scholarly journals Waste pickers in the informal economy of the Global South: included or excluded?

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 280-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Coletto ◽  
Lieselot Bisschop
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Global South ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Waste Pickers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the role and practices of informal waste pickers and the implications for waste management policy in urban contexts of the Global South. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative case studies were used, including interviews, observations and document analyses. The authors compared informal waste management in two cities of the Global South: Accra (Ghana) and Porto Alegre (Brazil). Findings The analysis points out that informal waste pickers play a crucial role in the implementation of waste policies in both cities, despite differing economic, social and institutional contexts. The study of the waste management system also points to multiple connections between informal and formal parts of the economy. Although the informal waste pickers are integral to the waste management systems, their economically disadvantaged position excludes them from the formal labour market. Faced with these challenges, they develop creative solutions to guarantee their livelihood and gain more effective collective voice. Research limitations/implications The comparison of two case studies, conducted about the same social phenomenon in two different economic, institutional and social contexts, has limited generalisability but is theoretically and practically important. Practical implications The findings are relevant to policy-makers who deal with urban waste management and for organisations who develop support actions for informal workers. Originality/value The authors draw on a comparison of qualitative case studies to explore the multidimensionality of the waste picker’s phenomenon. This paper sparks discussion among scholars and experts who study the informal economy from different perspectives, in this case bridging insights from sociology and victimology.

Women’s solidarity economy initiatives to strengthen food security in response to disasters

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalinda Pineda Ofreneo ◽  
Mylene D. Hega
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Solidarity Economy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the knowledge gained from the experiences of community-based, women-led organizations of workers in the informal economy which strengthen food security, enhance livelihoods in peri-urban areas through solidarity economy initiatives, and advance women’s empowerment as they respond to disasters arising from climate change. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on case studies of Buklod Tao in San Mateo, Rizal, and the PATAMABA chapter in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. The study was conducted within the tradition of gender-responsive participatory action research anchored on a human rights-based approach. Findings – Experience of flooding motivated mature organizations of women informal workers to establish community-based peri-urban gardens connected to other solidarity-based sustainable livelihood initiatives to address food security concerns, increase income, and mitigate the impact of similar disasters. Although women have been empowered through these initiatives, much still has to be done to transform gender relations in various spheres. Research limitations/implications – This research process lends itself toward unearthing gender inequalities which would otherwise remain hidden. Practical implications – The solidarity-based initiatives documented in these case studies may be adopted by women informal workers’ organizations in similar situations to advocate for and attain food security. Originality/value – Solidarity-based strategies to attain food security among women informal workers are rarely documented for assessment and knowledge sharing. How they are or can be further empowered by these initiatives is a significant contribution to the literature on gender and disasters.

scholarly journals Gender and informal livelihoods

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 435-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Ogando ◽  
Sally Roever ◽  
Michael Rogan
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Gender Empowerment ◽  
Sector Organisation ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Waste Pickers

Purpose This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of women and men who work as informal waste collectors in four different cities. The purpose of this paper is to map out how and to what extent occupational, political-legal, economic and social dynamics are experienced differently by gender in a highly vulnerable segment of the urban informal economy, and explore gender differences in these workers’ coping strategies and the levels of action they develop to protect their livelihoods. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on a mixed methods study which combined a quantitative survey of informal workers with a qualitative participatory methodology. Study participants were drawn from a purposive sample of informal workers who belong to, or are affiliated with, membership-based workers’ organisations. The sample consists of waste pickers (n=614) from Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Bogotá, Colombia; Durban, South Africa; and Nakuru, Kenya. Findings The data show that despite significant differences between women and men upon entry into (informal) employment, their perceptions of key drivers and impacts are largely similar, with the exception of concerns around various types of physical security among women. They also indicate that levels of action among men and women waste pickers are only moderately influenced by gender, but are strongly influenced by the degree of organisation in the sector and the symbolic assets held by workers. The findings also illustrate the way in which gendered power dynamics operate within the informal recycling sector and how different levels of sector organisation and development often contribute to opportunities for collective action and, in turn, a reduction in gendered vulnerabilities. Originality/value The study offers a new policy angle which connects the level of sector organisation and development with the levels of action taken by informal workers in adapting to different types of shocks, as well as what this means in terms of gender empowerment.

