From last 20 years, Nidan is working on various developmental issues with the unorganized workers belonging to the poorest section of society. Nidan has successfully organized more than 80,000 informal workers including a large number of marginalized women through its various participative interventions. Our programme includes micro-finance, micro insurance, livelihood interventions, thrift and credit program, campaigns and advocacy, organization of and informal workers and promotion of collective enterprises. The core manifestations of Nidan’s campaign, advocacy and lobbying activities includes campaign for a street vendors specific policy aimed at the development of urban street vendors. for the better policies and programs for the informal workers- starting from the work conditions to the conditions of working, housing facilities, -finance and due social security are main concern for Nidan. On these issues today Nidan managed to rope-in various related organizations strengthening demand for Comprehensive Social Security policies for unorganized labourers. Further, endorsing the idea of collective force for the common needs, focuses towards organizing its core constituency in form of small people’s organizations as a step further towards self-reliance and solutions of peoples’ problems. Self-help groups (SHGs) and co-operatives are Nidan’s main approach towards the state of dignified living of informal sector labourers. Nidan also promotes other forms of associations like Market committees, Trade committees, Education committees and Water & Sanitation committees based on the demand driven development model. Nidan initiative aims to organize and empower the economically and socially isolated poor from the informal economy in order to reduce their vulnerability and to facilitate sustainable . Workers from unorganized sectors remain poor and vulnerable as they don’t have any fixed employee-employer relationship envisaged with certain minimum protective terms and conditions. These people solely depend on their own labour for their survival. Their problems again get amplified with the degrading condition of illiteracy. They barely have any assets or working capital. But these hard working people make a significant contribution to the economy. In fact, today about 64% of India’s GDP is accounted to self-employed labourers of our country.
