From Policy
Focus Report • Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
All policy focus reports, working papers, conference papers, and Land
Lines issues are posted on the Institute website for free
downloading. Selected books and book chapters are also available
online, and some titles are offered in Spanish, Portuguese, or Chinese
in addition to English.
Regularization of Informal
Settlements in Latin America
Edesio Fernandes
- 2011
Dwellings in informal settlements generally lack formal legal titles,
and they may exhibit irregular development patterns, lack essential
public services such as sanitation, and occur on environmentally
vulnerable or public land. Whether they are built on private or public
land, informal settlements are developed progressively over many years,
and some have existed for decades.
Such settlements often become recognized legally as part of the regular
development of the city—through either official actions or the
accretion of rights over time. Accordingly, the definition of
informality is imprecise and multidimensional, covering physical,
socioeconomic, and legal aspects.
|
International Labour Organization:
Informal
Economy Website
The term “informal economy” refers to
all economic activities by workers and economic units that are – in law
or in practice – not covered or insufficiently covered by formal
arrangements. Their activities are not included in the law, which means
that they are operating outside the formal reach of the law; or they
are not covered in practice, which means that – although they are
operating within the formal reach of the law, the law is not applied or
not enforced; or the law discourages compliance because it is
inappropriate, burdensome, or imposes excessive costs.
On
Small Enterprises |
CATO Journal, vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring-Summer 1997).
E. Ghersi:
The informal economy in Latin
America
We have
often read about the underground activities of the informal
economy. Conceptually we can offer a simple definition of this
phenomenon:
underground activities are those that have legal ends but
employ illicit means. That is to say, they are activities that do not
intrinsically have a criminal content, but must be carried out
illicitly,
even though they are licit and desirable activities for the country.
Thus, from an economic point of view, the most important characteristic
of informal activities is that those directly involved in them as
well as society in general benefit more if the law is violated than if
it
is followed. |
Women
in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing:
About the informal economy
Women in Informal Employment. Globalizing and
Organizing
|
S. Benjamin:
Land, Productive Slums, and
Urban Poverty, 1979, MIT
One fundamental issue is
how we view the relationship between poor groups and
economic development, and thus their claim to productive assets
especially serviced
land. Approaches to rural poverty, even from contrasting ideologies,
generally
recognise that access to land and its quality are critical for poor
groups for survival
and move to a more stable situation. In urban situations, land and its
locational
aspects has been recognised as an important issue. However, policy
makers
conventionally view this from the perspective of `social' needs,
usually translated
into housing1. The assumption is that economic growth will `trickle
down' benefits to
poor groups. In the mean while, poor groups will survive via the
Informal Sector, or
on the basis of social spending by the State. In a broad way, this
assumption justifies
access by rich groups to land in productive locations often serviced by
State
subsidised infrastructure2. The latter are seen to be the creators of
economic growth
and wealth, which will ultimately benefit the rest of society.
|
P. Dasgupta:
Poverty Reduction and
Non-market Institutions, 1999, University of Cambridge
Economists in general and development economists in particular have for
long been engaged in
a debate over the relative strengths and weaknesses of markets and
government. One of the most
exciting developments in economics during the past twenty years or so
has, however, been our increased
understanding of non-market institutions (sometimes called "informal"
institutions). Progress has been
sufficiently great in this research that non-market institutions can be
discussed today with a degree of
rigour and precision which approaches what economists are used to in
their discussions on the
performance of markets. The Notes that follow offer a non-technical
account of some aspects of what
we now know and understand. I am preparing a more complete account in
my forthcoming book,
Economic Progress and the Idea of Social Capital.
|
C.
Kutcha-Helbling - 2000
The informal sector in
emerging democracies
The recent
trend towards democracy and market-based systems has improved the
lives of millions across the globe. Many countries have increased
political participation,
achieved macroeconomic stabilization and restored growth. Despite these
achievements,
millions of people in emerging democracies remain excluded from the
political and
economic system and still live in poverty. A glaring symptom of this
exclusion is the
growing number of entrepreneurs who are engaged in low-income,
low-growth business
activities outside the formal economy. These citizens feel that
democracy and marketbased
economy have not brought them the expected benefits.1 As a result, an
increasing
number of citizens in emerging democracies and economies are
disappointed and
disillusioned. |
Center for Institutional
Reform and the Informal Sector
University of
Maryland
|
Working papers in ILO:
IFP/Skills - Informal Economy Series:
Training in the Informal
Sector of Belarus
-
Yuri Vesselov, Geneva, ILO, 2002
This paper presents the major characteristics of the informal sector of
Belarus,
especially the involvement of the unemployed and socially unprotected
population in informal
entrepreneurial activities. Data are based on the System of Natio nal
Accounts. Special
emphasis is given to the small business subsector. The paper also
profiles unemployment
(including hidden unemployment) and self-employment and their
relationship with the
informal sector.
