About the Project

In many developing countries, the informal economy was the only employment prospect for a large part of the population. Many migrants and other marginalized groups in Europe also enter the informal sector. In recent years, it has been observed that some people have tried to push job-seeking immigrants who do not yet know the language and culture of their new countries into the informal sector in order to exploit them with low wages and a high workload. Our main goal was therefore to investigate the possibilities of how informal entrepreneurship could be transferred to the formal sector through targeted training.

We were aware that the effects of informal entrepreneurship were negative not only on the individuals concerned, but also on society as a whole. For example, informal businesses cannot apply for bank loans, cannot participate in public tenders and cannot receive funding. Against this background, we looked at the question of how training should be designed to facilitate the transition from informal to formal entrepreneurship and to meet the specific needs of the people concerned. The aim of our project was to gain and share knowledge that would enable socially inclusive training opportunities to promote the professional and personal development of people in formal entrepreneurship.

Our priority was to offer needs-based training, especially to minorities such as migrants who are involved in informal entrepreneurship. Our experience in training showed that higher education opens up better opportunities for those working in the informal sector and at the same time facilitates the transition to formal employment.

Activities

Definition and causes of informal entrepreneurship and its impact on society

By informal entrepreneurship we mean informal self-employment. It is estimated that it accounts for around 20% of the EU's GDP. Informal self-employment as a main source of income is most common in southern Europe, while in the sense of small, occasional activities (i.e. paid favors) it is mainly found in the Nordic countries. High taxation and complicated business regulations lead to a rapid increase. Informal entrepreneurship is particularly widespread among minorities who have less access to further training opportunities. Incomprehensible regulations lead to fundamental rejection. The demand for social inclusion is realized when every person is accepted by society in their individuality and has the opportunity to participate fully in it. In our project we limit ourselves to the inclusion of the following minorities: (Afghan) migrants and Roma & Sinti. The participating organizations have contact with them and believe that informal entrepreneurship appears to be very widespread in these groups.

Consisting of project meetings, workshops and the creation of brochures.

Strategies for social inclusion in continuing education for informal entrepreneurs

Without greater consideration of the informal economy, global problems such as poverty cannot be solved. Many international organizations are currently working on the topic. The 2030 Agenda with 17 goals for sustainable development provides for the promotion of informal businesses. Several organizations in Europe have developed concepts for developing countries in the area of "further training for informal entrepreneurs". One example is the giz in Germany with its TOOLKIT "LEARNING AND WORKING IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY" for countries in the global south. In Africa, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has promoted the very interesting WIDU.africa platform for informal entrepreneurship, which seems to focus more on financing than on education. With this activity, we investigated whether social inclusion as entrepreneurs is possible for minorities in Europe through needs-based (and low-threshold) further training offers.

Consisting of project meetings, workshops and the creation of brochures.

About the Project

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