Resource Center

WIEGO supports, strengthens and connects organizations of the working poor to enable them to amplify their collective voice in the policy making and rule-setting bodies that affect their work and lives. WIEGO conducts and sponsors research and helps the development and improvement of official statistics on informal employment and the informal economy to increase the visibility of workers in this sector. Their work focuses predominantly on urban informal employment around the globe, which falls into these four occupational groups that employ large numbers of poorer working women: Domestic Workers, Home-Based Workers (including Garment Workers), Street Vendors and Waste Pickers. WIEGO does this work across five Programmes and five Focal Cities, as well as through many Special Initiatives. Because of direct engagement with organizations of workers in the informal economy, WIEGO’s analysis focuses on the concrete reality of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy and their research and policy agenda reflects their needs and demands. Alliances between their three constituencies – worker organizations, researchers and statisticians, and development practitioners – have created a grounded understanding of the informal economy, rigorous findings and informed analysis, and leverage and influence of informed policymakers.