New CAE working paper on Worker Organisation and Social Protection amongst Informal Petty Traders in Tanzania

This paper investigates how the global social protection (SP) agenda touches down in the context of petty traders in Tanzania. It examines and compare the SP models conceptualized and implemented ‘from above’ by public authorities with what petty traders and their collective associations do on the ground ‘from below’. The data shows that SP offered by public channels do not correspond well with the key challenges experienced by informal traders. SP services are however also offered by informal traders own associations and though the specific services vary a lot between associations, they generally correspond quite closely to the key challenges experienced by informal traders. In contrast to the public SP models, the SP models employed by informal traders own associations are based on trust and reciprocity and directed towards flexible but also limited cushioning against more short-term needs.

For more, read the working paper Worker Organisation and Social Protection amongst Informal Petty Traders in Tanzania by Lone Riisgaard, Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, and head of the SPIWORK research team.