---
Skills Training for Decent
Work in the Informal Sector of the North-West Region of Russia (St.
Petersburg and the Leningrad region)
- Case study by Liudmila I. Velichko and Gortenzia M. Romanenkova,
Geneva, ILO, 2002
This paper presents seven brief case studies related to the training of
the unemployed
and workers in the informal sector.
A definition of the informal sector in the Russian Federation is
provided whereby the
informal sector covers all economic activities which are deliberately
concealed from the
authorities in order to minimize costs and avoid taxes. The paper
estimates that 615,000
people are employed in the informal sector of St. Petersburg accounting
for 26.3% of the
employed workforce. Furthermore, over a million people in St.
Petersburg and up to 500,000
people in the Leningrad region move between the formal and informal
sectors. These include
the unemployed, part-time workers and those on leave without pay,
refugees and involuntary
migrants, marginal population groups with incomes below subsistence
level, people with
extra jobs, teenagers and students. Out of these, the paper estimates
that at least 114,000
persons need training.
---
Training and Skills
Acquisition in the Informal Sector:A Literature Review
- Marjo-Riitta Liimatainen, ILO, Geneva, 2002
The structure of the paper is as follows: firstly, the concept of
informal sector is discussed
with reference to training. Secondly, the profile of informal sector
workers and their educational
levels is shortly summarised. Thirdly, the formal, informal and
non-formal means of delivering
and providing training are discussed, followed by an introduction of
the trend to move towards
more market-driven training. Fourthly, suggestions rising from the
literature for macro and
micro-level action are explained. Finally, the conclusions are an
attempt to reflect the issues that
should be taken into account in delivering skills and improving the
knowledge levels of the
growing number of informal sector workers.
---
Skills Training in the
Informal Sector in China
- By the Research Group of the Department of Training and Employment
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Geneva, 2002
China is a developing country with abundant labour resources. For a
long time, capital and
material input were over-emphasized and the development of human
capital was neglected. This has
caused the problem of low-skill labour supply exceeding demand, and
structural unemployment, which
has become the biggest obstacle to sustainable social and economic
development. With economic
restructuring and the acceleration of globalization, fierce market
competition, State-owned Enterprises
(SOEs) have also started downsizing their labour force. This explains
why in recent years SOEs have
been unable to absorb new labour market entrants; instead SOEs have
been laying off workers. On
the other hand, the informal sector is gaining ground, and to some
extent it has become a new force in
creating jobs, releasing employment pressure in China's labour market.
---
Informal Economy
Series:Informal Sector Training in Jamaica: an Assessment
by Andrea M. Miller-Stennett, 2002
This paper reviews current policies and programmes that concern skills
training for
informal sector workers in Jamaica, and draws from them lessons that
may be pertinent for
the design and implementation of future policies and programmes. While
there is no
consensus regarding the meaning of the term "informal sector", there is
agreement that the
sector consists of very small-scale producers and distributors of goods
and services, and
independent, self-employed persons in urban and rural areas of
developing countries.
Informal sector activities also include activities that are often
carried out without formal
approval from the authorities and are therefore "outside" the legal and
regulatory frameworks.
---
Training for
Work in the Informal Sector: New evidence from Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda
by Hans Christiaan Haan, 2002
More than a decade has passed since a stocktaking exercise was held at
the International
Training Centre of the ILO in Turin in relation to the situation of
skills development of those
working in “informal” micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The present
paper essentially
intends to provide an overview of some of the major developments that
have taken place since
then, both with regard to the needs and demand for training as well as
the supply of relevant
training services available to informal operators.
---
Training and
Skill Formation for Decent Work in the Informal Sector: Case Studies
from South India
by Amit Mitra, Geneva, 2002.
