The South Asian Meeting on Women Workers in the Informal Economy Sector, participated by the Governments of India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; and by trade unions and non governmental organisations and Bangladesh, having met in Kathmandu on 18-20 October 2000 hereby resolve as follows: 

There are at least 50 million homebased workers in South Asia out of whom around 80% are women. They include own account or self employed workers as well as those who do work for contractors at piece rate. 

While these workers contribute significantly to the National Economy, they are mostly illiterate, invisible, unpresented, voiceless and are not generally incorporated in the National Development agendas.  

Therefore, in order to bring these homebased workers into the national economic mainstream in accordance with ILO Convention no. 177, this meeting recommends. 

• Formulation of National Policy on homebased workers by each country.

• Minimum protection, which would include right to organise, minimum remuneration, occupational health and safety, statutory social protection, maternity, childcare, skill development and literacy programme.

• Access to markets and economic resources including raw materials, marketing infrastructure, technology, credit and information.

• Set up Social Funds for homebased workers, which would provide insurance against risks of illness, death, old age accidents, loss of livelihood assets and contingencies as locally required.

• Incorporate into official statistics baseline data regarding various categories of workers in the informal Sector.