Document: How to Plan a Street Trader Census

Street traders represent one of the largest and most visible segments of the informal economy. Yet although they work in plain view on the streets and sidewalks of urban areas all over the world, the actual number of people who work as street traders is, for the most part, unknown. Government officials have a critical need for accurate data on street traders in order to formulate appropriate and effective policies. Likewise, street trading organizations require accurate information on their members to support their advocacy efforts. This Technical Briefing Note presents guidelines for planning a census of street traders. A census is one of many ways to gather data on a given population. Planning and managing a census of any kind is extremely complex, as it requires both a technical understanding of prevailing census methodologies and a deep, localized socio-cultural understanding of the population of interest. Recognizing that local street trader censuses are routinely undertaken without sufficient technical expertise, this note offers an overview of the key features of a census and the fundamental issues that must be resolved in the planning stage. The guidelines presented here offer a resource for city planners who wish to use a census to estimate the size and basic characteristics of the street vending population. They may also be useful to membership-based organizations of street vendors that intend to carry out their own census projects, or researchers who wish to conduct a census to determine how many traders there are in a given area of the city. Membership-based street vending organizations may also find the guidelines a useful reference to help them engage in city planning processes. A census can be carried out at any scale – on a single street, in one or more natural market areas of a city, or even across an entire metropolitan area. However, for a census project to be successful, it must be planned carefully and supported with resources that match the project goals.