While various conceptualisations of the informal sector have been
debated ever since
it was formulated in the early 1970s (Bangasser, 2000; Hart, 1973), the
fact remains that
nearly 500 million people around the world are employed in the informal
sector today (ILO,
1998). It is now being increasingly recognised that the phenomenon is
here to stay and that
government policies for economic and social development, including
education and training
policies, should target those who work in this sector. Despite the
international attention on
informal sector analyses over the past two decades, training, skill
formation and education for
workers in this sector have received much less attention than it
deserves from researchers as
well as policy makers.
|
Home work in selected Latin American
countries: A comparative View
by Manuela
Tomei; 2000.(Available also in Spanish)
Home work is an enduring, flexible mode of work which, according to
various sources, is
acquiring a new impetus as a result of the current processes relating
to more flexible production and
economic globalization. Traditionally, home work used to be associated
with low-productivity activities
engaging principally non-organized female labour, in situations of
over-exploitation, precariousness and
poverty. Today, however, it is emerging also in cutting-edge sectors
and absorbing qualified manpower
with substantial bargaining power.
In the light of the new facets and characteristics acquired by this
mode of work, the analytical
concepts and categories traditionally used should be reviewed, and
employment policy reformulated
accordingly. The subject was discussed by the International Labour
Conference of the International
Labour Organization (ILO) in 1995 and 1996, and culminated with the
adoption of Convention No. 177
and Recommendation No. 184, thus reflecting efforts, at the
international level, to gain a clearer
understanding of this phenomenon and of the most appropriate measures
to deal with it. |
Homeworkers in Paraguay
Maria Victorial Heikel; 2000. (Available also in Spanish)
|
Homeworkers in Peru
Francisco Verdera; 2000. (Available also in Spanish) |
From
Journal of World Systems
Research, Vol 12 N. 1 2006
James C. Fraser
Globalization, Development and
Ordinary Cities: A Review
Essay Book Reviews
What are the underlying spatial
assumptions about the world that renders
some cities exemplars of modernity and innovation, while others are
cast
as being behind, and worse yet, forgotten places? This is a key
question that
has emerged in geography and sociology, and is addressed in
Jennifer Robinson’s book Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity
and Development. The purpose of this essay is two-fold in that
it provides a review of Robinson’s book and it also uses her
text as a vehicle to interrogate the geo-politics of urban theory
development. In particular, scholars have voiced concern over
the manner in which “world cities” and then “global cities” have
the power/knowledge effect of reifying the idea that there is one
“world system”
that can be measured objectively.
-------------------------
------------------- |
Conference
on African Migration in Comparative Perspective - June, 2003
M. Cerrutti and R.
Bertoncello
Urbanization and
Internal Migration Patterns in Latin America
---
A. Portes
Urbanization in Comparative
Perspective
---
Graeme Hugo, GISCA, Australia
"Urbanization
in Asia: An Overview"
---
---
C. Elisa Florez, CEDE, Colombia
"Migration
and the Urban Informal Sector in Colombia"
---
Kinuthia Macharia, American University, USA
"Migration
in Kenya and Its Impact on the Labor Market"
-------------------- |
From "State of the World Population 2004", UNFPA
Migration and
Urbanisation
In order to achieve a
balanced spatial distribution of production employment and population,
countries should adopt sustainable regional development strategies and
strategies for the encouragement of urban consolidation, the growth of
small or medium-sized urban centres and the sustainable development of
rural areas, including the adoption of labour-intensive projects,
training for non-farming jobs for youth and effective transport and
communication systems. To create an enabling context for local
development, including the provision of services, governments should
consider decentralizing their administrative systems.
--- |
U.S. Census Bureau
Total Middyear
Population of the World. 1950-2050
-
Historical Estimates of
World Population (-10000-1950) |
The World Bank Group:
Urban Development
----------------------
The Urban Poor in Latin America
(2005) Along
with the urbanization of Latin America's population has come an
urbanization of its poor - today about half of the region's poor live
in cities.
----
Analyzing Urban Poverty: A
Summary of Methods and Approaches
(2004) This
paper summarizes the main issues in conducting urban poverty analysis,
with a focus on presenting a sample of case studies from urban areas
that were implemented by a number of different agencies using a range
of analytical approaches for studying urban poverty.
---------------------
Urban Policy and
Economic Development: an agenda for the 1990s
(1991) This paper
analyzes the fiscal, financial and real sector linkages between urban
economic activities and macroeconomic performance. It builds on this
analysis to propose a policy framework and strategy that will redefine
the urban challenge in developing countries. First, the developing
countries, the international community, and the World Bank should move
toward a broader view of urban issues, a view that moves beyond housing
and residential infrastructure, and that emphasizes the productivity of
the urban economy and the need to alleviate the constraints on
productivity. Second, with urban poverty increasing, the productivity
of the urban poor should be enhanced by increasing the demand for labor
and improving access to basic infrastructure and social services.
Third, more attention should be devoted to reversing the deterioration
of the urban environment. Fourth, the serious gap in understanding
urban issues must be closed. With the decline in urban research during
the 1980s, few countries have a sound analytical basis for urban policy.
