By Lorraine Sibanda|Working in the informal economy is precarious , unpredictable and has a lot of challenges for workers in this sector.

Key among the challenges is the daily work which brings barely enough and sometimes very little income for daily food and necessities.

The advent of COVID-19 has deepened the challenges faced by workers in the informal economy because these workers can no longer fend for their families as countries lockdown to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

A lot of families who rely on informal activities for livelihood are going hungry as their food reserves have diminished.

Many are desperate and frustrated as very few of them have any savings to assist them through the crisis.

The work that we do in the informal economy provides hand to mouth income- one day at a time.

In short, informal economy work is financially- fragile and a day away from the workplace means one has no income.

In most countries, there are no social protection measures nor are there any social security benefits to protect informal economy workers from further vulnerability- this makes the suffering worse.

As the pandemic rages on and people remain locked down, there is urgent need for governments to establish fool-proof, corruption free, realistic and sustainable social protection safety nets for informal economy workers so as to preserve their human dignity during these tough times.

Such measures should not only be put in place to combat the effects of COVID-19 but for the sustainable future as the world works towards formalisation of the informal economy and elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work.

Lorraine Sibanda is the President of the Zimbabwe Chamber Of Informal Economy Associations and also Streetnet International President a network of over 50 informal economy organisations worldwide.