Join Our Network

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Who are our members and
what do we do?

Our membership consists of trade unions, federations, producer companies, cooperatives, community-based organisations, country networks of home-based workers, and right-based non-governmental organisations - working with and for home-based workers. We work together to bring collective voice to one of the most marginalised sectors of informal workers while also forging towards emphatic, unified action that is aimed at addressing the challenges faced by women home-based workers in the region.

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Why should you become a member of HNSA?

i) A Recognised Platform for Voice and Visibility

HomeNet South Asia was founded by Self-Employed Womenʼs Association (SEWA) and UNIFEM (now UN Women) with technical expertise from WIEGO. From our genesis, building the voice and visibility of women home-based workers has been at the core of our agenda. HNSA recognised that it would be imperative to bring together the voices and perspective of women home-based workers from all corners of South Asia. Therefore, we have brought together over 60 member organisations, from across eight countries in South Asia, that represent over 900,000 worker voices, of which 95% are women.

The main aim of bringing about voice and visibility is to push home-based workers towards recognition as workers and to establish their labour and livelihood rights. Towards this, we work with our members to support country movements in advocating for favourable laws and policies for vulnerable home-based workers, in implementing initiatives that improve their access to decent work, in highlighting their contributions to economies, and in creating space for the narratives of workers and their issues. We also support these country movements by pushing for the recognition of HBWs in labour statistics and publishing comprehensive statistical briefs.

Our member organisations robustly participate and lend voice and visibility to women HBWs on regional and global platforms. In the recent past, our members have been part of various forums including the International Labour Conference, OECD Forums on Due Diligence in Supply Chains, NGO CSW Parallel Events and other leading platforms. We have jointly campaigned with the Official 16 Days of Activism Campaign and the 1 Billion Voices Campaign with WIEGO. We have worked with other informal sector worker movements to build platforms across the region that bring visibility to and address issues like social security and protection, violence against women, and country / provincial policies for home-based workers.

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ii) Opportunities in Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing

Another main focus of the Network is to strengthen the capacities of our member organisations and to create platforms and opportunities for knowledge sharing among them. Our initiatives have supported member organisations to build their operational and financial capacities. Since our work is intrinsically linked with livelihoods, we  have also provided enterprise support to our members.

In the recent years, we have shaped knowledge tools, led and supported trainings for our member organisations and for women HBWs in organising, digital literacy, supply chains, digital marketing, violence against women HBWs, social protection, and policies for home-based workers. Our initiatives, on the ground, have helped women HBWs access Government relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, improve their access to basic services, establish linkages to decent work, and improve their leadership skills.

HNSA also acts as a link between its members – identifying common areas of interventions in areas like building worker-led organising models, market linkages, and decent housing. These efforts have undoubtedly improved the lives of vulnerable home-based workers across the region.

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iii) Action-Based Research and Statistics
to Strengthen Advocacy

Our dedicated efforts in the areas of action-based research and statistics have proved to be a powerful tool of advocacy for our member organisations. Through our work in these areas, we have been instrumental in bringing women home-based workers out of the shadows and ensuring that they count in State-backed programmes and policies, achieve better recognition in global and domestic supply chains, and are supported during times of crises. The research – that in recent years has focused on topics like the impact of COVID-19, violence in the world of home-based work, climate change, and promoting decent work – has been pioneering in establishing evidence on the challenges faced by women HBWs and outlines solutions.

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iv) A Network of Solidarity

HomeNet South Asia continues to make strides in building solidarity among home-based workers and their representative organisations in the region. This is significantly important as home-based workers work from their own homes and are isolated, marginalized and often not organized. Over the years, we have, together, built a democratic and representative organisation whose sole goal is the empowerment of vulnerable home-based workers across South Asia. Through country-level meetings, trainings and forums, and through annual physical meetings – our members consistently extend support and solidarity towards each other, gaining access to each other and working unitedly towards a better tomorrow.

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