Marginalised Groups’ Survival in an Informal Sector in Tanzania: An Examination of Networking Strategies among Touts in Bus Terminals in Dar es Salaam City

Abstract

For a prolonged time, bus passengers condemn the touts in bus stands as distressing individuals. This perception is, being challenged by strong criticism, especially where the unemployment problem in the formal sector is rapidly increasing and poverty in most developing nations is extensively growing. Hence, making people choose informal jobs as the case of touts is apparent. Some scholars perceive the informal sector as a source of living and survival for the unemployed and young people not in the formal job. However, little is known about how touts as marginalised individuals survive in an informal sector setting such as bus terminals, where there are multiple working challenges. Primarily, this is due to data limitations about touts’ survival strategies in informal job. This research paper examines the networking strategies employed by touts in selected bus terminals - Temeke, Ubungo and Kimara in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to survive in the informal sector. The findings indicate that touts working in bus terminals are among the impoverished groups in the country. Touts’ economic survival in such an unsecured informal sector depends on the establishment of better social relations among themselves and their family members.

Keywords: marginalised groups, touts, informal sector, networking, Tanzania