Waste pickers are vital to circular economies and climate action, yet remain largely invisible. Sonia Dias explores how climate change affects their work, especially that of women.
In precarious working environments, cooperatives hold an immense potential to increase social and economic inclusion of marginalized groups. Sonia Dias uses the examples of waste pickers cooperatives to illustrate how the concept of cooperatives helps implement the four pillars of the International Labor Organisation’s Decent Work Agenda—and calls on policy makers to create a favourable environment for this organisational form.
Sonia Dias has been working with grassroots organizations and in the informal sector in Brazil and beyond since the 1980s. A sociologist by training, her work focusses on participatory processes in waste management, always keeping the focus on the role of women in this field. In an interview with URBANET she spoke about what women can do to better make their voice heard and be more empowered in the city.