-----------------
Global Urban and Local
Government Strategy
Executive
Summary
Full
Report (PDF files)
Cities
in Transition Executive Summary (PDF file)
(1999) Winds of
change affecting urban areas and local governments underscore the
importance of urban development to national goals |
G. Tolly & V. S. Thomas (1987)
Economics of
Urbanization and Urban Policies in Developing countries
"Urban problems in
developing countries have become more acute in recent decades as people
have flocked to cities, and the largest cities have been affected the
most. In coming years, as population growth continues throughout the
developing world, urban problems promise to become increasingly severe.
The volume seeks to promote better understanding and evaluation of
policies designed to cope with these issues. It draws together studies
of the causes of observed urbanization patterns and builds on them to
provide a better foundation for policy analysis." |
M. Ravaillan
On the urbanization of
poverty
"The poor urbanize
faster than the population as a whole. But experience across countries
suggests that a majority of the poor will still live in rural areas
long after most people in the developing world live in urban areas. "
|
R. Rojas
Notes on urbanization in developing societies
...like other macrostructural changes, urban growth in less developing
societies is closely associated with capitalist penetration and
expansion, ...dependent urbanization, as opposed to city growth in
industrialized areas, must be understood as the expression of the
colonial/neo colonial social dynamic of human settlements; ...because
dependent capitalism is characterised by high levels of urban
unemployment, 'marginality' and material inequalities, urban poverty
will be a feature of urban growth in less developed societies
|
Urban
Poverty and the Informal Sector
A Critical Assessment of Current Strategies
By S.V. Sethuraman
Development Policies Department
International Labour Office - Geneva
United Nations Development Programme - August 1997
With increasing urbanization the developing world is faced with a new
challenge: how to arrest the decline in urban environment and living
conditions? The situation is likely to get worse because of population
growth and migration. The urban population in these countries is
expected to reach about two billions by the year 2000, or three times
the figure in 1970. Much effort has gone into building capacity within
governments to cope with the problem.
It has however become
increasingly clear that unless the level of urban poverty is
significantly reduced there is little chance of reversing the current
trends. Substantial urban poverty not only limits the scope for
mobilizing the revenue of urban authorities; more importantly it limits
the effective demand for housing and other basic urban services due to
low incomes. Employment being the most effective instrument to reduce
poverty on a sustainable basis it is imperative that the development
policies in these countries place emphasis on higher productivity and
incomes of workers.
|
Architects for Peace
Forum for architects
and related professions seeking urban development based on social
justice, solidarity, respect and peace. |
Environmental Education
Creating an environment
to educate about the environment
Urban Environmental Management
Glossaries, definitions
and indicators
|
Global Built Environment Review
A journal for
architecture, planning, development and the environment GBER is being
launched as a refereed quarterly electronic journal with a yearly
printed edition. It aims to have a wide international readership
comprising of architects, planners, developmentalists,
environmentalists and students from both the western and the developing
world. Although the main focus of GBER is the 'Built Environment' it
also intends to include debates from the perspectives of the related
macro socio economic, political and developmental issues. Its editorial
policy particularly welcomes the views expressed through the socio
culltural determinants of the present day 'multi cultural' society
which influences the contemporary 'Global Built Environment'. The
journal is genuinely interested in debates on the built environment of
both the developing and the developed world. The idea is to foster an
effective north south solidarity and provide a forum to encourage a
better understanding and communication on a wide variety of built
environment issues including the emerging 'globalisation and its impact
on both Eastern and Western multicultural built environment'. |
United Nations University
World Institute for Development Economic
Research:
DP2005/04
Anne Trebilcock:
Decent
Work and the Informal Economy (PDF 196KB)
The ILO was founded for social justice, a mandate expressed today in
terms of decent work
as a global goal, for all who work, whether in formal or informal
contexts. In June 2002, the
delegates to the International Labour Conference from governments,
workers’ and
employers’ organizations adopted a resolution incorporating conclusions
on decent work
and the informal economy. The four components of decent work –
opportunities for
employment and income, respect for rights at work, social protection
and stronger social
dialogue – form the backbone of the ILO’s approach to the informal
economy. These
elements can also be seen through a development lens, and necessarily
feature a strong
gender dimension. To make the action foreseen by the ILC conclusions
more easily
operational in a cross-disciplinary way, the issues they address can be
cast in terms of
macro policy, governance, enhancement of productivity, markets and
employment, social
protection/addressing vulnerabilities, and representation and voice.
