More than 60% of the world’s employed population earns its income in the informal economy. In Africa, 76% of jobs are in the informal sector, while a relatively small proportion of jobs, 5.5%, are in the formal sector and 4.3% in households.1 In June 2015, the International Labor Conference adopted the Recommendation (No. 204) on the transition from the informal to the formal economy consisting of developing a set of policies that are appropriate to the diverse characteristics and factors of the informal economy.

We must recognize that the recent periods of global economic and political instability, accentuated by the COVID-19, have exposed the flaws of a model based on maximum profit and confirm, if need be, the need to reinvent an alternative, complementary, more inclusive and sustainable development model. Beyond the constitution of a set of economic activities,
The social and solidarity economy (SSE) reinvents a social model where those excluded from the formal system (unemployed, disabled, elderly, youth, women …) can find their place, thus joining the principle Leave No One Behind of the Agenda 2030 on sustainable development. Thus, the transition from the informal economy to territorial, collective and sustainable economies is a viable solution to rebalance inequalities and economic, social and environmental objectives.

Through this call for proposals, the GSEF2023 Dakar Forum intends to put in capacity all the initiatives and actors of the territories around the world to act to find together, collectively, a new model of development less capitalist and more human. The seven (7) themes and two (2) special events on Youth and Women are detailed below.