This desk study of the Informal Sector in 4 countries: Botswana, Malaysia, India and Mauritius is of an exploratory nature since it tries to map out the broad contours of the Informal Sector, the possibilities and constraints within the sector as well as examine some aspects of legislations and the regulatory frameworks prevailing in the countries. Given the lack of data on this sector in Mauritius, the research team deemed it necessary not to restrict itself to a desk study but to engage in some primary data collection as well. The informal sector is defined as being very heterogeneous and constituting of a wide range of activities. The informal sector includes a wide variety of activities such as street hawking, beach hawkers; cake selling, construction workers, masons, retail food enterprises, vegetable selling, food, cold drinks, snacks, handicrafts, to mention a few.