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Rebuilding Accountability Chains One Action and Community at a Time

By Alois Nyamazana Zimbabwe’s informal economy is the second largest in the world. The ILO estimates that 5.2 million people trade in the informal economy (compared to 495,000 who are in formal employment), and 65% of these are women. Informal trade is a precarious and insecure source of livelihood. Adding to this challenge is the criminalization of informal trade[  as a result of an insufficient policy environment. Informal traders constantly face harassment from authorities. For example, in Goromonzi, traders are in constant conflict with state and municipal authorities. This has resulted in traders losing valuable income, and women traders facing sexual [...]

2022-10-05T08:25:04+00:003rd October 2022|

A Change in Approach Could Resolve Conflict Between Vendors and Authorities 

By Samuel Takawira The last two decades have seen a severe contraction of Zimbabwe’s economy, with agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors suffering mainly from poor policy decisions, resulting in massive unemployment. It is estimated that 90% of the Zimbabwean population ekes out a living in the informal sector, vending in open urban marketplaces. Among these are the municipal markets in Mbare - a low-income suburb of Harare. Mbare is home to the largest informal marketplace in Zimbabwe, where trading space is expensive and oversubscribed. To create access to the market, informal traders have resorted to setting up illegal stalls in [...]

2022-01-17T13:52:49+00:0017th January 2022|
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