Informal Economy

A voice for informal economy workers in Vanuatu

The organizing activities by the Vanuatu National Workers Union (VNWU) and the Vanuatu Association of Public Service Employees (VAPSE) is complementary to ILO’s partnership with the Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF) to improve access to social security for informal sector workers in Vanuatu.

Project documentation | 18 October 2021
Contact(s): bernard@ilo.org
Meetings underway in Luganville, Vanuatu.
The Vanuatu Council of Trade Unions (VCTU) has commenced a project aimed at organizing the country’s informal sector workers. Awareness campaigns have started on the island of Santo - led jointly by the Vanuatu National Workers Union (VNWU) and the Vanuatu Association of Public Service Employees (VAPSE).

“Organizing meetings started this month in Luganville with 60 weavers and 20 food stall mothers”, said Ms Loreen Bani, the President of VCTU. She further added that she was very pleased with the technical assistance provided by the International Labour Organization (ILO) that enabled the union to reach out to a sector that historically has not had a formal voice.

In late 2020, the Vanuatu Council of Trades Union (VCTU) with the technical assistance of the ILO undertook a Rapid Assessment on the impact of COVID-19 on employment and workers. The Assessment included recovery recommendations on supporting informal sector workers impacted by COVID-19 and Tropical Cyclone Harold.

Based on recovery recommendations of Assessments conducted in neighbouring Pacific countries, the UN’s Informal Economies Recovery Project was developed to support recovery activities in four countries including Vanuatu.
“ILO is very pleased to be able to support our social partners in Vanuatu implement concrete recovery activities; originating from their recommendations in the rapid assessment”, said ILO Director for Pacific Island Countries, Mr Matin Karimli. He further added that the objectives of the UN Project was aligned to and contributes to the Vanuatu Recovery Strategy 2020-23, in particular recovery objective 2 – Enhancing lives and livelihoods.

Dr Basil Leodoro, the President of VAPSE and Mr Greamson Valua, the VNWU Organizer are leading the organizing work in Santo. They have reported that approximately 30 new members from the informal sector have signed on as members.
According to the earlier rapid assessment 66.9% of Vanuatu workers are employed in the informal economy. Informal employment among women is higher than that of males in Vanuatu, with women making up 68.% of total informal sector workers. With the prolonged impact of COVID-19 resulting in ongoing job redundancies from the formal sector, the informal sector is predicted to inflate further.

The organizing activities by the unions is complementary to ILO’s partnership with the Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF) to improve access to social security for informal sector workers in Vanuatu.