Presentation by Rachel Moussie (Deputy Director of Social Protection Programme, WIEGO) for the ICTD's virtual roundtable on "Covid-19 and the Informal Economy: Responses, Relief, and Research" For more on WIEGO's work during the crisis: https://www.wiego.org/covid19crisis

1. RAPID ASSESSMENT: IMPACT
OF PUBLIC HEALTH
MEASURES ON INFORMAL
WORKERS
WIEGO – Rachel Moussie, Social Protection Programme
Kayayeis (head porters) in Accra, Ghana
Jonathan Torgovnik : Getty Images 1

2. Presentation Overview
 Key findings from Rapid Assessment
 Emergency relief responses and informal workers
 Research and advocacy priorities for informal workers
organisations
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3. Rapid Assessment
 21 national or local member-based organizations (MBOs), five regional and global
networks of informal workers organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America (23
March – 8 April)
 4 Sectors: domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors and market
traders, and waste pickers
 Public health measures include:
 Lockdown in large global economies
 Border closures
 Physical distancing
 Semi-lockdown
 Full-lockdown
https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/resources/file/Impact_on_livelihoods_COVID-
19_final_EN.pdf
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4. Rapid Assessment: Key Findings
 Impacts felt since January in some sectors
 Permanent loss of income, not a temporary loss
 Increased care work for women workers – paid and unpaid
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5. Emergency relief and informal workers
 Income support measures through cash transfers
 WIEGO tracking those accessible to informal workers
 Digital and financial exclusion
 Exclusion of less visible workers – domestic workers and home-
based workers
 Essential Workers include informal workers
 Increasingly recognised: food producers and vendors, waste pickers
 Unrecognised: live-in domestic workers, home-based workers,
childcare providers
 Protective health measures and protective gear
https://www.wiego.org/covid19crisis
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6. Guiding Principles
 Leave No One Behind – ensure relief & recovery mechanisms benefit…
 informal wage workers – not just formal wage workers
 informal enterprises – not just formal enterprises
 Do No Harm
 do not penalize informal workers
 do not destroy their homes & workplaces
 do not reverse legal and policy gains made by informal workers
 Honor “Nothing for Us, Without Us”
 design of relief & recovery measures: informal workers included in
negotiations
 delivery of relief & recovery measures: partner with informal worker
organizations

7. Research and advocacy priorities
 Next round of Rapid Assessment in two months
 Livelihoods recovery and resilience framework
 Formalization?
 Extension of social protection programmes beyond emergency
period
 Access to public care services – healthcare and childcare
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