All play key roles in
poverty reduction. Moreover, recognizing the importance of measuring
progress towards
decent work, developments in relation to indicators are briefly
described. This paper
includes annexes reproducing the ILC conclusions along with two
relevant resolutions
adopted by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians and a
list of ILO websites
that address various aspects of decent work and the informal economy.
DP2005/02
Reema Nanavaty: From
Local to Global and Informal to Formal: Entering Mainstream Markets
(PDF 71KB)
RP2005/18
Ralitza Dimova, Ira N. Gang and John Landon-Lane: The
Informal Sector During Crisis and Transition (PFD
120KB)
RP2005/17
Eduardo Sojo and Roberto Villarreal: Public
Policies to Promote Productive Occupation and Increase Formality among
the
Moderately Poor: The Mexican Agenda (PFD
238KB)
RP2005/16
Sally Roever: Enforcement
and Compliance in Lima’s Street Markets: The Origins and Consequences
of
Policy Incoherence toward Informal Traders (PFD
137KB)
RP2005/19
Jeffrey B. Nugent and Shailender Swaminathan: Voluntary
Contributions to Informal Activities Producing Public Goods: Can these
be
Induced by Government and other Formal Sector Agents? Some Evidence
from
Indonesian Posyandus (PFD 145KB)
RP2005/12
Sugata Marjit and Dibyendu S. Maiti:
Globalization,
Reform and the Informal Sector (PFD 217KB)
The objective of the paper is to understand the transforming
relationship between the formal and
informal sector in a liberalizing open developing economy. There are
various facets in this
relationship, and we focus on three essential aspects. First, we look
at the impact of deregulatory
policies in the informal sector on informal wages, the earning index of
the substantial majority
of the workforce in a developing economy. Theoretical discussions are
followed by empirical
evidence on informal manufacturing in India. Implications of
introducing labour laws are also
discussed. Then, we highlight the vertical relationship between the
formal and the informal
sectors and the consequence of reformatory policies, in particular, the
impact on the relative size
of these segments within an erstwhile protected sector. Empirical
evidence from Brazil and
Colombia seems to match our theoretical conjectures. We conclude with a
discussion of a fieldbased
survey on the changing relationship between formal and informal
entrepreneurs in a range
of rural industries in India, as these industries gear up for expanded
markets and export. This is
done to provide further insight into the transformation process.
-
RP2005/11
Keith Hart:
Formal
Bureaucracy and the Emergent Forms of the Informal Economy
(PFD
114KB)
The following essay has three parts. The first is a story about
fluctuations in the balance
of the relationship between impersonal and personal principles of
social organization.
This draws heavily on Max Weber’s interpretation of western history.
The second part
reviews the concept of an ‘informal economy/sector’ from its origin in
discussions of
the Third World urban poor to its present status as a universal feature
of economy. The
third part asks how we might conceive of combining the formal/informal
pair with a
view to promoting development. In conclusion I suggest how partnerships
between
bureaucracy and the people might be made more equal.
-
RP2005/10
Martha Alter Chen:
RP2005/14
aqui
Michael Grimm and Isabel Günther: Inter-
and Intra-household Linkages Between the Informal and Formal Sector: A
Case
Study for Urban Burkina Faso (PFD 252KB)
RP2005/13
Peter Little: Unofficial
Trade When States are Weak: The Case of Cross-Border Commerce in the
Horn of
Africa (PFD 227KB)
-
-
|
| Shanghai Urban Environment
Project |
| Haiphong, Vietnam, Urban
Development Project |
| Wages
and productivity in Mexican manufacturing Vol. 1 (2003) |
| The
World Bank economic review 11(3) Vol. 1 (English)(1997) |
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|
World Resources 1996-97
(A joint publication by The World Resource Institute, The United
Nations Environment Programme, The United Nations Development
Programme, and the World Bank) (Data edited by Dr. Róbinson Rojas)
Part I: The Urban Environment
Chapter 1: Cities and the
Environment
Introduction
Urban Growth Patterns
What Fuels Urban Growth?
Urban Poverty
Urban Environmental Problems
Economic Costs of Urban Environmental Degradation
Confronting the Urban Environmental Challenge
•Abidjan: A Portrait of the African
Urban Experience
•The Challenge of Environmental
Deterioration in Jakarta
•What is an Urban Area?
•Sharing Responsibility for Inner-City
Problems
•Detroit Battles Long-Term Effects of
Suburban Flight
•Pollution and Health in the Transition
Economies
•Designing Sustainable Solutions for Cities
Chapter 2: Urban Environment and
Human Health
Introduction
Health Profiles of Urban Dwellers
The Urban Physical Environment and Health
The Urban Social Environment and Health
Multisectoral Strategies for Improving the Health of
Urban Dwellers
•Can We Improve Neighborhood Quality in
Neglected U.S. Cities?
