https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8827-3227
![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article explores the social protection coverage, needs, and preferences of informal micro traders in Tanzania. In particular, it examines the social protection models implemented ‘from below’ by traders’ own collective associations. Using original survey and interview data, the paper shows how social protection offered by public channels often suffers from a narrow scope and fails to correspond with the key challenges experienced by informal traders. In contrast, social protection models ‘from below’ implemented by the traders’ own associations, are directed towards timely, flexible, but also limited cushioning against multiple relevant needs. While they help manage the implications of precariousness rather than challenging their causes, they nonetheless illustrate a format closer attuned to the needs and realities of informal micro traders. Hence, this paper calls for a broadening of both academic and policy discussions in the field of social protection from the current narrow focus on formal schemes only.
Acknowledgements
The data used in this paper was collected as part of the collaborative project Informal Worker Associations and Social Protection (SPIWORK). The project is a collaboration between Roskilde University. Denmark, Nairobi University in Kenya and Mzumbe University in Dar es Salaam. For more information on the project, visit: www.ruc.dk/spiwork. I would like to thank Jacob Rasmussen and two anonymous reviewers for constructive feedback and comments on earlier versions of the paper and Federico Jensen for his help with data handling. Gratitude is also expressed to the whole SPIWORK team, in particular Aloyce Gervas, Godbertha Kiniondo, and Anna Mdee and to all the people who kindly took time to share their experiences and knowledge with us. The dataset on which the quantitative analysis is based is available in an anonymized form at: https://forskning.ruc.dk/da/projects/informal-worker-organisation-and-social-protection. The full empirical material on which the paper builds is available as an electronic working paper at Roskilde University: https://ruc.dk/en/new-cae-working-paper-worker-organisation-and-social-protection-amongst-informal-petty-traders.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Adesina, “Beyond the Social Protection”; Barrientos, Social Protection and Poverty; Hickey et al., Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa; Lavers and Hickey, “Alternative Routes”.
2 Lavers and Hickey, “Alternative Routes”.
3 Du Toit and Neves, “The Government”; Olivier, “Social Security”.
4 Pedersen and Jacob, “Social Protection”; Masabo, “Informality”. Zanzibar has universal old age pension.
5 Shigute et al., “Linking Social Protection Schemes”.
6 Calder and Tanhchareun, “Informal Social Protection”; OECD/ILO, “Tackling Vulnerability”; UNDP, Informality.
7 For example, Alfers and Moussié, “Social Dialogue”; Awortwi and Walter-Drop, Non-state Social Protection; Calder and Tanhchareun, “Informal Social Protection”; Du Toit and Neves, “The Government”; Olivier, “Social Security”.
8 The data are part of a larger research project covering informal transport, construction, and trade in Kenya and Tanzania (see Riisgaard, Mitullah, and Torm, Social Protection).
9 Devereux and Sabates-Wheeler, “Transformative Social Protection”.
10 Flick, Doing Triangulation.
11 On most indicators, only minor differences were found between the two locations, but for a disaggregated analysis see Riisgaard, “Worker Organisation”.
12 For example, Adesina, “Beyond the Social Protection”; Mkandawire, “Transformative Social Policy”.
13 Adesina, “Beyond the Social Protection”; Barrientos, “Social Protection and Poverty”; Gentilini and Omamo, “Social Protection 2.0”.
14 For example, Deacon, Global Social Policy; Hickey and Seekings, “The Global Politics”; Lavers and Hickey, “Alternative Routes”; Simpson, “Do Donors Matter Most?”
15 For rare exceptions, see Awortwi and Walter-Drop, Non-state Social Protection; Calder and Tanhchareun, “Informal Social Protection”.
16 Skinner, “Street Trade”.
17 See for example, Tripp, Changing the Rules.
18 For example, Rizzo, Taken For A Ride.
19 Ibid.; Rizzo, “Life is War”, 1195.
20 Meagher, Identity Economics.
21 For example, Chen, “The Informal Economy”; Du Toit and Neves, “The Government”; Lindell, “Introduction”.
22 Du Toit and Neves, “The Government”.
23 Lindell, “Introduction”.
24 Carré et al., “Collective Bargaining”; Jongh, “Beyond Associations”; Kumar and Singh, “Securing, Leveraging”; Lindell, “Introduction”.
