The seminar, organized by the ILO project "Transition from the informal to the formal economy" and the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities ILO / ACTRAV, which was attended by the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan, the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova and the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The total number of participants was 40 people. The event was also attended by the Executive Secretary of the Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) of the International Trade Union Confederation.

The trainers and resource persons during the training were the General Secretary, Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy, Wisborn Malaya, and Sub-Saharan Regional Coordinator, International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network(ILAW), Jacqueline Wamay, Kenya.

In his welcoming speech, Sergejus Glovackas, ACTRAV Desk officer for Europe and Central Asia (ILO/ACTRAV), noted that “the trade union movement must be committed to advancing the rights of all workers without distinction, including workers in the informal economy. The future of trade unions, especially in many developing countries, will depend on the organization of workers in the informal economy, which implies serious difficulties and a number of organizational dilemmas for the trade union movement.”

The participants discussed in detail the conclusions and provisions of the ILO/ACTRAV Report on “Trade Unions in the Balance”, ACTRAV and INWORK: "A Toolkit: Interaction between Workers' Organizations and Workers in the Informal Economy", ACTRAV/DTDA publication on “Organizing Informal Economy Workers into Trade Unions.

Gocha Aleksandria, Senior Specialist for Workers’ Activities in the ILO’s Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stressed that “the training workshop looked in detail at important lessons from a wealth of international and regional practice on how to integrate different groups of workers in the informal economy, especially youth and women, into the formal structures of the trade union movement. The role of trade unions is, among other things, to support workers in the informal economy by expanding their coverage with measures and institutions for labour protection and health, and social protection systems.”

International trainers - Wisborn Malaya and Jacqueline Wamai - presented international experience in integrating various categories of workers and self-employed in the informal economy into trade union structures in countries such as Argentina, Fiji, Ghana, India, Malawi, Tanzania, Peru, etc. They spoke about the methods organizations of workers in the informal economy into trade unions, on amending and adapting the statutes of organizations to new realities, the structure and procedure for collecting contributions, services and benefits provided to workers and self-employed in the informal economy.

In his closing speech, Anton Leppik, Executive Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation (the Pan European regional council of ITUC) noted that “we had a unique opportunity to exchange experiences, discuss in detail important issues and gaps in the organization of workers in the informal economy into trade unions, share experiences on where they are more most in need of capacity building work and the necessary support.”

As a result of the training, plans were developed to organize the unionization of workers in the informal economy. The plans will be included in the general strategic plan for the development of sectoral trade unions.