Informal sector and government interventions: the case of women street vendors at Ubungo, Dar es Salaam
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Date
2008
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Unversity of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The study aimed at investigating the informal sector and government interventions: The case of women street vendors at Ubungo in Dar es Salaam. The study found various reasons that women decide to engage in street vending, government attitudes towards women street vendors and challenges facing women street vending. The economic crisis has changed the role of women in the household economy. Women have been forced to enter the informal sector. On one way it has over burned them and on the other it has been a way of empowering them. The method of data collection that was involved included documentary reviews, observations method and interviews. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to women street vendors. The study found that women dominate street vending due to limited economic opportunities, and vend as a means of supporting their household and dependants. By vending they can meet daily family needs, but street vendors are not recognized by authorities street vendors are looked by authorities as a problem and efforts to address the problem is to remove them. Rather than looking at street vending as a problem. It is recommended that street vending should be treated as a resource because there are benefits that accrue to the local government, the formal sector traders, city residents and participants in the production and consumption chain. It is further recommended that business vitality that street vendors bring to the city is an important asset that needs to be recognized by authorities.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF HD6072.5.J63)
Keywords
Informal sector (economics), Women in business, Self-employed women, Tanzania, Ubungo, Dar es Salaam region
Citation
John, J. (2008) Informal sector and government interventions: the case of women street vendors at Ubungo, Dar es Salaam, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam