e-GCSPF Newsletter # 38 - May 2020 - COVID-19

The SARS-COV-2 pandemic has rapidly transformed our societies. Experts from different backgrounds are analyzing its consequences on the short and long term and, in terms of social protection, one conclusion is unavoidable: in a deeply unequal world, the crisis is increasing the gaps. As in every major international event, the impact varies between countries according to their preexisting conditions and the policies implemented. In Argentina, the context is quite daunting in both aspects.
The difficult economic and social context aforementioned adds to the crisis imposed by the SARSCOV-2 pandemic. The government’s response focused on limiting the spread of the disease and expanding and introducing additional policies that would strengthen Argentina’s social protection floor. Read more

COVID-19 presents specific dangers for older people, as the risk of serious illness and death from the disease increases with age. Governments should therefore guarantee older people’s continued and safe access to pensions and other forms of social protection in the context of widespread self-isolation, reduced access to income and curtailed access to support services. Accordingly, improvements to the coverage and benefits of pension systems have amongst the most common social protection responses to the crisis, following heath, unemployment and general social assistance.
This publication aims to capture new or increased pensions or cash transfers specifically targeting older people in response to the COVID19 pandemic. It focuses on interventions directly targeting older people and excludes new cash transfers, or adjustments to existing ones, that are being provided to entire populations or target on the basis criteria other than age, although these general cash transfers are also very important for the wellbeing of older people. Read more

As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Global Policy Watch (GPW) has published a series of COVID-19 Round-Ups. These publications monitor developments and decisions undertaken related to addressing the global pandemic at the United Nations and multinational level. Global Policy Watch is a joint initiative of Global Policy Forum and Social Watch. Read more

To cope with the socioeconomic effects of the crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) proposes that governments ensure immediate temporary cash transfers to meet basic needs and sustain household consumption, which will be crucial for achieving a solid and relatively quick reactivation. In addition, in the long term, the organization reiterates that these transfers should be made permanent, extending beyond people in situations of poverty and reaching the broad social strata of the population that are very vulnerable to becoming poor, which would enable moving towards a universal basic income to guarantee the basic right to survival, according to a new report unveiled today by the Commission’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena.
The organization presented a new report on the social challenges of the crisis stemming from COVID-19. In a context of low growth, a significant increase in poverty, extreme poverty and inequality is foreseen in Latin America and the Caribbean. Read more

The event “We the peoples” sent a strong message to the UN and Member States that a stronger multilateral system is needed as a matter of urgency, and that the UN75 High Level Event on 21 September needs to be the catalyst for the transformative changes urgently needed to successfully address 21st century global challenges. Members of the GCSPF participated in the event and contributed suggestions including that of universal basic income and a global fund for social Protection. Read more

Drawing upon their deep expertise and influential network, the Coalition will consider how to prioritise reforms and policy innovations on tax and transparency that can secure greater revenue and ensure that less is lost to secrecy and abuse. This an important opportunity to understand the contributions needed for systemic change that can point us “in the direction of equality.”
Speakers including world leading economist Professor Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Logan Wort, executive director of the African Tax Administrators Forum; Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network; Professor Emmanuel Saez, director of the Center for Equitable Growth at at the University of California Berkeley (invited).
28 May from 13:00 to 15:30 CUT Read more

The Oxfam-initiated report examines the two key ISP mechanisms of mutual assistance groups and remittances in the context of two protracted crises: Somalia and the Kivu provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This study tries to understand the significance and relevance of the contributions of informal safety nets to formal crisis response programming and also to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of these informal community strategies. Read more
For further information contact Natalie Schwarz and/or Chiara Jachia

By Shahra Razavi
The idea that societies can be secure by relying on individualised market-based provision for those who can afford it, and porous “safety nets” for the poor, has proven to be illusionary. If the COVID-19 pandemic has sent the world one message, it is that we are only as safe as the most vulnerable among us. If people are unable to access quality health care and quarantine themselves, they face serious health risks and may transmit the virus to others, and if one country cannot contain the virus, others are bound to be (re-)infected. And yet, with the exception of those countries with robust and comprehensive social protection systems, many are struggling to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of all those affected. Read more

