How the Informal Economy Can Build Resilience

In a blog post for the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Sonia Dias outlines how cities can harness the power of informal workers to build resilience and economic diversity, particularly in countries where informal economies are a thriving part of the local economy. “Recognising street vendors, domestic workers, home-based workers and waste pickers by acknowledging their key role in urban economies and their co-production of urban plans, will help create cleaner, greener, socially responsive, vibrant, and ultimately resilient cities.”

As Dias explains, the Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) research policy network has released a roadmap called Rights to the City that charts a set of principles that “envisions cities with diverse and inclusive economies that ‘safeguard and ensure access to secure livelihoods and decent work for all inhabitants.’”

These principles include “Recognition that most informal activities are legitimate efforts by the urban poor to forge their livelihoods in often hostile policy environments,” “Regulations that enable access to public space and natural resources for informal livelihood activities,” and “Provision of basic infrastructure and transport services in informal settlements and informal workplaces.”

“The ability of cities to withstand shocks and crises is predicated by the ability of communities, informal settlements and different sectors of the economy – including informal ones – to prepare, react, resist and bounce back.” To this end, Dias writes, “Recognition and strengthening of informal economies may be a key way to increase urban resilience.”