ABSTRACT

Street vendors are often those who are unable to get regular jobs in the remunerative formal sector on account of their low level of education and skills. This paper seeks to assess the challenges and resilience strategies they face on a regular basis as they carry on their vending activities. The researcher makes use of questionnaires to collect data from a number of selected street vendors who constitute the sample size for this study. The challenges were grouped under micro, internal and institutional factors to make a more explicit assessment of the challenges and resilience strategies. The data collected is further analyzed using Excel spreadsheet as well as SPSS version 20.0 were descriptive statistics was carried out.  The study reveals that, micro challenges (cash shortage, bad weather conditions, competition amongst vendors) are prominent and account for the greatest proportion of challenges faced by street vendors, which is seconded by institutional challenges such as cash shortage, high taxes and municipal harassment. It further concludes that the various resilience strategies adopted by the street vendors   are done with respect to the nature of the challenges. It is suggested that further studies be carried out to bring out a more explicit understanding on the relationship between the challenges and the growth of this sector of activities. Recommendations are equally made to the government or local authorities on the measures to put in place in order to promote street vending which is a means of livelihood to many Cameroonians and city dwellers.

Key words: Street vendors, Vending, Challenges, Resilience Strategies.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

According to the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI, 2023), street vending has existed since ancient times, but became prominent in the latter half of the 19^th century, where merchants sold their wares in town by going from house to house and in neighboring countries for a living.

In modern times, we rarely find that street vendors are treated with the same measure of tolerance and dignity, as they are targeted in modern areas by the municipal authorities as illegal traders (NASVI, 2023).

According to Alexender (2017), street vending is casts as a traditional and regressive economic activity of the developing world in a modern industrialized context; however has been witnessing growth in both the developed and developing countries over the world.

Some countries don’t keep record of the number of street vendors, and in the ones that do, street vendors are always under-reported (www.bloomberg.com )

Serious focus on street vending begun with the Bellagio International Declaration of street vendors in 1996, which called national policies for street vendors and follow up action by individual vendors, vendor’s associations, city government and international organizations.

International Street Vending Day has been celebrated every year on November 14^th, since 2012 as a reminder of the tremendous impact these activities have on a country’s economy, especially when it comes to employment (Linda, 2015).

In China, more than nine million jobs were estimated to be created by street vending businesses in 2019, since large business brands opted to support these businesses as a means of recovery from the corona virus pandemic (Yeping, 2020).

 According to Winnie et al. (2004), many African countries have considered street vending as one of the channels of fostering private sector’s contribution to both growth and equity objectives of development, thus put in place certain measures to promote these activities.

Street vending holds indisputable economic and social value for African countries, as it is often the only means to escape unemployment and poverty, and a means to ensure livelihood and an education for the children of these vendors (Rover and Skinner, 2016).

However, with the inadequacy of data and misconception of who street vendors are, some laws see them as social criminals; for example, over the years, street vendors along the streets of Los Angeles, California has been facing several forms of eviction by the authorities as they were considered unlawful ( www.publiccounsel.org , 2022).

Street vending is a common form of self-employment and a source of income for millions of people worldwide, particularly in developing countries where formal employment opportunities are limited. However, street vending is often associated with poverty, informality, and social exclusion. Street vendors face many challenges, including harassment by authorities, competition from formal businesses, lack of access to credit and financing, and vulnerability to crime and exploitation (What does a street vendor do? – Career Explorer, 2023)

 Governments and civil society organizations are working to improve the conditions of street vendors by providing legal recognition, access to infrastructures and services, and opportunities for training and education.

Following the destabilization which resulted from the implementation of structural adjustment programs, street vending has emerged as a timely strategy for survival and for bringing goods closer to customers, (Aristide, 2018).  It has therefore been consolidated as an extension of market, and as a perennial activity that shapes the urban economy and life in town, though the necessity for street vending remains poorly perceived by decision makers (Brown et al., 2010).  

Despite the challenges (micro, internal and institutional) that these sector of the informal economy has been facing in Cameroon, street vendors developed resilience or coping strategies to alleviate or reduce the effect of those challenges.

This study seeks to assess the challenges faced by street vendors and to examine the various resilience strategies put in place by the street vendors in Buea in a bit to overcome the challenges faced they face, and how effective these strategies are.

Given the complexity in getting accurate data on the number of street vendors operating in the city, 30 street vendors will be selected purposively along the main street from UB Junction to Check-Point_ Molyko to constitute our sample size.

 Results from this study will not only guide individuals who are into street vending, and those who aspire to venture in street vending, but it will equally help policy makers in designing policies which favor the expansion and protection of this sector of the informal economy which contributes significantly to the creation of employment opportunities and to the overall economic growth.                        

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Street vendors engage in a variety of activities which range from producing or transforming goods at home and selling them in the streets, sourcing from wholesalers and selling at diverse locations, to providing a range of services including dressmaking, masonry, hairdressing, knife sharpening, carpentry, car guarding, computer repairs, accounting, shoe and watch repair (Dube, 2019).

Over the years, street vending has remained an important source of livelihood for many globally (Sigh, 2020). Since the identification of coronavirus disease in 2019, various governments have implemented measures to control the spread of the infection, which have had adverse effect on street vending practices (Isaac et al., 2021).

Based on the informal industry, it is largely dominated by women, who in the daily exercise of their business activities, go through a lot of challenges that are either: micro, internal or institutional in nature (Koma, 2017).

Micro challenges refer to those setbacks which are directly related to the immediate business environment (street), such as competitors, suppliers and customers; whereas internal challenges are the challenges which stems from within the business, for example lack of knowledge on the business, poor customer satisfaction, inefficiency and ineffective processes,

On the other hand, institutional challenges looks at the difficulties in carrying out the street vending activity which are related to government or the local authority’s initiatives (lack of space and frequent evictions) as well as the rapid evolution of the information and technology age, which to an extent renders street vending needless.

In overcoming these challenges, they usually adopt a series of resilience strategies both individually and collectively such as: bringing fewer goods and constantly moving around the street to escape faster and appear less visible, or to move to less controlled places to avoid all forms of harassment or confiscation (individual strategy); as well as joining organizations that defend their right to work in public places such as FEICOM, studying master plans to defend their rights, adopting communication signals to prevent eviction from city authorities (collective strategy).

This study seeks to understand which strategy work for each specific challenge in the street vending world, especially in the Buea municipality.

1.3 Research Questions

The main research question is: “what are the challenges that street vendors face in Buea, and how do they overcome these challenges?”

Specific research questions include:

• What are the micro challenges that street vendors go through in Buea, and how do they overcome them?
• What are the internal challenges that street vendors face in Buea, and how do they overcome them?

What are the institutional challenges that street vendors go through in Buea, and how do they overcome them?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is “To analyze the challenges faced by street vendors in the Buea Municipality, and provide efficient resilience strategies to overcome them”

Specific research objectives include:

• To evaluate the micro challenges of street vendors in Buea, and provide efficient resilience strategies to overcome them.
• To examine the internal challenges of street vendors in Buea, and provide efficient resilience strategies to overcome them.
• To access the institutional challenges of street vendors in Buea, and provide efficient resilience strategies to overcome them.