Streetnet International
International Alliance of Street Vendors

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is a sub-committee of the International Council consisting of seven, which meets quarterly.

Lorraine Sibanda (Zimbabwe)

President

Lorraine Sibanda ( nee Ndhlovu) is the current President of the Zimabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA) and StreetNet International. She is based in Gwanda town, which is about 600kilometres south of Harare, Zimbabwe. Her life line business is cross border trading and goat farming. Prior to her new life and positions of engagement, Lorraine is a qualified teacher and taught primary school for 10 years. She left teaching to start self-help projects in 2008 when the Zimbabwean economy became complicated for civil servants. This is when she started becoming a member of civic organizations. In 2011 she was voted ZCIEA Gwanda territorial President.

As a result, she started growing through the ranks of ZCIEA work and activism until 2015 when she was voted ZCIEA National President. In 2016, Lorraine was voted StreetNet International President. This StreetNet Presidency was renewed in April 2019 in Kyrgyzstan.

During her National and International portfolios, Lorraine has raised the unsung song of the recognition of the informal economy workers in the global working world as people who contribute to their countries’ economies. They must be recognised and not criminalised. Part of this campaign includes her meaningful participation at the International Labour Conference in 2018 and 2019, where she headed informal economy workers’ International advocacy on inclusion of the informal economy workers in the convention on eradication of violence and harassment in the world of work. She even presented a position paper at the ILC in both years. This advocacy was a formidable success. Lorraine has been a champion of the informal economy workers’ advocacy for change since her International engagement. She has been at various International platforms to defend the rights of workers in the informal economy. This includes expressing vulnerability of women in various forms of precarious work for their lives to be improved. Read Lorraine’s full biography here. 

Alberto Santana (Dominican Republic)

Vice-President

Alberto Santana is the Vice President of Streetnet Internacional, President of FUTTEINCO, and Secretary for projects of the Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores Dominicanos – CNTD. He started in the union of self-employed metalworkers, in his native Barahona, Dominican Republic, then he studied Industrial Engineering and started his own business. He was Secretary of International Relations of the CNTD, where he studied immigration, international development cooperation and social protection. Alberto graduated as a lawyer and works on projects for the protection of labor rights and social security for independent and self-employed workers.

Read Alberto’s full biography here.

Jeanette Nyiramassengesho (Rwanda)

Treasurer

Jeannette Jeanette Nyiramassengesho is a gender and informal economy advocate with over 12 years of experience in championing informal workers’ rights, mainly for women and girls. She is the founder of SYTRIECI, a Trade Union for Independent Workers in Informal Economy in Rwanda dedicated to the promotion and protection of Informal workers’ rights and living conditions. She also has a vibrant experience in financial issues management with 9 years of experience in exercising school financial management and audit in her Church parishes and Rwandan trade unions. She is currently the Chairperson of SYTRIECI, an affiliate of Street Net International in which she serves as International Council Member and the focal person of ATUMNET (African Trade Unions Migration Network) ITUC- Africa. She is the vice president of the Forum of Trade Unions in Rwanda.

Jeanette Nyiramassengesho is a holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences (Sociology) obtained from the school of social sciences at Kigali Independent University, Rwanda.  She has been trained and is experienced in Financial and Management issues, Conflict transformation and peer mediation, Negotiation Skills, Communication Skills, leadership skills, Counselling, and Psychotherapy skills. With a leadership working experience of more than 13 years, she has been attending various big conferences and meetings at national and international levels. She speaks four languages: French, English, Swahili, and Kinyarwanda.  Lastly, Jeannette is a friendly person, team & hardworking, self-motivated woman who adapts rapidly to a situation and is much interested in giving advice to others and assisting them.

Jamaladdin Ismayilov (Azerbaijan)

Secretary

Jamaladdn Ismayilov was born in the village of Slavyanka, Gadabay region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. After graduating from secondary school, he was accepted in the Kharkov Civil Engineering Institute, from which he successfully graduated in 1972 with a degree in construction engineer of industrial and civil facilities. He worked in the city of Uralsk in Kazakhstan, and during this time he advanced in his career from a  foreman to chief engineer to head of a construction department to an instructor and part of the city executive committee. Then in 1988, he moved to the city of Baku, Azerbaijan, where he have been working in a trade union since 1990. At present I am the vice-president of the Federation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan Xhidmat-ISH. The Federation unites trade workers such as street and market vendors, and other service industries. It has always been a priority for Jamal to protect the social and labor interests of ordinary workers right up to litigation. Xhidmat-ISH has defended the interests of their union members in labor dispute litigation in more than thirty sessions and twice in the Supreme Court, and won all of  them. In addition, Xhidmat-ISH engaged in cooperation with local municipalities on the problems of creating worthy places of trade for street vendors in the region. They pay great attention to the promotion and awareness to the public about the problems of street vendors and the activities of StreetNet. Read Jamal’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.