Kenya street vendors organize for economic justice

Johanna Chao Rittenburg, manager of UUSC's Economic Justice Program, traveled to Kenya with Atema Eclai, UUSC's director of programs, to meet with our partners promoting the rights of workers in the informal economy.

On Saturday, I woke to breakfast chimes at Nairobi’s ACK Guest House, a lodging house sponsored by the Anglican Church for religiously-affiliated field-workers in Africa.

I guess you could say that Atema and I qualify as guests, since we are in Kenya visiting UUSC’s economic justice partner KENASVIT (Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders), a regional network of street vendors and informal traders linking workers in seven urban areas across the country.

After a breakfast of papaya and Weetabix (the native fruit plus British cereal combo speaks to me of Kenya’s colonial history) we met with KENASVIT’s founder, Dr. Winnie Mitullah, who is also a professor at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Nairobi.

In her "free" time Winnie consults to national governments on urban sustainability, serves as union chair at the university, and travels regularly from Migori to Mombasa for KENASVIT, to strengthen this most innovative of grassroots organization of informal workers.

The focus and scope of Winnie’s work reflect an understanding that is emerging worldwide – in short, securing workers’ rights is an essential component of creating sustainable cities. In millions of urban centers around the globe, street vendors and informal traders provide essential foodstuffs, goods and services for a huge number of residents.


UUSC was the guest at KENASVIT’s official launch where the network was publicly recognized by city and national officials as a new legal organization of informal workers.

Atema and I also conducted a workshop among KENASVIT’s leading body, the National Executive Committee to share perspectives and skills on building team leadership and effective organizing. We visited street vendor members in cities spanning Kenya, such as Nairobi, Kisumu, and Migori.

It is an exciting time for this emerging network of African informal workers, and it is an exciting time for UUSC, as we build relationships to support the growth and development of our partners strengthening workers’ rights.