Factors associated with willingness to pay for health insurance and pension scheme among informal economy workers in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-37
Author(s):  
Jairous Joseph Miti ◽  
Mikko Perkio ◽  
Anna Metteri ◽  
Salla Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Pension Schemes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the main factors influencing willingness to pay for health insurance and pension schemes among informal workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Historically, informal economy workers have been excluded from social protection coverage. There is a growing need, interest and policy discourse in LMICs to extend social security to informal economy workers. However, little is known about informal workers' willingness to pay (WTP) for social security services in different LMIC settings.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a systematic review and searched five databases from 1987 to 2017. Included papers focused on “social security”, “social insurance”, “pension”, “informal economy”, “informal sector” and “informal workers” in LMICs. Authors conducted independent data appraisal and data extraction. A total of 1790 papers were identified. After exclusion, 34 papers were included in the analysis. Given the heterogeneous results, the authors performed a narrative synthesis to consolidate the findings of the different studies.FindingsIn total, 34 studies from 17 countries were included in the review, out of which 23 studies focused on health insurance, 7 studies on pension schemes and 4 studies on social security in general. The study showed that income and trust were associated with WTP for both health insurance and pension schemes. In addition, family size, age, education and residential area were common factors for both forms of social security. For health insurance, experience of sickness, attitude and presence of medical doctors as well as distance from the healthcare facility all played a role in determining WTP. For pension schemes, low and flexible contribution rates, benefit package, government subsidies and quality of administration of the schemes influenced enrolment and contributions.Research limitations/implicationsMore evidence is needed for WTP for pensions among informal workers.Practical implicationsThe findings show that socio-economic differences, scheme-type (health or pension) and level of trust influence WTP for health insurance or pension among informal sector workers. The review results suggest that the factors influencing WTP for health insurance and pensions interplay in a complex web of relations. More evidence is needed on WTP for pensions among informal workers.Social implicationsFurther studies are particularly needed on the interrelationship of the influences to WTP, including gender issues, access barriers and socioeconomic factors, among program design issues for social security.Originality/valueThis paper is based on a systematic review methodology and contributes to the discourse on extending social security to informal economy workers based on evidence from various countries.

Supply chain MFCA implementation: emphasizing evidence on coordination

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Higashida
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Coordination Mechanisms ◽  
Green Supply Chain ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Material Flows ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies

Purpose This study aims to clarify systematically the contribution of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) to green supply chain management (GSCM) by examining the coordination mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach Two qualitative case studies are conducted in a major Japanese manufacturing company, which introduced MFCA in two different supply chains. The concept of coordination mechanisms in supply chain management is used to consolidate the understanding on the usefulness of MFCA in GSCM. Findings The study’s findings reveal the significant role played by MFCA in coordinating material flows and eliminating sub-optimization in the supply chain from both economic and environmental perspectives. Furthermore, the focal company in the chain has an important role as the MFCA leader in implementing MFCA in the chain. In particular, the environmental department can eliminate suppliers’ concerns regarding opportunistic buyer behaviors and focus on material flows across the supply chain. Research limitations/implications The study highlights the possibility of reviewing existing transactions by coordinating material flows. This is a new direction for the adoption of MFCA in GSCM. In addition, although the study highlights the importance of the environmental department as an MFCA leader, future research is necessary to establish this aspect with greater precision. Practical implications The two case studies discussed in this paper demonstrate the usefulness of MFCA expansion into the supply chain, as well as information sharing and progression, in the development of GSCM. Social implications This study will contribute to enhance the green supply chain by implementing MFCA. Originality/value This study indicates that MFCA can potentially reveal the material losses caused by sub-optimization and provide information to avoid sub-optimization in decision-making. Moreover, it highlights the importance of the environmental department as an MFCA leader.

