By Pedro Mbewe Andrasy
VISET (Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation), through its Local Accountability and Citizen Engagement (LACE) project, convened a local community interface meeting on Thursday at Batanai Gardens.
The purpose was to open participatory dialogue on the proposed Community Health Equity Fund (CHEF) and social security schemes designed for the informal sector.
The gathering brought together informal traders, community residents, officials from the City of Harare Health Department, and representatives from the National Social Security Authority (NSSA).
Edward Kapodogo of VISET, in his opening remarks, emphasized the central role that informal workers—particularly women and other vulnerable groups—play in Harare’s economy, and noted that far too many are still excluded from vital services such as healthcare and social protection.
VISET was founded in 2015 with the mission to uplift and give voice to informal economy workers across southern Africa. Since then, the organization has launched numerous initiatives: building vendor capacities through business training and financial literacy; championing economic justice and inclusivity; promoting gender equity; advocating for policy reforms; and fostering innovation, for instance by guiding traders through health‑related challenges during COVID‑19 lockdowns and helping them engage with local authorities.
NSSA’s Mr. Nzuwa explained that the agency has completed a needs-assessment survey among informal workers, benchmarked international models, and plans to pilot a social‑security program across three sub‑sectors within the next three months. NSSA also committed to ongoing stakeholder engagement, particularly with organisations like VISET and their constituents. However, participants voiced concerns about ensuring the sustainability of these schemes and tailoring contributions to accommodate the varied capacities of informal enterprises.
Representatives from the City of Harare Health Department supported by UNFPA and HMMS introduced the CHEF initiative, a community‑managed solidarity fund aimed at bolstering public health services in Mbare, Hopley, and Mabvuku. With annual contributions as low as US $3 per person, the fund would be overseen almost entirely by local communities and kept separate from the general council budget to enhance transparency. Traders were encouraged to join clinic committees, reinforcing community ownership, accountability, and healing fractured trust in public institutions.
The discussion highlighted a shared interest in overcoming hurdles to trust and accountability. In response, attendees pledged to raise awareness within their networks, volunteer for the health–security committees, and support the institutionalisation of CHEF and inclusive social security as models of pro‑poor service delivery.
This interface meeting marked a significant milestone in VISET’s ongoing work: facilitating informal traders’ access to public finance mechanisms, fostering city-wide dialogues on vendor welfare and policy inclusion, and pushing for solutions that reflect grassroots voices . With strong engagement from Harare’s informal economy community and institutional stakeholders, the event signals forward momentum towards community‑driven healthcare and social protection schemes that could set a template for the country
