by Pat Horn

Now  that StreetNet’s  first regional workshop has been held in Latin America, we have to start  preparing for the next  one in Asia, in November 2001, and the following one in  Africa, in the first half of 2002.

The aims of these regional workshops are as follows; 

1. To share experiences of street vendors in the region and to hear about  the experiences of street vendors in other regions.

2.  To share experiences about how the problems of street vendors have been overcome through  organisation, and information  about how other organisations  (in other regions) work.

3.  To make recommendations from the region about how to structure StreetNet as the international alliance of street vendors.

4. To make plans for building national alliances of street vendors (or any other form of national co-ordination) in the countries in the region between the workshop and the international launch  of  StreetNet in late 2002.

The Asian  regional  workshop  will be hosted by the National Alliance of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) somewhere in India. It is intended to organise a major event like an international street vendors’ fair just before or after the workshop, to give international prominence to street vendors and their social and economic rights.

If you are part of an organisation of street vendors anywhere in Asia, and your organisation is interested in being part of the regional workshop, you should contact the StreetNet office in Durban, South Africa, or the NASVI office in Patna, India. 

If you are not able to attend the regional workshop, we would still be very interested in receiving details about your organisation to put on our international data-base about street vendors organisations and their organising strategies. 

We are still discussing in which country in Africa we should hold the African regional workshop early in 2002, and which organisation we should ask to host that workshop. We would also like to be contacted by organisations of street vendors in Africa who are interested in participating in the African regional street vendors workshop, or even to just give us information about the organisation and its organising strategies to put on our international data-base.