scholarly journals Capacity gaps in post disaster construction & demolition waste management

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayani Karunasena ◽  
Dilanthi Amaratunga
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Development Communication ◽  
Early Recovery ◽  
Demolition Waste ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communication And Coordination ◽  
Post Disaster

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the identification of the existing capacities of post disaster C & D waste management in developing countries, with a special emphasis on Sri Lanka to determine the capacity gaps and related influencing factors. Design/methodology/approach – Multiple case studies and expert interviews were conducted to gather primary information on the existing capacities of disaster C & D waste management. Three case studies, including 15 individuals and six experts representing government, non-government institutions and others, were selected. Findings – The results revealed the existing capacities, capacity gaps and influencing factors for post disaster C & D waste management in the areas of skills and confidence building, links and collaborations, continuity and sustainability, research and development, communication and coordination, organisational implementation and investment in infrastructure. Research limitations/implications – This study limited disaster C & D waste to debris generated from totally or partially damaged buildings and infrastructure as a direct impact of natural disasters or from demolished buildings and infrastructure at rehabilitation or at early recovery stages. Originality/value – The research enabled an analysis of existing capacities and identified capacity gaps in post disaster C & D waste management with influencing factors developing countries.

Waste management is key to sustainable global growth

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Urban Waste ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Point Of Purchase ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Global Growth

Subject Global waste management. Significance The World Bank estimates that by 2025 cities will be creating 2.2 billion tonnes of solid waste annually, nearly double the 1.3 billion tonnes produced in 2012. Systems to manage vast quantities of urban waste already account for more than 20% of many cities' budgets, and this will rise. Yet despite the cost, the profile of waste management lags other utilities, hampering the ability to attract political attention and financing to build, improve and maintain effective systems. Impacts Manufacturers and product designers will increasingly be tasked with preventing the creation of waste, not merely reducing its footprint. Integrating waste and resource management into the education curricula will foster generational behaviour change. Waste-pickers collect, sort and recycle up to 20% of developing countries waste; policies will increasingly support informal workers. Fee structures to manage waste will move to point-of-purchase rather than using municipal taxes to raise fees at the point-of-collection.

scholarly journals Waste Pickers and Their Practices of Insurgency and Environmental Stewardship

2021 ◽  
pp. 107049652110553
Author(s):  
Jutta Gutberlet ◽  
Santiago Sorroche ◽  
Angela Martins Baeder ◽  
Patrik Zapata ◽  
María José Zapata Campos
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
General Public ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Income Source ◽  
Waste Pickers

Informed by different grassroots learning and educational practices engaged in waste management, and drawing from the concepts of insurgent citizenship and environmental stewardship, we examine the role of waste picker organizations and movements in creating new pathways towards more sustainable environmental waste governance. Two case studies (Argentina and Brazil) demonstrate how waste pickers inform and educate the general public and raise the awareness of socio-environmental questions related to waste management. Different educational practices are used as strategies to confront citizens with their waste: to see waste as a consumption problem, resource, and income source. Our paper draws on grassroots learning (social movement learning and insurgent learning) and education (stewardship) aimed at the transformation of waste practices. We argue that waste pickers play an important role in knowledge production promoting recycling, in landfilling less and recovering more resources. We conclude that waste pickers act as insurgent citizens and also are environmental stewards.

scholarly journals Efficiency in waste collection markets: Changing relationships between firms, informal workers, and the state in urban India

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 1375-1394
Author(s):  
Aman Luthra
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
The State ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Urban India ◽  
Waste Management Policy ◽  
History Of