Human Dignity promotes and defends economic, social and cultural rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to advance ESCR and reduce inequalities through capacity building, advocacy, documentation, research and litigation. Human Dignity is federating the first ever francophone African platform on ESCR.
Human Dignity is an independent, non-profit and non-governmental organisation created in January 2014 and based in Paris. Since 2017, we hold the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Special Consultative Status.
Contact information: Mrs Seynabou Benga, Director
www.hdignity.org / Twitter:@HumanDty / Facebook : @ForHumanDignity

A proposal for the decade of action on the Sustainable Development Goals 2020-2030
More than two thirds of the world’s population are still denied a life in dignity and social security: the GCSPF calls for action on social protection financing to deliver on the human right to social protection and the international commitment to guarantee social protection floors for all (SDG 1.3) at a time when the world is richer than ever before.
The central idea of this proposal is to create a solidarity based Global Financing Mechanism for Social Protection to support countries design, implement and, in specific cases, finance national floors of social protection. Social Protection Floors (SPFs) are a direct and fast-acting mechanism to reduce poverty that can save millions of lives and alleviate misery in further millions of cases. Read more

In the face of the unprecedented spread of COVID-19, we strongly support the appeal by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for countries to promote responses to the pandemic based on the respect of the rights and dignity of older people as well as global solidarity. In this regard, we welcome the release of the Policy Brief of the United Nations Secretary-General on the impact of COVID-19 on older people. Read the Statement in English, Spanish or French

Coronavirus has caused a crisis unseen in modern times. Across the globe the virus is devastating, with overwhelming human and economic cost. Roughly one-third of patients who are hospitalised due to coronavirus require intensive care; in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa existing healthcare systems will find this impossible to respond to. For example, in South Sudan, a country with 11 million people, there are only 24 intensive care beds and 4 ventilators. Somalia, home to 15.8 million people, only has 15 intensive care beds. And Sierra Leone only has 13 intensive care beds for a population of 7.9 million. Read more

Between 23 March and 8 April 2020, WIEGO conducted a rapid assessment to understand how COVID-19 and the related public health measures are impacting informal workers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The rapid assessment included interviews with 21 national or local member-based organizations (MBOs), five regional and global networks of informal workers organizations, as well as a research institute and an NGO that work closely with informal workers. Read more

If countries in Latin America and the Caribbean do not undertake an unprecedented redistributive effort to respond to COVID-19, they may face a profound human rights crisis, says the Initiative for Human Rights Principles in Fiscal Policy (comprised of six human rights organizations and the regional fiscal justice network).
Fiscal policy is a key tool to strengthen healthcare systems and tackle COVID-19, after years of deterioration due to austerity measures. Fiscal policy is also essential to provide economic and social safeguards to make social distancing and quarantine measures viable and humane, and to prevent a deep economic recession. Read more

COVID-19 continues to spread across the world with a trajectory difficult to predict. The health, humanitarian and socio-economic policies we implement will determine how quickly and strongly we recover. Regularly updated assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on economies and labour markets, together with policy recommendations for lessening its effects and aiding a fast recovery. Read more

Join the Webinar on the "Impact of COVID-19 on child poverty in Africa and beyond". COVID-19 pandemic is causing a socio-economic crisis of unprecedented scale. At the global level, the outbreak might push up to 66 million additional children into extreme poverty. How is the crisis unfolding in the African continent and how is it impacting the poorest children and their families?
Bringing the lived experiences of children in Africa, this webinar will highlight how these experiences can inform policy responses and propose actions to mitigate the impacts of this disaster on children living in poverty. The webinar is organized by three member organizations of the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty - ATD Fourth World, the African Child Policy Forum and UNICEF.
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2020 - Time: 9-10:30 AM New York / 4-5:30 PM Nairobi Time
Please register by May 13th here

The current Covid-19 crisis is having and will continue to have clear impacts on care work, in both the private and the public domain. A number of questions arise:
* What are the impacts of the current Covid-19 on the care system and care workers?
* How can and are social protection systems responding to the impacts of the pandemic on care work, in both the private and the public sphere?
* What do experiences from other health crises, such as Zika in Latin America, tell us about care work, gender and social protection?
* To which extent can the crisis and policy responses be gender-transformative? Can they change for example traditional divisions of labour or how we value care work?
Date: 19 May, 2020 - 9:00 (EDT/GMT-4) Read more

How to administer pension payments during the COVID-19 pandemic available now in English, Spanish and Russian

How older people can safely collect pension payments during the COVID-19 pandemic available now in English, Spanish and Russian