Streetnet International
International Alliance of Street Vendors

Member Auditor of the Executive Committee

Chet (Kumar) Sapkota (Nepal)

Member Auditor of the Executive Committee

Chet Sapkota, also known as Kumar, was born in 1968 in the district of Kaver in Nepal. Unlike his sisters, he was given the chance to attend school, but spent most of his childhood in poverty. This led him to question the discrimination and different treatment for rich and poor people. When he was a teenager, he joined an organized that opposed the authoritarian monarchy in Nepal, going to underground activities with the goal to end the inequalities in the country. Eventually, he had to leave for the capital city of Kathmandu due to the repression of the State. He started working in a factory and became part of a trade union. He was later arrested and tortured by authorities and had to leave his job. After recovering from serious body injuries, Kumar started a street business and became an advocate for the rights of street vendors and other informal traders in Nepal, a struggle he has been leading for decades. Read Kumar’s full biography here.

Kashiwa Lameck (Zambia)

Member Auditor of the Executive Committee

Kashiwa Lameck is a co-founder of the Zambia National Marketeers Association (ZANAMA), Alliance for Zambia Informal Economy Associations (AZIEA), Zambia Markets Streets and Allied Workers Association (ZAMSAA) and StreetNet International. He was born on 16 June of 1963 and was previously formally employed in the mining industry for 12 years. He served as a shop-steward and union leader at branch level.

Lameck has been working in the informal economy as market vendor and cross-border trader for 36 years. He has a wide knowledge of informal economy issues and is a trained leader by ITC-Turin, with vast experience at both local and international level. Lameck also initiated the establishment of the AZIEA Mutual Fund, a pension scheme for informal economy workers.

Lameck is currently serving as General Secretary of AZIEA and Executive Member of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions. He is also a member of the technical working group on social protection of the Ministry of Labour. Futhermore, he is a member of the Kitwe City markets rehabilitation team and a management board member of TEVETA, of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

He describes himself as a critical thinker, who prefers to discuss issues and not personalities.

Maya Gurung (Nepal)

Member Auditor of the Executive Committee

Maya Gurung is 39-years-old as of 2023. She is from Nepal, living in Kathmandu, where she leads the Nepal Street Vendors Trade Union (NEST). After joining NEST, she first became the head of the local committee. Maya was then elected as Women’s Committee Coordinator and continued to rise through the ranks as Secretary-General and Vice-President, until now. She is the elected President of NEST. She is also a former board members of GEFONT, the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions.