This project contributes towards strengthening the rights of waste pickers as entrepreneurs and fostering sustainable ways for their community to continue making a living and striving. The initiative helps the waste pickers fight for market inclusion, to legitimately practice their waste picking entrepreneurial (solidarity) activities in an environment where they are not recognised and are marginalised by the local authority and society, even though the court ordered otherwise.
In 2009, the Colombian Constitutional Court recognised their right as entrepreneurs in the public utility service, despite their informal nature and poverty circumstances. Yet, after 11 years of the Court ruling, waste pickers still struggle in their formalisation process. This is due to the influence of more powerful actors taking advantage of the powerless waste pickers community, leading to Decree 596 (2016) being challenged in court by waste pickers and their allies. Relying on our research findings, we were invited to contribute to the court hearing on the 15 March 2021 as technical witnesses. The process is still ongoing, and we hope to contribute further to support waste pickers to challenge the local authority to protect their right to make a living as entrepreneurs.
Due to the challenging nature of this case, the researchers will continue to monitor the events, document and investigate them further to support waste picker associations, inform public policy and academia of the challenges of barefoot entrepreneurs, support institutional change to ameliorate the impact of COVID-19 on their livelihoods handling waste.
Our findings
Read more into our findings in the Journal of Business Venturing (2022).
Below are two videos highlighting some of our findings:
For more information about this project, please contact the principal investigator Dr Maria Granados, [email protected]