New article highlights informal vendors' struggles during COVID-19 in Ghana
Researchers Lena Fält, Ilda Lindell at the Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University and Dominic Edem Hotor at University of Ghana have published an article in the International Development Planning Review examining the experiences of informal market and street vendors in Accra, Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study reveals a disconnect between the Ghanaian government's support schemes for informal workers and the realities faced by vendors on the ground. Drawing on the concepts of "infrastructural citizenship" and "grey space", the researchers argue that vendors' exclusion from relief efforts was rooted in long-standing state neglect and the marginalization of these groups from public infrastructure.
Despite this neglect, the authors found that vendors largely complied with state-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, relying on self-made solutions and social networks to survive. The researchers conceptualize these practices as "ordinary citizenship" - everyday acts of belonging and resilience within broader structures of social order.
However, the pandemic exposed the limitations of vendors' collaborative efforts under the strain of a widespread crisis. The study underscores the importance of the state in redistributing resources and providing public goods to vulnerable groups, especially in times of emergency.
Lena Fält is a researcher at the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University. Ilda Maria Lourenco Lindell is senior lecturer and docent at the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University.