•ASHA Works to Improve Health in Delhi
•The Black Death Revisited: India's
1994 Plague Epidemic
•Household Environmental Problems,
Wealth, and City Size
•Community Perceptions of Urban Health
Risks
Chapter 3: Urban Impacts on Natural
Resources
Introduction
Land Conversion
Extraction and Depletion of Natural Resources
Urban Wastes
Integrated Approaches to Protect
the Resource Base
•Water: The Challenge for Mexico City
•Los Angeles Copes with Air Pollution
Chapter 4: Urban Transportation
Introduction
Urban Transportation Trends
Impacts of Urban Transportation Trends
Moving Forward: Key Strategies and Tools
Improving the Transportation Supply
•The Indian Transportation Paradigm
•Setting Limits Pays Off in Portland,
Oregon
•Nonmotorized Transportation: What's To
Become of Bicycles
and Pedestrians
Chapter 5: Urban Priorities for
Action
Introduction
Priorities for Action: Water and Sanitation
Promoting Water Conservation
Priorities for Action: Solid Waste Management
Priorities for Action: Air Pollution
Priorities for Action: Land Use
•Ranking Bangkok's Urban Environmental Problems
•Forging a Combined Approach to Urban Pollution
Control
•Costs and Benefits of Water and Air Pollution
Controls in Santiago
•Integrated Transportation and Land Use
Planning Channel
Curitiba's Growth
Chapter 6: City and Community:
Toward Environmental Sustainability
Introduction
Strengthening Local Governments in Developing
Countries
A Community-level Approach to Environmental
Management
Setting Priorities
Cities and Sustainable Development
•Cities Take Action: Local Environmental Initiatives
•The Orangi Pilot Project, Karachi, Pakistan
•Housing Program for Cali's Poor Encourages
Self-Help
•Citizen Participation Leads to Better Plan for the
Bronx, New York
•Nigeria's Community Banks: A Capital Idea
•International Urban Environment Programs
|
Interamerican Development Bank
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Urban
Development:
Urbanization has made it easier to satisfy some of the basic needs of
the population of Latin America and the Caribbean, yet it has not
reduced the overall problem of urban poverty. Although public services
are more abundant in urban areas, the higher cost of living and lower
and unstable incomes push most of the population into poverty, limiting
their access to the goods and services offered in the cities. During
the last three decades, the number of poor urban residents has
increased significantly, from 44 million in 1970 to 125 million in
2000, whereas the number of rural inhabitants living in poverty has
remained stable at approximately 78 million. Urban poverty is
increasing as a result of the rise in informal urban employment (which,
in turn, results from the inability of the region's economies to
generate sufficient formal employment). In certain cases, the informal
sector, which concentrates mainly in service activities, represents up
to 73 percent of the urban labor market. The main challenge facing
Latin American and Caribbean cities is how to incorporate this informal
workforce into the formal economy, where wages, social protection and
productivity are higher, or, alternatively, how to improve the
productivity, income and level of protection of informal employment.
Urban poverty is characterized by significant and multiple deficiencies
whose main dimensions include:
- Insufficient or unstable income, which leads to inadequate
consumption;
- Risks caused by deficient access to basic goods and services;
- Low-quality housing that leaves residents more vulnerable to critical
sanitary problems, contamination, crime and natural disasters; and
- Discrimination and limited access to the formal labor market, in
particular for women and ethnic groups.
Solutions to these problems require multi-sector interventions
coordinated in the impoverished neighborhoods. Acting in coordination
with the Poverty Unit and other teams in the Sustainable Development
Department, the Social Programs Division works to understand the
multiple dimensions and characteristics of urban poverty, principally
those that affect the inhabitants of central areas, and to identify
effective policies that address the most urgent concerns. Technical
studies and best practice analysis on these issues support Bank loans
to rehabilitate central areas and upgrade neighborhoods.
The rapid growth of Latin American and Caribbean cities has prompted a
surge in the economies of the region, but has also created new
problems. One major concern is the abandonment of central areas of
cities, the result of a complex combination of consumer preferences and
deficient public policies that encourage urban sprawl. The most dynamic
economic activities, high-income households and the services that
supply them, have moved to the periphery, demanding new infrastructure
and generating new urban facilities (such as shopping malls, gated
communities and country clubs). This process causes the economic and
social decay of central areas and the deterioration of real estate
assets and infrastructure.
