Pilot projects – Market upgrades
Pilot projects: Market upgrades
Bellville food trader structure prototypes
Market upgrade
Cape Town, South Africa
Project description: Development of a prototype that can address different sized traders that is safer in terms of occupational health and safety, offers protection from environmental/weather elements, and provides a more hygienic food provisioning environment
Main achievements so far:
- – Small & medium/large structures have been co-developed and tested with traders and City officials;
- – A lot of learnings contributing to second iterations of prototypes to be tested with food traders.
Charl Malan Market activation
Market upgrade
Cape Town, South Africa
Project description: Provision of temporary water points in areas where informal food traders operate in the Bellville Public Transport Interchange (PTI) to improve the informal trading systems by improving conditions for food vendors through access to water.
Main achievements so far:
- – Providing access to water to vendors through temporary activation in June, July and August;
- – Gained insights on real water challenges that traders face that prevent them from trading in a hygienic environment (over 70 surveys conducted);
- – Insights on how to provide models for better access to water.
Smiley market infrastructure upgrades
Market upgrade
Cape Town, South Africa
Project description: This project aims to improve site infrastructure of the smiley meat market by providing horizontal surfacing and landscaping, improved trading stalls, and other appropriate infrastructure (lighting, waste depot, storage, etc.).
Main achievements so far: Concept & detailed designs developed, 80 tonnes of dumping, and wood/ash stockpiles successfully cleared; 2 rounds of trader oven prototypes have been completed with ovens in use; interim provision of storage facilities, gazebos, and working stations; solar lighting provided; waste and wood management system put in place.
Trader solar lighting
Market upgrade
Cape Town, South Africa
Project description: Provision of portable solar lights, with rechargeable power banks to 26 meat traders in Albert Luthuli Street in Langa.
Main achievements so far: Access to energy and lighting for better/more visible nighttime trading. This offers more safety and security, and less risk of candle fires.
Building Business Programme
Market upgrade
Cape Town, South Africa
Project description: This programme seeks to provide the participating traders with the necessary skills and resources to transition from livelihood support to sustainable business growth, driving community economic development and business resilience.
Main achievements so far: Taking stock of business assets, expenses, etc.; Establishing financial records (expense & sales tracking); Better financial literacy in business planning, budgeting and reinvesting profit into business growth; Building collective bargaining for bulk buying
Food trading compliance programme in Langa and Belleville PTI
Market upgrade
Cape Town, South Africa
Project description: Supporting Langa meat traders and informal food traders in Belleville to understand and meet food safety, hygiene and licencing requirements.
Main achievements so far:
Baseline compliance assessment ; Workshop on compliance and codesign compliance solutions with traders & City of Cape Town ; Distribution of compliance kits to selected traders and monitoring use to improve sustainability ; Developing and distributing guide booklets in English & xhosa ; Business license registration for over 60 food traders in Langa.
Market upgrade in Kisumu
Market upgrade
Kisumu, Kenya
Project description: The cold room project in Kisumu Obunga Market aims to improve food safety and reduce food loss and waste. It primarily benefits food vendors; mainly women, who handle perishable products such as fish. The key stakeholders include the Obunga fish vendors, the Obunga community, and city officials from the departments of Fisheries, Public Health, Environment, Urban Planning, and Trade.
Main achievements so far:
- – The most significant achievement of the cold room project is its ability to improve food safety, reduce fish loss and waste, and enhance the incomes of food vendors. Vendors no longer have to pay for transport and storage fees in external cooling facilities, as they can now safely store their fish within Obunga.
- – Additionally, through the cold room, vendors have diversified their income by producing and selling ice cubes, creating an extra revenue stream that supports the sustainability of the facility.
- – In terms of food safety, the cold room has been transformative in that when stock arrives late in the evening, vendors are no longer burdened or stressed. They can safely store their fish overnight and prepare it the following day. Previously, much of this stock would spoil overnight and be sold at a lower price as animal feed.
Rehabilitation and strengthening of local market infrastructure in Ouagadougou
Market upgrade
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Project description: This pilot project focuses on co-constructing improved stall models to enhance food safety and reduce food losses in the Naabi Yaar market in Ouagadougou. It includes strengthening the capacities of women vendors on good practices for preservation, hygiene and storage of fresh produce, helping to reduce product losses, increase the availability of healthy foods and improve vendors’ incomes. The project also introduces visibility tools such as murals on hygiene and on the quality of fruits and vegetables to raise consumer awareness of quality criteria for fresh produce.
Main achievements so far:
- – Transforming the market’s food environment through the installation of 74 stalls, and securing the commitment of women vendors and the municipality so that it becomes a model that can be replicated in other markets;
- – Actively mobilising all stakeholders involved in implementing the pilot experiment;
- – Encouraging behaviour change among the participating women vendors, who are becoming aware of the health risks linked to poor sanitation in their environment.