TUC Aid backing self-employed women in Nicaragua

TUC Aid, in partnership with the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action group, is supporting self-employed women in Nicaragua to transform their circumstances through their union. The women, working in the informal sector and members of Nicaraguan confederation FNT’s newest affiliate, face marginalisation and outright discrimination. Wages are barely enough to cover basic needs in this poorest country in the mainland Americas, and with 12 hour days and – often lone – parenting responsibility, these workers are stuck in a cycle of poverty.

However, their union – the Confederation of Self Employed Workers (CTCP) – is working with TUC Aid to give these women a chance to break the cycle. By providing education and training, the CTCP will help its women members deal with the challenges of self-employment, including the crucial relationship with the licensing authorities, improve the efficiency of their businesses and play a greater role in the running of the union itself. Through rep and officer training the union will ensure decent representation of women, who are the majority in their sector, while working to gain them more free time for union work by pooling knowledge and resources in helping them manage their self-employed status more effectively.

The project starts in May and will run for 18 months. 

Picture: (c) Howard Ignatius https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/