Several local and state governments have implemented programs to
rehabilitate and develop these abandoned central areas. The IDB
supports these programs through loans and technical assistance. They
include a variety of interrelated interventions including changes in
zoning, infrastructure rehabilitation, improvement of public spaces,
the promotion of new economic activities, the preservation of heritage
or symbolic buildings and the recovery, recycling or redevelopment of
private buildings. Execution of these programs requires significant
financial and institutional resources, as well as the establishment of
strong alliances between all interested parties, in order to sustain
the interventions in the long term.
The Sustainable Development Department collaborates with the Regional
Operations Departments in the identification, design and execution of
urban rehabilitation programs through good practice studies and
operational guidelines. The study of international urban rehabilitation
programs indicates that successful projects require well-coordinated
interventions, executed in a suitable sequence and with sufficient
scale to counteract the negative trends in real estate markets. The
proper execution of these programs requires efficient institutions
capable of working in cooperation with the private sector. For this
reason, the Bank emphasizes the development and strengthening of the
institutional capacity of the executing agencies in all urban
rehabilitation projects.
Municipal and
Regional Development
Neighborhood
Upgrading
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International Labour Organization
and
The Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational
Training (ILO/Cinterfor)
Training and the
informal sector
The importance of the informal economy is quite obvious since it is the
main employment generator in Latin American countries, where more than
53 per cent of the economically active population of the region is part
of this sector. Between 1990 and 2004, the contribution to the informal
economy in terms of employment generation increased by 4.6 per cent.
According to ILO's data, during the last decade, between 75 and 80 per
cent of every 100 new job posts were created by this sector.
As indicated by ILO's Director General in the report prepared for the
16th American Regional Meeting (May 2006): In Latin America, there are
103 million people working in the informal sector -many times without
labour rights or social security- which, added to the number of
unemployed people, means that 126 million people are affected by formal
employment deficit.
VTIs
and the informal economy: thematic section that describes the
actions taken by VTI in Latin America and the Caribbean with respect to
training oriented to workers and enterprises of the informal economy.
Informal
economy - Decent work - Poverty: on the one hand, it provides
documents and analyses about the informal economy, decent work and
poverty. On the other hand, it includes the links among different
categories as well as the implemented plans and programmes of action to
eradicate poverty, reduce decent work deficit and particularly those
related to the informal economy.
Informal
economy and gender: it presents a number of documents and
experiences that offer a different perspective of the informal economy.
Informal economy and vulnerable groups: thematic section that
contains documents on programmes oriented to the training of vulnerable
groups: women, youth, people with disabilities, ethnic groups.
Informal economy by activity sector: this section offers documents
about programmes focused on workers and informal economic units
organised by sector. Therefore, the sub-site is divided into plans and
programmes of:
a) agricultural sector;
b) industrial sector;
c) services sector.
Documents
and publications: section oriented to the introduction of books,
documents, reports and regular publications of interest according to
the objectives of the site.
Events:
Calendar of events related to the issues of the site.
Links:
this section includes interesting links to ILO Web sites and other
international and national organisations that deal with these issues.
|
From Informal Economy Database - ILO
Decent
Work and Development Policies: Caribbean Tripartite Workshop
2004 - Virgilio Levaggi; Regions
Decent
Work and Poverty Reduction Strategies: A reference manual for ILO staff
and constituents
2005 - Cross Sectoral
Decent
Work and the Informal Economy - General Discussion: Plenary session:
Adoption of the resolution and conclusions
2002
Decent
Work and the Informal Economy - Report VI presented for the General
Discussion at the International Labour Conference 2002
2002 - Employment Sector
Decent
Work and the Informal Economy: Abstracts
2002 - Employment Sector
Decent
Work and the Informal Economy: Report of the Commmittee - International
Labour Conference 2002
2002
Decent
work and the informal economy: Report on 2002 ILO Conference - Tokyo
2002
Decent
Work and the Informal Economy: Resolution and Conclusions from the
International Labour Conference General Discussion 2002.
2002
Decent
work for all: targeting full employment in Thailand
2000 - Regions
Decent
work for poverty reduction: an ILO contribution to the PRSP in Nepal
ILO; Employment Sector
(from Poverty, Local Development and
Decent Work Resources database)
Decent
Work for Women Entrepreneurs: Training of trainers workshop
2004 - Cross Sectoral
Decent
Work in the Informal Sector: CEE/CIS Region.
2002 - B. Musiolek; Employment Sector
Decent
Work in the Informal Sector: Latin America.
