of workers.

Office bearers: Administrative Secretary - Fatou Gueye; Treasurer - Madou Mdiaye; Organising Secretary - Baba Ndiaye; General Secretary - Mamadou Fall.

 

SYNAVAMAB (Syndicat National des Vendeurs et Vendeuses et Assimiles des Marches du Benin): Formed in 1992. 

Membership: Formed by the UNSTB trade union centre. Open to street and market vendors in the markets of Benin and street hawkers. It has 9 015 members. 

Objectives: 

  • Organise the market and street vendors of Benin;

  • Working for improvement of markets (infrastructure; management; child-care facilities; sanitation; electricity; security etc). In the Dantokpa Market in Cotonou where there are 18 500 vendors with selling sites and approximately 8 000 other mobile hawkers and wholesalers, the union works with the trade union USYNVEPID which is organised by a different trade centre, on several joint activities: negotiations training; project management skills (also developing a manual); literacy classes; building a pre-school and a programme on child labour with the involvement of the ILO. 

  • Lobbying government for lower taxes on market vendors. 

Office bearers: President - Justine Chodaton; Office bearers - Francoise Codjovi; Pascal Da Lokonon.
SYVEMACOT (Syndicat des Vendeurs de Matériaux de Construction du Togo): Formed on 26 March, 1999.

Membership: National trade union of informal traders of building materials. Number of members - 292.

Objectives: 

  • Gather together and monitor all the vendeurs of construction materials in the country; 
  • Secure the development and growth of activists; 
  • Inform, train and educate the members on their rights and obligations and to defend the moral and material interests of its members. 

Vison: 

  • To conduct process of briefings and setting of demands with the authorities with the appropriate national and international authorities. 
  • Organise seminars and meetings for information-sharing and days for reflection and mobilisation, and training workshops.

Leadership:  Secretary-General - Ayao Gbandjou; Deputy Secretary General - Komi Mensanh Kessouagni; Treasurer - Comlan Johnson 
Tanzanian Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO): Formed in January 1996 

Membership: Commercial and industrial trade union organising formal and informal sector workers with informal trader organisations as members. TUICO has 45 000 members of whom 1500 are informal traders.

Aims and objectives: To improve the standard of living for our members and defend their rights and interests through collective bargaining agreements and negotiations.

Mission: Contribute to social and economic development of society.

Leadership: Chairperson - Ayoub Omary Juma; Secretary General - Boniface Y Nkakatisi; Deputy Secretary General - Alquin Senga

USYNVEPID-CSPIB Groupement des Femmes de L'Union Syndicale des Vendeuses de Pieces Detacheés et Divers du Marché Dantokpa, Benin: Formed in October 2001.

Membership: Women traders at the Dantokpa Market, Cotonou. Number of Members - 1 921. 

Objectives:

  • Formed as an autonomous group of women traders within USYNVEPID. Its objectives are to protect the interests of its members who work at the Dantokpa Market, Cotonou, Benin.

Vision: 

  • Work for economic integration, social emancipation and social equality.

Office bearers: President - Clarisse R Gnahoui; Secretary - Henriette Oke Houessou; Treasurer - Augustine Idjo.

Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations: Organisation started in 2002 and launched in November 2004.

Membership: ZCIEA organises all people engaged in informal business activities and is a national alliance of membership-based organisations that includes market vendors, street vendors and or hawkers such as unions, co-operatives and other type of associations. There are 150 member associations that are grouped into 45 chapters (4 404 paid up members).  Members pay an annual subscription fee. 

Objectives: 

  • To protect the interests of the informal economy players;
  • Development of entrepreneurial skills through training;
  • To mobilise resources to improve and increase business.

Vision:

  • Decent standards of living for all Zimbabweans in a stable economy; 
  • Alleviating poverty through transforming informal economy activities into mainstream activities.

Leadership: Secretary General - Wisborn Malaya; President - Beauty Mugijima.

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