Market traders
Space, security, and conditions to trade.
Focus — Livelihoods, Enterprise & Community Prosperity — Informal and neighborhood economies
INFORMAL AND NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIES
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve the conditions of informal work and trade for the traders, vendors, and informal workers themselves.
Why this area
INFORMAL AND NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIES
IN CONTEXT.
Informal work is the economy for most of the world. Ideas qualify when they improve conditions without demanding formality that costs more than it returns.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Street and home work
Recognition and protection for work as done.
Savings & credit
Local finance that already exists, made stronger.
Standing
Rights, harassment, and eviction.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A INFORMAL AND NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIES
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where the conditions of informal work and trade fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — earnings, days traded, harassment or eviction incidents, or savings held.
- Explains what the traders, vendors, and informal workers themselves do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of the conditions of informal work and trade in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier formalisation and market upgrading schemes did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the traders, vendors, and informal workers themselves, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — traders, market sites, or a neighbourhood.
- A stated measure of success — earnings, days traded, harassment or eviction incidents, or savings held.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves income, security, and standing for the traders, vendors, and informal workers themselves.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named traders' association, savings group, or local authority able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of the conditions of informal work and trade in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the traders, vendors, and informal workers themselves or the traders' association, savings group, or local authority.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about informal and neighborhood economies with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
INFORMAL AND NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIES IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about the conditions of informal work and trade that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.