Twenty-third International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

In developed countries, policy makers consider informal activities as limited in scope and criminal in nature. Opposing this Western view, Keith Hart (1973) analyzes the informal sector, in developing countries, as characterized by an easily-accessed self-employment, and a reliance on own resources in a family enterprise. In Senegal, street vendors contribute directly to the overall level of economic activity, and to the provision of goods and services. They are an integral part of the economy, and their elimination would reduce economic activities and increase poverty. However, there is no real enthusiasm from authorities to handle the street business. The absence of a device capable of identifying all vendors is considered by authorities as loss earnings, because they wrongly believe vendors would manage to get away with tax. African societies need more of an anthropological approach in the way development patterns are adopted. In a conservative society like Senegal, it is the practices developed in households that shape politics and not the opposite. That is the reason why the data collected in this study and within households, although not often considered in development programs, are a solid basis that could allow political authorities to respond, with clarity, to the demands of the populations. This study highlights the socio-economic role of street vending as a social safety net and an outlet for national production.