Recent Projects

The Informal Workers Organisation and Social Protection research project is a four-year project (2017-2020) being implemented by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) of the University of Nairobi in collaboration with Roskilde University in Denmark, and Mzumbe University in Tanzania. The overall aim is to understand whether belonging to associations and groups facilitates informal workers’ enrolment in social protection programmes (both formal and informal), and whether this enhances their access to social protection benefits including, those that relate to their working conditions.  This is done with the understanding that the informal sector is exposed to serious inadequacies in the areas of workers’ rights, economic support, voice and representation and social protection. Consequently, the research seeks to address the following questions: