Msukaligwa Local Municipality 2008/09 - Co-operative Governance ...

These are similar to nodes, but here growth is encouraged to expand from an area of promising economic activity out towards a more challenging area.By encouraging incremental investment, the aim is to develop an active growth corridor linking richer and poorer areas, reducing social and economicexclusion.Informal marketsAreas where informal economy activities agglomerate are also areas life for regeneration. In addition to ensuring adequate health safety standards,these projects also support the poor.Poverty Reduction Programs: The Informal EconomyWhat is the Informal Economy?The easiest definition of the informal economy is based on a description of the location within which actors operate. Four categories of actors areidentified:• Home based workers• Dependent home-base workers have the following characteristics:• they work at home outside the establishment that buys their products;• they agree by prior arrangement to supply goods or services to a particular enterprise;• they remuneration consists of the prices paid for their products• They do not employ workers on a regular basis.• Independent home-based workers are those who work in their home and deliver their products or services to any prospective buyer. Theircharacteristics are those of the self-employed and are classified as part of the group ‘awn-account workers”.• Street traders and street vendors• Itinerant or seasonal or temporary job workers on building sites or road works• Those in between the streets and home, e.g., waste collectorsWhy is the Informal Economy Important?• The informal economy is a growing part of local and national economies• Although incomes are frequently low, collectively they are valuable.• Informal economies can contribute directly to poverty reduction. It secures the livelihoods of a large proportion of the population. Data on levels ofincomes earned by street vendors are scarce, but they have proven to be higher than assumptions and theories.Main Problems Faced by those in the Informal EconomyThose in the informal economy are faced with many problems. Hire are some of the main ones, as they affect local government.Msukaligwa Municipality: Integrated Development Plan 2007/2012 253