StreetNet Plan of Action 2000-2002

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Consolidating and extending StreetNet

Registering new member organisations will be ongoing.
Convening second International Congress (early 2007)
Meetings of the International Council and Executive Committee – ongoing as per the Constitution.

Leadership training for elected leaders – ongoing.

New regions

Development of contacts in new regions:

Caribbean & Central America
Eastern Europe

StreetNet should now gather information about new areas beyond Latin America, Asia and Africa, particularly the developing world. Work in the above areas should start based on the information gathered.

Research & documentation

Continued development of website in 3 languages.
Regular front-page changes with new current events.
Monitor and develop use of web page by street vendors.

Information on legislation and constitutional provisions in different countries/cities on livelihood rights, human rights and other provisions, to assist street vendors’ organisations in taking up legal battles – creation of an Urban Observatory of policies and laws in force regarding street vending in different cities around the world.

Social security

StreetNet will meet with WIEGO’s Social Security programme about work on the social security needs of street vendors, market vendors and hawkers specifically. The focus should be on social protection for mothers, children and the elderly, as well as business insurance.

12-page A4-size newsletter in Spanish, French, English to continue to be brought out 6-monthly – 3000 copies in English and 2500 in Spanish and French.

Meetings/workshops

Regional workshops of StreetNet member organisations and potential member organisations in the region, with the following objectives:

to share experiences of street and market vendors and hawkers in the region and to hear about the experiences of vendors in other regions;
to share experiences about how the problems of street and market vendors and hawkers have been overcome through organisation, and share information about how organisations in other regions work;
to identify useful programmes for StreetNet to undertake to strengthen the capacity of member organisations to effectively represent their members’ interests;
to identify ways in which member organisations can assist and actively support one another.

StreetNet and SATUCC (Southern African Trade Union Co-ordinating Council) have agreed to convene a joint workshop with 40 participants – two from each of SATUCC’s 14 affiliates and two from each of StreetNet’s 6 affiliates in the region, which are:

Khathang Tema Baits’okoli (Lesotho)
Malawi Union for the Informal Sector
ASSOTSI Mocambique
Eastern Cape Street Vendors’ Alliance (South Africa)
AZIEA Zambia
ZCIEA Zimbabwe

The purpose of the workshop:

will be to educate SATUCC affiliates in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region about organising in the informal economy. More than 50% of the SADC labour force is in the informal economy;
to develop ways for SATUCC and StreetNet to work together on promoting the organisation of workers in the informal economy in the SADC region.

Country workshops to assist organisations to:

come together to form national or city alliances;
identify ways of working together on various issues;
enter into joint collective bargaining with authorities.

Meetings/workshops on special themes, e.g.

collective bargaining for market vendors, street vendors and hawkers;
social dialogue and national policy negotiations;
laws regulating street trade and litigation;
urban planning and appropriate regulation;
participatory policy development.

Organisational support

Apart from the above mentioned educational activities which are all part of general organisational support, the following more specific support projects are envisaged:

assisting trade unions to organise street vendors in their countries;
assisting street vendors’ organisations to form city or national alliances (i.e. assisting with communication costs or the costs of convening meetings of different street vendors’ organisations).

New Country Projects: building new national alliances

To identify a country for a project to build a national alliance, we need to identify a suitable neutral local organisation with the capacity to assist all the different street vendors’ organisations to work together, in a completely inclusive way, to form a national alliance. StreetNet would then work in close contact with that organisation.

Exchange/field visits

1. Field visits by StreetNet officials to new areas in order to make new contacts with organisations organising market vendors, street vendors and hawkers (along the lines of field visits to different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America by the International Co-ordinator in 2000, 2001 and 2004).

2. StreetNet to continue to facilitate exchange visits between organisations in different countries/cities which are organising market vendors, street vendors and hawkers in order to learn more about the following from each others’ experiences:

organising strategies appropriate to workers in the informal economy, particularly market vendors, street vendors and hawkers;
how collective bargaining is done (what are the issues, which authorities are the negotiation partner, how does the organisation structure its own negotiating teams, how do the negotiating teams report back, etc.);
what gains have been made for the members, and how far can such gains be replicated;

how do the organisations build, administer and sustain themselves;

how do the organisations build their leadership (particularly women leadership) and develop their capacity;

comparison of organisational systems and structures, and how well they work;

what common experiences they have which they would like to share with other organisations of market vendors, street vendors and/or hawkers.

