Unfortunately, this is my first time updating the ‘Research’ section; therefore, this will be a long post that covers the past four months.
I finished my five-month internship with the International Labour Organization in February. My last two months working there were very busy because the ‘Way Out of Informality’ project for which I was working was preparing for an important annual meeting. I was responsible for editing five 150-page documents on the informal economy, obtaining copyright permission, and working with the printers to get them published in time. Furthermore, I prepared six of my own policy briefs. It was an amazing experience to work with a United Nations organization, especially on a project that is relevant to my research; however, the internship left me little time to perform my literature review and prepare for interviews.
In addition to my internship, in January, I began performing ‘informant interviews’ and completed 25 in the span of two months. These interviews were with academics, government officials, activists, and members of NGOs within the realm of waste management. The following were five of the most interesting/enlightening of my informant interviews:
I have read a lot of literature on this topic, but these informant interviews provided clarity on issues I didn’t fully understand and allowed me to ask knowledgeable people about their opinions on the matter.
In March, I presented at the Fulbright conference in Hyderabad. This conference brought together over 150 Fulbright fellows and scholars from all over South and Central Asia for a three-day conference, during which we had 15 minutes to present our research. The conference was intimidating, not only because most of the researchers have PhDs and are experts in their respective fields, but also because I started my research three months later than the others (as a result of my language training). I had only completed the 25 informant interviews, but nonetheless, it was a helpful experience to assemble that information and relevant literature into a cohesive presentation and receive feedback from fellow scholars during the Q&A period. For example, one scholar asked me about the formation of waste picker cooperatives; do they form internally and what kinds of community characteristics (i.e. social capital) determine organization? The formation of cooperatives has always been something I have taken for granted in my research; they are necessary for waste pickers to work with the government, but most waste pickers are not organized, so how is organization brought about? The conference was very productive for recognizing holes in my research, and considering my goals and methodology.
After returning from the conference, I began trying to put together a concrete plan of action for my fieldwork. However, I faced a lot of difficulties when it came to finding a translator (my Hindi is not quite good enough to obtain the type of information I will need from the interviews) and finding a way to introduce myself to the communities I will be observing and interviewing. Most of the other Fulbrighters obtain such resources and introductions through their affiliate institutions; however, my affiliations have not worked all that closely with me and therefore, I have been responsible for obtaining these resources on my own. I reached out to a waste picker trade union called AIKMM, the leader of which has been very helpful and plans to introduce me to a number of waste picker communities throughout the city. (Three weeks ago, I accompanied him to the area of Seemapuri, where a large number of waste pickers reside and work, and was able to observe and interact for a couple of hours). It seems that I will be able to begin my research within the next few weeks, but it is slightly frustrating that it has already been delayed by two months.
The aim of my research has remained consistent for the most part; however, I read a book called Untouchable Freedom by Vijay Prashad, which influenced the emphasis of my research on determining the importance of formality in sanitation work. Untouchable Freedom describes the history of sanitation workers (primarily street sweepers) and mentions efforts by the Delhi municipality during and after the colonial period to hire them as public employees. Oftentimes, the workers did not necessarily want to become ‘formalized’ in this way, which made me question the underlying premise of my previous research that ‘formalization’ is the ideal model. Therefore, my research plan is to interview approximately 25 waste pickers who work ‘informally’, and 25 waste workers who have been brought into the employment of the government in some capacity. I will then contrast their perceptions of the waste management system, satisfaction with their employment, and what benefits they ought to receive from the government. My interviews will be semi-structured and qualitative, and I ultimately hope to utilize NVivo or a similar qualitative data analysis software.
If you have any questions or suggestions about my research aims, methodology, or analysis, please comment or send me an e-mail at [email protected] !
I finished my five-month internship with the International Labour Organization in February. My last two months working there were very busy because the ‘Way Out of Informality’ project for which I was working was preparing for an important annual meeting. I was responsible for editing five 150-page documents on the informal economy, obtaining copyright permission, and working with the printers to get them published in time. Furthermore, I prepared six of my own policy briefs. It was an amazing experience to work with a United Nations organization, especially on a project that is relevant to my research; however, the internship left me little time to perform my literature review and prepare for interviews.
In addition to my internship, in January, I began performing ‘informant interviews’ and completed 25 in the span of two months. These interviews were with academics, government officials, activists, and members of NGOs within the realm of waste management. The following were five of the most interesting/enlightening of my informant interviews:
- GIZ is a German aid agency, which devotes a lot of funds to sustainable development in India. For me, GIZ was similar to the ILO in the sense that I referenced their publications countless times in my senior thesis, so it was exciting to get to visit the office and speak to people about the work they’re doing. I initially reached out to the head of the Indo-German Environment Partnership Program. He agreed to meet with me to discuss my research, and invited two of his colleagues to join us. Therefore, I was able to present my research concept to three professionals knowledgeable in the field of waste management and hear their opinions about the direction of my research.
