The Indomitable Spirit of Maria: Durban’s ” Queen of Cardboard”
Amidst the lively hustle of Durban’s CBD, where the city pulses with daily activity, one woman stands as a beacon of resilience, strength, and environmental
Rights to the city for informal workers
Working to achieve spatial justice and equitable access to sustainable livelihoods for informal workers in urban public space.
Our Strategies
Urban Innovation
[action] research & design + test + assess + document = influence
Urban Advocacy
support + advice + empowerment = amplified voice + visibility
Urban Learning
documentation + dissemination = understanding + reduced prejudice
Urban Intelligence
street presence + observation + engagement + responsiveness = knowledge + trust
Our Principles
Advocacy for informal workers’ rights including legal and regulatory reform, for reduced prejudice and improved perceptions.
Working with permitted and un-permitted informal workers in public space, amplifying their voices through inclusive collaborative processes.
Non-partisan and non-discriminatory. Working towards spatial transformation in urban public space.
Explicit support of female informal workers, and capacity building and empowerment towards equal (or more) female influence and leadership.
Support for informal worker led, scalable and appropriate interventions that work towards replicability and independent advocacy and transformation.
Design of processes and interventions together with rather than for informal workers.
Our Projects
CURRENT PROJECTS
AeT’s current work spans a variety of projects and commissions, which either build on existing work or emerge out of a need or opportunity that arises through consultation with informal workers. Each project integrates AeT’s strategies (link) and aligns with at least one AeT’s programme areas.
Our Funders, Partners and Collaborators
AeT team works towards building a better, more sustainable urban future for everyone at the table. (Asiye eTafuleni means ‘bring it to the table’ in isiZulu). AeT’s work would not be possible without the generous support and commitment of our past and present funders and partners.
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Our Work Recognised
Blog
Our blogs highlight project activities, spotlight successes and challenges, and share perspectives and updates on the informal sector.
Informal Worker’s Response to the Challenge of Public Urination
In Durban’s inner city, there comes a time when one must hold their nose as they walk past a place covered in a build-up of
Warwick’s Street Carpenter
By Priyanka Govender Here in South Africa, where jobs are hard to come by and the unemployment crisis is skyrocketing, having an entrepreneurial spirit is
Support Our Work
AeT has been bringing communities together and enhancing the lives of informal workers for over 10 years. Through inclusive processes, the AeT team works towards building a better, more sustainable urban future for everyone at the table. (Asiye eTafuleni means ‘bring it to the table’ in isiZulu).
If you would like to bring something to table, the ways in which you could actively support AeTs projects is through:
Volunteering or internships
Sharing our stories on social platforms
Once off or ongoing donations
Please email us for more information.