Although recent scholarship has provided rich accounts of waste management privatization in urban India, the origins of the policy models that informed privatization remain unexplored. Further, the place of informal workers in the history of waste management policy and programs is more complicated than that provided by linear accounts of a transition from informal to formal in the existing scholarship. In contrast to existing explanations of these shifts, this paper draws attention to the rise of efficiency as a core municipal concern that explains the shifting relationship arrangements between the state, the informal private sector, and the formal private sector in waste collection markets. To address their concerns with cost of service delivery, Indian policy-makers justified privatization by indirectly drawing upon the influential work of E.S. Savas, the American economist credited with empirically substantiating the theory of efficiency gains from privatization in waste collection markets. Yet, informal systems are in practice not only more efficient than formal ones, they also conform well to Savas’ policy prescriptions for structuring waste collection markets. Efficiency could thus serve as a basis for securing informal workers’ claims as legitimate market participants.

Citizen engagement in co-creation of e-government services: a process theory view from a meta-synthesis approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupriya Khan ◽  
Satish Krishnan
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Process Theory ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Theory View

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop an in-depth understanding of the overall process of facilitating co-creation of e-government services, focusing on the government's role in fostering citizen engagement.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted a meta-synthesis of qualitative case studies encompassing analyses on a case-specific level followed by syntheses on a cross-study level.FindingsThrough meta-synthesis, the study developed an integrated framework, the process theory view of enabling co-creation of e-government services, illustrating how co-creation could be initiated and facilitated by the government.Research limitations/implicationsBy providing critical insights into co-creation steps, the process theory view offers a holistic theoretical understanding of enabling co-creation by identifying factors driving and motivating governments to initiate co-creation activities, interpreting the prerequisites for co-creation and the importance of impact assessment.Practical implicationsThis study offers important implications for public authorities, administrators and policymakers by helping them enhance their knowledge base on the co-creation process to facilitate a higher level of collaboration between citizens and government for effective and efficient public service delivery through e-government.Originality/valueWhile it is widely acknowledged that citizen engagement is crucial for improving and transforming the development and delivery of e-government services, it is equally recognized as a challenging and complex task. Through a meta-synthesis of qualitative case studies, this study is one of the first to develop a process theory view for offering a holistic understanding and crucial insights for addressing the concerns over the co-creation of e-government services.

scholarly journals Explaining and tackling the informal economy: a dual informal labour market approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 889-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Charles Williams ◽  
Slavko Bezeredi
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Formal Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Worker ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
South East Europe ◽  
Informal Labour

Purpose To transcend the long-standing debate regarding whether workers are driven into the informal economy by either their involuntary “exclusion” or voluntary “exit” from the formal economy, the purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate the existence of a dual informal labour market composed of an exit-driven “upper tier” and an exclusion-driven “lower-tier” of informal workers, and to explore its policy implications. Design/methodology/approach To do so, data are reported from a 2015 survey of the informal economy conducted in South-East Europe involving 6,019 face-to-face interviews in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia. Findings Identifying a dual informal labour market with three exit-driven informal workers for every exclusion-driven informal worker, a multinomial logit regression analysis reveals that, compared to the exclusion-driven “lower tier”, the exit-driven “upper tier” is significantly more likely to be populated by the formally employed, retired and those not struggling financially. Participation is not affected by the perceived severity of penalties and likely risks of detection, but relative to those in the exclusion-driven “lower tier”, there is a significant correlation between those doing so for exit rationales and their lack of both horizontal trust and vertical trust in formal institutions. Practical implications The outcome is a call to transcend the conventional deterrence approach of increasing the penalties and risks of detection. Instead, to tackle those driven by exit rationales, tackling both the lack of horizontal trust that other citizens are operating in a compliant manner and the lack of vertical trust in formal institutions is advocated. To tackle exclusion-driven informal workers, meanwhile, a focus upon the macro-level economic and social conditions which lead to their participation is required. Originality/value This is the first paper to empirically evaluate the existence of a dual informal labour market and to evaluate its policy implications.

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