- TetraPak is a multinational food packaging company. If you buy a carton of milk or juice in India, I would bet a lot of money that it is packaged by TetraPak. TetraPak is well known for its sustainability initiatives; it seeks not only to make recyclable packaging, but also to ensure that its packages are being recycled after use. I spoke to TetraPak’s Environment Director for South Asia (a meeting which was kindly arranged by the parent of a 2014 CMC grad). He told me about the programs which are in place in India to ensure that TetraPak products are being recycled; because the majority of India’s recycling is performed by waste pickers, the company works closely with waste picker cooperatives to ensure that they are collecting and recycling TetraPak packaging (which often goes uncollected because it is not as lucrative for recycling as other materials). In addition to engineering the composition of their packaging so that the materials are more valuable and fetch higher rates for waste pickers, TetraPak incentivizes collecting their packaging by providing health insurance and other benefits to waste pickers. I previously viewed the ‘integration’ of waste pickers into the waste management system solely in terms of public partnerships with waste picker cooperatives; therefore, my meeting at TetraPak was beneficial as it opened my eyes to ways that private companies can involve waste pickers in their extended producer responsibility and corporate social responsibility programs.
- Safai Sena was one of the first waste picker cooperatives in Delhi to partner with the municipal government for door-to-door waste collection in some neighborhoods. Furthermore, they have been put in charge of waste management for a number of major railway stations within Delhi. I met one of the leaders of Safai Sena at the New Delhi Railway Station, in an area where the Station had allocated space for Safai Sena’s sorting and recycling purposes. I interviewed him in Hindi (with the help of a translator from the NGO, Chintan) and also was able to observe the composting process, which Safai Sena performs in the space allocated by the railway.
- A member of the Ministry of Environment and Forests now teaches a course on waste management at TERI University, which is my institutional affiliation for my Fulbright grant. After having studied the relationship between waste pickers and the government for almost two years and having interviewed a number of NGOs and cooperatives, it was an incredible opportunity to finally hear the opinion of someone from the government. The MEF official told me about revisions the Ministry is planning to make to waste management legislation. She also spoke about the (unofficial) requirements the government considers when working with waste pickers for waste management services; she said that the government will employ waste pickers for door-to-door collection services, but that they must be organized into a cooperative of at least 25 members to ensure accountability.
I have read a lot of literature on this topic, but these informant interviews provided clarity on issues I didn’t fully understand and allowed me to ask knowledgeable people about their opinions on the matter.
In March, I presented at the Fulbright conference in Hyderabad. This conference brought together over 150 Fulbright fellows and scholars from all over South and Central Asia for a three-day conference, during which we had 15 minutes to present our research. The conference was intimidating, not only because most of the researchers have PhDs and are experts in their respective fields, but also because I started my research three months later than the others (as a result of my language training). I had only completed the 25 informant interviews, but nonetheless, it was a helpful experience to assemble that information and relevant literature into a cohesive presentation and receive feedback from fellow scholars during the Q&A period. For example, one scholar asked me about the formation of waste picker cooperatives; do they form internally and what kinds of community characteristics (i.e. social capital) determine organization? The formation of cooperatives has always been something I have taken for granted in my research; they are necessary for waste pickers to work with the government, but most waste pickers are not organized, so how is organization brought about? The conference was very productive for recognizing holes in my research, and considering my goals and methodology.
After returning from the conference, I began trying to put together a concrete plan of action for my fieldwork. However, I faced a lot of difficulties when it came to finding a translator (my Hindi is not quite good enough to obtain the type of information I will need from the interviews) and finding a way to introduce myself to the communities I will be observing and interviewing. Most of the other Fulbrighters obtain such resources and introductions through their affiliate institutions; however, my affiliations have not worked all that closely with me and therefore, I have been responsible for obtaining these resources on my own. I reached out to a waste picker trade union called AIKMM, the leader of which has been very helpful and plans to introduce me to a number of waste picker communities throughout the city. (Three weeks ago, I accompanied him to the area of Seemapuri, where a large number of waste pickers reside and work, and was able to observe and interact for a couple of hours). It seems that I will be able to begin my research within the next few weeks, but it is slightly frustrating that it has already been delayed by two months.
The aim of my research has remained consistent for the most part; however, I read a book called Untouchable Freedom by Vijay Prashad, which influenced the emphasis of my research on determining the importance of formality in sanitation work. Untouchable Freedom describes the history of sanitation workers (primarily street sweepers) and mentions efforts by the Delhi municipality during and after the colonial period to hire them as public employees. Oftentimes, the workers did not necessarily want to become ‘formalized’ in this way, which made me question the underlying premise of my previous research that ‘formalization’ is the ideal model. Therefore, my research plan is to interview approximately 25 waste pickers who work ‘informally’, and 25 waste workers who have been brought into the employment of the government in some capacity. I will then contrast their perceptions of the waste management system, satisfaction with their employment, and what benefits they ought to receive from the government. My interviews will be semi-structured and qualitative, and I ultimately hope to utilize NVivo or a similar qualitative data analysis software.
If you have any questions or suggestions about my research aims, methodology, or analysis, please comment or send me an e-mail at [email protected] !