Good Practice - Government recognition of the invisible workforce of women waste pickers. ACTION AID - INDIA

Good Practice - Government recognition of the invisible workforce of women waste pickers

1) Brief summary: Nashik is the fourth largest city in the state of Maharashtra. It is a located 170 km from Mumbai, the business capital of India. The waste pickers were not recognized as workers anywhere in the country. They recently obtained recognition under the civic authority through the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Movement). Around 700 women waste pickers fan out to the six divisions of the city to engage in an awareness campaigns and collect garbage from doorsteps for a nominal charge.

2) Key Areas of Good Practice

• Development of Supportive Legal and Policy Frameworks Advocacy Methods (3.1.2)
• Institution and capacity strengthening of implementing agency, project partners includinG (local) government agencies (3.1.9)
• Awareness raising among informal economy operators/workers and other stakeholders (3.4.3)
• Organising informal economy workers into associations, cooperatives or other officially registered groups (3.1.9)
• Community-based savings and credit schemes (3.3.5)
• Providing support to informal economy operators/workers to access services (social protection services, business registration, access to formal savings and credit schemes, training, etc.) (3.3.1)
• Support to improve Occupational Safety and Health among informal economy workers and Community-based social protection (3.2.3 – 3.4.4)
• Assisting particularly vulnerable groups on economic empowerment (women, people with disabilities, affected by HIV, youth, refugees, migrants, minority groups, etc.) (3.4.6 – 3.4.7 – 3.4.8 – 3.4.9 – 3.4.11).