StreetNet

📘 Our 2025 Global Report is out!

Available in English, French, Spanish and Russian 🌍

One of the report's key messages is clear:

⚖️ Formalization without dignity is not justice.

Too often, "formalization" means more control, more policing, and more barriers for workers. But real formalization must mean:

✔️ Social protection
✔️ Social security
✔️ Safer workplaces
✔️ Legal recognition
✔️ Participation in decision-making

Street and market vendors are not asking to be managed. They are demanding to be recognized as workers with rights, protections, and a voice in shaping the policies that affect their livelihoods.

✊🏾 Nothing for us without us.

📖 Learn more about the formalization street vendors are demanding in our 2025 Global Report:
https://buff.ly/G55VGy0

🌍 As the 114th International Labour Conference begins, one question remains urgent: who gets a seat at the table in shaping the future of work?

For millions of informal economy workers, including street vendors, market traders, and platform workers, exclusion from labour protections and social dialogue continues. Digitalisation is reshaping informality, not ending it.

✊ A just transition to formality must include workers’ own organizations in decision-making. Read our Position Papers below:

📄 Social Dialogue:
https://streetnet.org.za/document/position-paper-advancing-inclusive-social-dialogue-for-street-vendors-and-informal-economy-workers/

📄 Platform Economy:
https://streetnet.org.za/document/position-of-streetnet-international-on-the-platform-economy-and-the-digitalisation-of-the-informal-economy/

📘 Our 2025 Global Report is out!

Available in English, French, Spanish and Russian 🌍

The report captures a year of organizing, advocacy, solidarity, and worker-led change across the StreetNet network — highlighting the achievements, challenges, and priorities of street and market vendors worldwide.

One message stands out clearly:

⚠️ The biggest challenge remains survival without protection.

Key findings from our membership include:

🚫 80% report no childcare support policies
🚓 82% experienced evictions or removals
🗣️ Nearly half are engaged in negotiations with authorities
🌡️ The majority are already affected by climate change

Street and market vendors are essential to communities and local economies. Yet too many continue to work without the protections and recognition they deserve.

✊🏽 Protection, not persecution.

📖 Download the report:
https://buff.ly/G55VGy0

Did you know about our Social and Solidarity Economy toolkit, jointly developed with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing - WIEGO ? 🤝

This practical resource supports street and market vendors in building collective economic alternatives rooted in solidarity, mutual support, savings, and cooperation ✨

The toolkit is already being implemented in Togo and Guatemala, helping strengthen worker-led initiatives and community-based solutions for informal economy workers 🌍

We look forward to expanding this work to more countries and regions in the near future.

Learn more:
https://buff.ly/iRFyYz5

Social and Solidarity Economy - Streetnet International What is the Social and Solidarity Economy? According to the United Nations, the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) “refers to forms of economic activities and relations that prioritize social and often environmental objectives over profit motives. It involves citizens acting collectively and in s...

A devastating fire swept through part of the Glen View Area 8 complex in Harare, Zimbabwe, leaving traders counting losses worth thousands of dollars and disrupting the livelihoods of hundreds of workers. 💔🔥

For many informal economy workers, a single disaster can wipe out years of hard work, savings, tools, stock, and income. The fire has once again raised concerns about the safety, infrastructure, and protection available to workers in one of Harare’s busiest trading hubs.

We stand in solidarity with the affected traders and their families during this difficult time. ✊🏾

Read more:
https://buff.ly/1nFeY5d

Ahead of the International Labour Organization , watch this important conversation with Pat Horn, founding International Coordinator of StreetNet and specialist in collective bargaining with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing - WIEGO.

The interview explores both the potential and the challenges of collective bargaining for informal economy and platform workers — two groups increasingly shaping the future of work worldwide.

As debates on labour rights continue to evolve, the experiences of workers organizing outside traditional employment structures remain essential to building more inclusive labour systems.

Watch the interview:
https://buff.ly/3BXgrCp

Rethinking Collective Bargaining in the Age of Informality and Platform Economy Interview with founding International Coordinator of StreetNet Pat Horn and specialist in collective bargaining with about the potential and pit...

Nicole Ramírez, a street vendor in Medellín and member of our affiliate Ugti-Cut Colombia , found an alternative to predatory loan sharks through the support of Corporación Fomentamos 💪🏽✨

Through low-interest loans, savings, and collective support 🤝, she was able to expand her business, pay for surgery without falling into unmanageable debt 🏥, and strengthen her role as a community leader 🌱

Her story is a powerful example of how worker-led social and solidarity economy initiatives can create protection, dignity, and economic empowerment for informal economy workers ❤️✊🏽