Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

Cooperatives and associations of informal sector workers could become key players in global efforts to alleviate extreme poverty and enhance disaster resilience in urban slums and informal settlements. By engaging these worker-led organizations in community-based efforts to reduce disaster risk, the urban poor who live in informal settlements and work informal jobs can exert their collective power to overcome their social and economic marginalization. Such a strategy can build safer communities and lead to the extension of worker rights and social protections to those toiling in the informal economy.