Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (Wiego) and UN Women have put together an initiative called Coping in Crisis: Informal Workers’ Lives and Livelihoods during Covid-19. It aims to show the gendered impact the pandemic has had on women, particularly those in the informal trading sector.
The organisations spoke to several informal workers and traders who detailed how difficult Covid-19 had made their lives from being harassed by metro police and having their goods confiscated, to worrying about how to feed their families and how to get their children to school.
Wiego’s policy brief says the plight and needs of women informal traders can be summed up as follows:
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Working with Waste Pickers is Essential to an Inclusive Economic Recovery
SAWPA members conducting door to door waste collection in Vaal Park, South Africa. Photo Credit: Focalize Media
01 March 2021 - The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about devastating economic turmoil across the globe. Consequently, the agendas of many governments are currently centered on economic recovery, job creation, and poverty alleviation. A new report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), shows how government investment into zero waste systems presents an opportunity for economic recovery and social justice. The report highlights that through forging partnerships with informal recyclers using dedicated economic recovery funds, governments can make a transition to zero waste city systems. Based on research from countries in the global south such as South Africa, Brazil, India, and China, this report finds that inclusive zero-waste cities have le
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Zero Waste Found to Be a Key Strategy to Build Strong, Sustainable Economies Post-COVID-19
16 February 2021 - A new study from GAIA finds that cities that invest in zero waste programs and policies create good green jobs, in addition to known benefits of reducing pollution and improving community health. This report comes as municipal governments worldwide are making critical decisions about which programs to invest in to increase climate resilience and rebuild local economies that have been damaged by the COVID-19 crisis. The study projects that
if Durban were to recover 80% of recyclable and organic material in its waste stream, the city could create over 4,000 new jobs.
24 Nov 2020
By Tebogo Maleka and Petronella DeWet
South Africa has more than 60,000 waste pickers who play a substantial role in the waste management industry of the country, collecting 80 to 90% of used recyclables collected on an annual basis. As one of the most vulnerable communities in the country, they were profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Under the stringent level 5 lockdown regulations, their daily earnings were impacted by the restrictions on movement. Since the lifting of these restrictions, they have been exposed to the increasing risks from handling waste that could be contaminated by the coronavirus.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has responded to the situation by working with stakeholders to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to members of the South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA) at four integration sites in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape earlier this year
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