This report is a description of the research carried out by Development Workshop, funded by IDRC, between September 2007 and June 2009. The report accompanies the reports of the three components of the research. Originally the programme was approved to start in September 2007 to March 2009, but Development Workshop Angola was granted a three-month no-cost extension to the research project, so that the programme ended in June 2009.
During this 27 month period, DW has carried out its proposal to expand and build upon its experience of both sector-specific and broad baseline research to develop a comprehensive and cross-sector integrated study of the Angolan informal economy. Specifically this research programme has aimed to:
- significantly increase quantitative and qualitative understandings of important sectors of the informal economy. The programme has pursued studies of two sub-sectors (water and housing) that are of vital importance to the rapidly growing, and largely unregulated peri-urban areas where over 50% of all Angolans currently live;
- conduct a literature review of all previous research and policy documents on the informal economy in Angola and a selective review of international research relevant to the three themes developed in the current programme. The review of Angolan literature was conducted by Development Workshop’s documentation centre CEDOC during the first quarterly phase of the programme. The background documentation on Angola is not extensive and DW has been involved with producing much of it. The international literature review with a focus on recent informal sector research in Africa and post-conflict situations, was conducted by an intern under the supervision of the research programme coordinator and largely drew on internet sources and the libraries of institutions of research advisors;
- carry out a cross-sector study that documented the strategic relationships, interactions, and inter-dependencies among different sub-sectors of the informal economy;
- foster knowledge-based approaches to public policy making through data organization, analysis, and dissemination activities that enhance knowledge access and utilization capacity of a broad range of public and policy-maker stakeholders; and by generating new knowledge about the mechanisms of governance that prevail in the vast peri-urban informal sector where both formal state and customary institutions are either absent or have lost legitimacy and relevance. The programme has tracked the impact and awareness of policy issues related to the informal economy by monitoring debate in the official and independent media.
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Field researchers being trained for informal rental market study: