After discussion in the conference workshops, a resolution on "Organising Informal Sector Workers" was adopted. Mike Chungu, National Coordinator of the WEA in Zambia (WEAZ), discusses their forthcoming project with the informal sector.

 As a delegate to the conference, I was very happy to participate in the workshop discussions on the role which workers education could play in mainstreaming informal sector organisations as a constituent of the trade union movement.  

For most of us in developing countries, including Zambia, about 80 percent of the labour force is now concentrated in the informal sector. These workers are largely unprotected by labour legislation, excluded from most social security systems, and unrepresented by trade unions.

In Zambia, due to the impact of the World Bank/IMF sponsored Structural Adjustment Programmes, formal employment has been declining at an annual average of 2 percent. In 1997, out of the total labour force of 4.5 million, only 11 percent were employed in the formal sector. The remaining 89 percent were either unemployed or working in the informal sector.

The role of trade unions

 Consequently, Zambian trade unions, which traditionally organised workers on the basis of formal employment, have lost membership. Between 1990-97, formal employment dropped from 527 thousand to 472 thousand. Trade union membership dropped from 356 thousand to 286 thousand in the same period. The loss of membership has had a negative effect on the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), resulting in a loss of financial resources and political clout.

Even worse, public opinion has equally been very negative on the social value of trade unions. They are now viewed as belonging to the "past". Ironically, it was the trade unions, under the umbrella of ZCTU which brought an end to the one-party state in 1991. This led to the introduction of multi-party democracy.  The current head of state, Mr Fredrick Chiluba is the former President of ZCTU. His election symbolised the overwhelming political influence that ZCTU enjoyed in the country, and that influence has tremendously declined.

There are factors such as the current legal framework which has made it difficulty for trade unions to organise and operate as key agents of social and democratic change. However, internal factors have also had an effect. The old culture of managing trade unions in a very bureaucratic manner devoid of pro-active strategies led to NGOs taking a leading role in developing civil society.

Working with the informal sector

With this background, the Zambian Workers' Education Association in partnership with the Workers' Education Association (England and Scotland) submitted an informal sector project proposal to the British National Lottery Charities Board. This proposal has now been approved.

 The broad aims of this project include:

	Strengthening informal sector workers' organisations in Zambia.
	Building the confidence and capacity of informal sector workers to take an active role in the democratic life of their own organisations, the WEAZ and broader civic society.
	Building and sustaining partnership between trade unions, informal sector workers organisations, NGOs, etc.

This is a very opportune project for both WEAZ and ZCTU.

For the former, informal sector workers' organisations such as the Street Vendors' Association, Tailors' Association and Marketers' Association form part of its broad membership. Hence as members they will benefit directly or indirectly through their participation in the project activities.

For ZCTU, despite amending the constitution in the mid 90s, there has been no systematic provision of workers’ education to informal sector workers' organisations. There has also been no consistent publicity about the legal space for the informal sector association within formal trade union federation structures.  

Therefore, the project will provide the opportunity to identify common areas of co-operation and collaboration for both trade union leaders and informal sector associations. If the project is successfully implemented, it could have a profound impact on broader processes of democratic institution building and the development of civil society in Zambia. The project will also stimulate the need for accessing sustainable education programmes by informal sector workers, which develops their confidence and social or collective responsibility.

This project, though not the answer to the problems besetting the informal sector, begins to translate the resolution on organising informal sector workers into practice.