Paper short abstract:

In Papua New Guinea, women engage in informal economies and face safety and security challenges. This paper reports on focus group discussion and interviews to explore women vendors’ roles to achieve safety and security outcomes at Awagasi market in Lae city, Papua New Guinea.

Paper long abstract:

Urban informal economies support the livelihoods of the majority of the urban population in most developing countries. People who engage in the urban informal economies are often marginalized members of the urban spaces. In Papua New Guinea, women and girls face particular challenges to make ends meet, including challenges of safety and security.

This paper reports on focus group discussion and interviews, which explore experiences of women community leaders and women market vendors of an urban informal settlement and Awagasi market in Lae city, Papua New Guinea. They shared their experiences on how they become responsible and take ownership of their communities and create strategies to address law and order issues in the community.

Due to the limited capacity of formal law enforcing entities, people at Awagasi market formed a governance committee called the mediation committee. This committee is made up leaders representing each informal settlement including women leaders. Despite facing many challenges, the research participants shared positive outcomes such as continuous progression of their market, their involvement in the community’s leadership structure, recognition of their leadership roles as the result of the locally driven initiatives to achieve peace and security outcomes. This paper demonstrates the significant role women play in contributing to governance in the informal market spaces and their mediation and conflict resolution strategies based on local values and systems.