Instute for Research on Labor and Employment Mobilizing Informal Workers for Urban Resilience: Linking Poverty Alleviaon and Disaster Preparedness

Cooperaves and associaons of informal sector workers could become key players in global efforts to alleviate extreme poverty and enhance disaster resilience in urban slums and informal selements. By engaging these worker-led organizaons in community-based efforts to reduce disaster risk, the urban poor who live in informal selements and work informal jobs can exert their collecve power to overcome their social and economic marginalizaon. Such a strategy can build safer communies and lead to the extension of worker rights and social protecons to those toiling in the informal economy. Two landmark global iniaves—the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to alleviate extreme poverty and the Hyogo Framework for Acon (HFA) to reduce the risk of disasters—expire in 2015. The United Naons is working with its member countries and internaonal non-governmental organizaons to cra a new development agenda and disaster resilience framework to succeed these global efforts. While the original MDGs and HFA iniaves developed independently, the successor iniaves to reduce poverty and disaster losses are linked. As the world has learned, in a maer of seconds, a disaster can reduce to rubble the development achievements built over decades. Development assistance and disaster response in the 21 st century face three related challenges that require an integrated approach. First, as the world connues to urbanize, more people and assets are locang in disaster-prone cies. Second, disasters and extreme weather events are increasing in the severity and frequency, owing to climate change. Finally, the majority of the new city-dwellers are living in slums and informal selements and working in the informal economy, creang a double exposure in which both their lives and livelihoods are at risk. In its report, Plan of AcƟon on Disaster Risk ReducƟon for Resilience, the United Naons has concluded the foundaon of sustainable development is community resilience that " integrates poverty reducon, disaster risk reducon, sustainable livelihoods and climate change adaptaon. " (UN, 2013, p.7) The UN's global iniaves recognize the nature of poverty is changing as the world connues to urbanize. Poor city residents live in hazardous informal selements because of the low costs of housing and proximity to informal sector work. To ply their trade, informal workers must navigate an urban environment where fines, Labor and Employment supports faculty and graduate student research on employment and labor topics in a variety of academic disciplines. The Instute also sponsors colloquia, conferences and other public programming , is home to …