2002 - J. Thomas; Employment Sector
Decent
Work Pilot Programme - Panama
2000-2006
Decent
Work Pilot Programme - Philippines
2000-2006
Decent
Work Pilot Programme in Ghana.
2000-2006 |
E. Ghersi:
The informal economy in Latin America
WIEGO:
Facts on the informal
sector
Fact Sheets provides you with snipets of information, examples, and
overviews of the state of the informal economy and the sub-sectors of
labour within it. Our researches and affiliates around the world have
closely examined the condition of informal women workers and have come
up with policy suggestions for the improvement of their condition.
Women in Informal Employment. Globalizing and
Organizing
S. Benjamin:
Land, Productive Slums,
and Urban Poverty, 1979, MIT
One fundamental issue is how we view the relationship between poor
groups and
economic development, and thus their claim to productive assets
especially serviced
land. Approaches to rural poverty, even from contrasting ideologies,
generally
recognise that access to land and its quality are critical for poor
groups for survival
and move to a more stable situation. In urban situations, land and its
locational
aspects has been recognised as an important issue. However, policy
makers
conventionally view this from the perspective of `social' needs,
usually translated
into housing1. The assumption is that economic growth will `trickle
down' benefits to
poor groups. In the mean while, poor groups will survive via the
Informal Sector, or
on the basis of social spending by the State. In a broad way, this
assumption justifies
access by rich groups to land in productive locations often serviced by
State
subsidised infrastructure2. The latter are seen to be the creators of
economic growth
and wealth, which will ultimately benefit the rest of society.
P. Dasgupta:
Poverty Reduction and
Non-market Institutions, 1999, University of Cambridge
Economists in general and development economists in particular have for
long been engaged in
a debate over the relative strengths and weaknesses of markets and
government. One of the most
exciting developments in economics during the past twenty years or so
has, however, been our increased
understanding of non-market institutions (sometimes called "informal"
institutions). Progress has been
sufficiently great in this research that non-market institutions can be
discussed today with a degree of
rigour and precision which approaches what economists are used to in
their discussions on the
performance of markets. The Notes that follow offer a non-technical
account of some aspects of what
we now know and understand. I am preparing a more complete account in
my forthcoming book,
Economic Progress and the Idea of Social Capital.
C. Kutcha-Helbling:
The informal sector in emerging democracies
The recent trend towards democracy and market-based systems has
improved the
lives of millions across the globe. Many countries have increased
political participation,
achieved macroeconomic stabilization and restored growth. Despite these
achievements,
millions of people in emerging democracies remain excluded from the
political and
economic system and still live in poverty. A glaring symptom of this
exclusion is the
growing number of entrepreneurs who are engaged in low-income,
low-growth business
activities outside the formal economy. These citizens feel that
democracy and marketbased
economy have not brought them the expected benefits.1 As a result, an
increasing
number of citizens in emerging democracies and economies are
disappointed and
disillusioned.
Center for Institutional Reform and the
Informal Sector
University of Maryland
Working papers
in ILO:
IFP/Skills -
Informal Economy Series:
Training in the Informal
Sector of Belarus - Yuri Vesselov, Geneva, ILO, 2002
IFP/Skills -
Informal Economy Series: Skills
Training for Decent Work in the Informal Sector of the North-West
Region of Russia (St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region) - Case
study by Liudmila I. Velichko and Gortenzia M. Romanenkova, Geneva,
ILO, 2002
IFP/SKills -
Informal Economy Series: Training
and Skills Acquisition in the Informal Sector:A Literature Review-
Marjo-Riitta Liimatainen, ILO, Geneva, 2002
IFP
Skills - Informal Economy SeriesSkills
Training in the Informal Sector in China - By the Research Group
of the Department of Training and Employment Ministry of Labour and
Social Security, Geneva, 2002
Informal
Economy Series:Informal Sector Training in Jamaica: an Assessment by
Andrea M. Miller-Stennett
Informal
Economy Series : Training for Work in the Informal Sector: New evidence
from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda by Hans Christiaan Haan
InFocus Programme
on Skills, Knowledge and Employability Working Paper: Training
and Skill Formation for Decent Work in the Informal Sector: Case
Studies from South India, by Amit Mitra, Geneva, 2002.
Home work in selected Latin American
countries: A comparative View; Manuela Tomei; 2000.(Available also in
Spanish)
Homeworkers
in Paraguay; Maria Victorial Heikel; 2000. (Available also in
Spanish)
Homeworkers
in Peru; Francisco Verdera; 2000. (Available also in Spanish)
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