The Ford Foundation has announced a five-year, $25 million grant to WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing) in support of efforts to protect informal workers and promote equitable global economic recovery.

According to the foundation, workers in informal employment arrangements, including domestic and home-based workers, street vendors, and waste pickers, account for more than 60 percent of the world’s workforce, and 90 percent of workers in developing countries; but they often lack basic labor protections, benefits, and social security and have been largely excluded from COVID-19 emergency cash and in-kind transfers by governments. WIEGO, a global research, policy and advocacy network focused on empowering the working poor — especially women — in the informal economy, will regrant the funding to global networks representing millions of informal workers in more than ninety countries. Recipients will include HomeNet International, which represents 600,000 home-based workers who manufacture, package, and sell an array of products, including electronics, clothing, footwear, foods, and automobile parts; International Domestic Workers Federation, which represents 600,000 domestic and household workers who provide services such as child care and house cleaning; and StreetNet International, which represents 735,000 street and market vendors.

“We know there can be no global recovery without informal workers,” said Sarita Gupta, director of the Ford Foundation’s Future of Work(ers) program. “This grant recognizes the importance of ensuring billions of informal workers have a seat at the table to have their voices, demands, and needs heard at the national and global levels, so policy makers and business leaders recognize their contributions and value. We are proud to support these women-led informal worker networks that are generating a global demand for social and labor protections for more than half the world’s workers.”

(Photo credit: HomeNet International)