Educational activities

Many of the capacity-building activities which our affiliates will need to strengthen their organisation will involve various educational activities, which StreetNet does not have the capacity to do itself. In some countries we have been able to co-operate with workers’ education organisations affiliates to IFWEA (e.g. WEAZ in Zambia, PLADES in Peru) to ensure the implementation of educational activities. But in some countries there is a lack of the right kind of capacity. We are in discussion with IFWEA and some of its other affiliates (such as LARRI in Namibia, Ditsela and the KZN Workers’ College in South Africa, LEARN in the Philippines) about making use of their contacts and/or developing in them a capacity to undertake appropriate education and training programmes for workers in the informal economy. StreetNet will need to make substantial input on the content and course materials for such training, as very little appropriate course material exists for workers in the informal economy in most countries.

Policy work & training

Policy advice on the following (on request):

spatial regulation of street vending;
facilities for market vendors, street vendors and hawkers;
development of appropriate street vending bylaws;
appropriate taxation systems for market vendors, street vendors and hawkers;
appropriate systems of representation for organised market vendors, street vendors and hawkers.

Negotiations training for street vendors (on request) – AZIEA used a module in Zambia which was prepared by StreetNet for Ditsela to run an organisation and negotiations course for SEWU organisers. UNI has translated the course material into French and adapted it for use in francophone countries.
Negotiations training for municipal officials (on request);

on contract or project basis (as income-generation for StreetNet).

Training for trade unions on how to adapt their organising and collective bargaining styles for workers in the informal economy (on request).

Litigation precedents

Embark on a campaign to identify suitable areas for test litigation in different countries, as follows:

cases testing key legal issues of importance to street vendors;
cases where there is a strong organisation to work with lawyers;
cases where a good result will benefit large numbers of poor street vendors in an equitable way;
cases which entrench the human and economic rights of street vendors.

StreetNet can assist in the following ways:

provide background information to strengthen the facts on which the case is being argued;
give expert evidence as an interested third party in cases;
support street vendors organisations involved in cases by supplying them with information and prepared arguments.

Contact organisations or lawyers acting for street vendors whenever hearing about legal action being taken or contemplated, or when hearing about crisis situations which appear to warrant litigation.

When legal cases come to court, publicise the proceedings in the media, encourage street vendors and their organisations to attend the proceedings and hold public demonstrations to raise awareness of the legal rights for which street vendors are fighting.

Panel/public presentations

As a form of awareness-raising, StreetNet will continue to convene panel discussions and public presentations as a way of bringing organised market vendors, street vendors and hawkers onto public platforms to speak about the rights and policy issues which would improve the lives of market vendors, street vendors and hawkers worldwide. Particularly important would be the following kinds of platforms:

international mayors’ forums;
local government forums;
urban planning forums/conferences;
policy conferences.

Policy dialogues

Policy dialogues will be arranged in more countries, as opportunities present themselves.

World Social Forum

StreetNet intends to organise a series of events on organising in the informal economy in partnership with other interested organisations at the next WSF in Nairobi in 2007.

International forums

StreetNet will continue to ensure the representation of street vendors’ organisations in international labour forums such as the International Labour conferences of the ILO and the ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions), and other forums such as international conferences of Mayors, etc.

International Campaigns

World Class Cities Campaign – to challenge notions of “world class cities” which exclude the poor and drive street vendors out of work, whenever cities start to prepare to host big international events such as Olympic Games, World Cup match series, NAM or CHOGM conferences, etc. The idea is to launch the campaign and operationalise it in any country where an international event is coming up and the country is preparing to attack the livelihoods of street vendors. We will draft a campaign document for circulation and discussion, and we need to think of a good name for the campaign.

New Street Vendors’ Code/Declaration – to update and improve on the Bellagio Declaration which was drafted at the first international meeting on street vendors, we will draft a campaign document for a participatory campaign involving all our affiliates and other street vendors’ organizations sending in their views as to what should go into an international Street Vendors’ Code or Declaration, for discussion at the StreetNet International Council meeting in April 2006.

Work with Global Union Federations (GUFs)

1. StreetNet has undertaken a three-year programme of work in partnership with UNI (Union Network International) from 2005 – 2007 in eight francophone West African countries.

2. During this three-year period, based on the success of joint activities in Zambia and Brazil, StreetNet may undertake a more formal work programme in partnership with the PSI (Public Service International) after further discussion about capacity, programme management and other issues.

Specific projects

Member organisations wishing to put forward specific proposals for adoption as StreetNet projects, should send detailed proposals. The International Council will consider such proposed projects, and if it is agreed that it should be taken on as a StreetNet project, StreetNet will allocate existing funds, or try to raise funds for it. Such projects would include the following types of activities:

marketing projects, including import-export trade between member organisations;
technical assistance on trade issues;
reform of laws and regulations;
organising projects (organising street vendors);
fights against corruption;
empowering vendors not to be dependent on intermediaries.