STREET VENDORS IN PAKISTAN, INDONESIA AND CUBA

Street vendor is a person who offers goods or services for sale to the
public without having a permanently built structure but with a temporary
static structure or mobile stall and not sanctioned under government
regulations. National level statistics reveal that street vendors account for
15% of total urban employment in south Asia.
Street vending provides livelihood to the individuals having less
employment opportunities, bad luck for Pakistan that they are misutilized,
not only this but this sector is forced to drive economic conditions to worst,
showing increase in poverty, unemployment and many others. Making
ways for cars, many of khokhas are taken away, taking the last resort and
forcing street vendors to beg. In our country we have skill development
agencies, funds to foster skills, BISP program giving them conditional and
unconditional transfers and several large microcredit-providing agencies but
all failing. Local development agencies harass street vendors by executing
anti-encroachment drives against street encroachers without bothering
about how this segment will find their livelihood.
Urban poors in Pakistan are dependent on street vendors because 75% of
Pakistani inhabitants have easy access to khokhas and dhabas, as
highlighted in Gallup survey of Pakistan 2016. Current Pakistani
government is taking stringent anti-encroachment measures against urban
street vending markets despite being an important sector to economy due to
which products are reached to consumers at a high price.
Cuba, another developing country like Pakistan has almost similar pattern
for vendors in past but now doing great for vendors. They get the permit to
make and sell their own goods on the streets. Despite there are still some
vendors who illegally sell goods to avoid authorities and fines. Cuban street
vendors bother with pregon but not all while these rest add to urban
cacophony.
Hence challenges facing street vendors include: police harassment,
arbitrary confiscation of goods, demands for bribes and physical
abuse, and insecurity of workplace (especially on the streets),
eviction, relocation and difficulty of obtaining licences. Others include
inadequate quality of urban infrastructure, such as lack of access to
safe water, toilets, shelter and storage space. Street vendors are also
affected by inflation and market competition, and lack of access to
finance, and unfavorable terms of credit.
Indonesia a blessed country with huge street vendors, JAKARTA alone has
50000 street-food vendors but now they have exceeded many more.

What could be done :

 Assisting trade unions to organize street vendors in their countries
 Assisting street vendors’ organizations to form city or national
alliances (i.e. assisting with communication costs or the costs of
convening meetings of different street vendors’ organizations)
 Assisting street vendors’ organizations to achieve results in issue-
based campaigning (both at local and national levels)
 Building a culture of independence and self-sufficiency among our
affiliates, as well as stronger women’s leadership at every level
 Government should launch a national programme for regularization of
the informal sectors