25 Bernards, “The Global Governance”.
26 Tsuruta, “African Imaginations”.
27 Fisher, “Power Repertoires”.
28 Ibid.; KII interviews.
29 Brown et al., “Financial Inclusion”.
30 Lyons and Msoka, “The World Bank”.
31 Brown et al., “Street Traders”.
32 Lyons and Msoka, “The World Bank”.
33 Babere, “Struggle for Space”; KII interviews.
34 Brown et al., “Street Traders”.
35 Lyons et al., “Do Micro Enterprises Benefit”, 1604.
36 Lyons et al., “Do Micro Enterprises Benefit”.
37 See also Babere, “Struggle for Space”.
38 Holland, Forbearance as Redistribution.
39 FGD, Dar es Salaam.
40 The average USD rate from June 2018 to December 2018 of 2,284.5 TZS per USD is used unless otherwise noted.
41 See also Steiler, “What’s in a Word?”
42 ILFS, “Integrated Labour Force Survey”.
43 Highest/lowest mean = 25,127/10,852 TZS; median = 10,000/5,000 TZS.
44 Jumuia ya Vikundi vya Wenye Viwanda na Biashara Ndogondogo.
45 KII, Dar es Salaam.
46 KII, Dar es Salaam.
47 KII, Dar es Salaam.
48 Word commonly used to describe micro traders.
49 KII, Dodoma.
50 Roever identified three ways in which associations are seen to be helpful to street vendors. These are: (1) mediating between vendors and local authorities; (2) a source of information and training; and (3) resolving conflicts among vendors (Roever, Informal Economy, 43). Conversely, in a literature review on petty trade, Skinner found associations to focus on one or more out of three concerns – financial services, lobbying, and advocacy (Skinner, “Street Trade”).
51 Masabo, “Informality”.
52 Pedersen and Jacob, “Social Protection”.
53 Mbekeani, “Health Sector Reforms”; Rwegoshora, Social Security Challenges.
54 Ministry of Health and Social Services, Tanzania Health Financing Strategy, 65.
55 Wang et al., Progressive Pathway.
56 Pedersen and Jacob, “Social Protection”.
57 Mills et al., “Progress Towards Universal Coverage”; Pedersen and Jacob, “Social Protection”.
58 NHIF, “NHIF Facts and Figures”.
59 Ibid.
60 KII interviews.
61 FGD, Dodoma.
62 FGD, Dodoma.
63 FGD, Dodoma.
64 KII, Dar es Salaam.
65 NHIF, “Presentation”.
66 Zollman, Living on Little.
67 See also UNDP, Informality.
68 OECD/ILO, “Tackling Vulnerability”; UNDP, Informality.
69 Kilonzo, Mwinuka, and Macha, “Social Protection”.
70 FGD, Dar es Salaam.
71 FGD, Dar es Salaam.
72 FGD, Dodoma.
73 For more detail see Riisgaard, Mitullah, and Torm, Social Protection.
74 See also Riisgaard, “What is a Worker?”.
75 FGD, Dodoma.
76 For an exploration of the role of informal economy associations in cushioning members during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya and Tanzania, see Riisgaard, Mitullah, and Torm, Social Protection.
77 Meagher, Identity Economics.
78 OECD/ILO, “Tackling Vulnerability”; Olivier, “Social Security”; UNDP, Informality.
79 For discussions of ‘the missing middle’ in social protection see, for example, Olivier, “Social Security;” or UNDP, Informality. In 2013, a Productive Social Safety Net Programme was introduced with two components, conditional cash transfer and public works. According to a World Bank publication, 1.1 million households had been reached by August 2015, covering 8–10% of the population (Beegle, Coudouel, and Monsalve, Realizing the Full Potential). According to a UNDP publication, social assistance expenditure was 0.31% of GDP in 2016, translating to social assistance spending of only USD 5.38 per poor person per year (UNDP, The State of Social Assistance).
80 Rizzo, “Life is War”, 1195.