#31 Online Capacity Building on Social Protection for Informal Workers

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the world in many ways. People all around the globe had to adapt to this new reality, and it was no different for informal workers leaders that struggle to improve their organizational strength. Capacity building, one of the key aspects to increase the voice and visibility of workers, also had to be done differently. Traditional, in person events, such as exchanges, field visits or in person training sessions had to be pushed back to give room to this virtual learning environment. And new tools were created to enable better experiences, and bring people closer, despite of the social distancing. In this context, StreetNet International and WIEGO rolled-out, last year, a 7 week-pilot training on social protection with informal workers leaders from 11 anglophone and francophone African countries. The course enabled these workers to increase their grasp on social protection issues to keep improving their advocacy efforts on the ground, while there were still travel restrictions in place. To talk about the potential and challenges of online training for informal workers – and to tell us more about this online course on social protection for informal workers – we invited three guests. First, you will listen to our talk with Sandra van Niekerk. Sandra is an Independent Education Management Professional and she worked closely with StreetNet and WIEGO in the development of the online materials for both the English and French courses. In the second part, I talked to Maira Vannuchi. Maira is StreetNet organizer for the Americas and responsible for the workers education strategy of StreetNet. And finally, I have talked to Venance Majula. Venance is an informal worker and Media and Communication officer at TUICO, the Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers, and he was one of the participants of the course. *** References Report: Enabling Social Protection within the Informal Economy: Lessons from Worker-led Schemes in Nigeria, Uganda and Togo – by StreetNet and WIEGO https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/resources/file/Enabling%20Social%20Protection%20within%20the%20Informal%20Economy%20for%20web_0.pdf VIDEO: Learning about State-sponsored social protection in Kenya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOpBIERW3Fg Blog: Worker’s Story: Sizakele Ncube’s new sewing machine brings both improved income and new worries, by Annie Devenish https://www.wiego.org/blog/worker%E2%80%99s-story-sizakele-ncube%E2%80%99s-new-sewing-machine-brings-both-improved-income-and-new-worries