By Charles Lwanga-Ntale LABOUR AND SOCIAL JUSTICE. The voices of low-income countries (LICs) in the social protection discourse are not yet being listened to, and more must be done to increase their participation throughout the Global Fund for Social Protection (GFSP) programme cycle.
The primary objective of the study is to give LICs more of a voice in the debate on the establishment of the GFSP, by accessing better and more recent evidence of LIC views, in light of the fact that these may differ from those of middle-income countries. Specifically, the study seeks to establish the extent to which LIC governments prioritise publicly funded SP and how this reflects the priorities of their populations; whether funding is predictable and long term; the concerns that governments have regarding autonomy; interest in technical cooperation on SP strategies; etc. Read more
Tax Financing Options A new report for the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) examining the effects of financing social protection has found that progressive taxation produces the highest returns.
The report shows the economic benefits of social protection by examining the different financing options that states have at their disposal in order to strengthen and extend their social protection systems.
The study simulated the effects of different tax-financing scenarios for social protection on household income, employment and overall GDP. The analysis was carried out in Bangladesh, Colombia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Ghana, India, Rwanda and Serbia.
The report found that financing social protection through progressive forms of taxation – such as progressive income tax, corporate tax, and capital tax – generates positive social and economic outcomes, debunking the myth that such forms of taxation are a drag on employment and growth. Read more
Over the last few years, universal social protection and the government responses to the Covid-19 crisis has generated important debates in the field of social protection.
The Universal Social Protection 2030 framework, for instance, has gained support from a variety of key social protection stakeholders, including national governments, the ILO, IMF, World Bank, and other United Nations agencies, as well as global civil society organizations.
However, certain key principles and actions remain contested in practice at both the level of global financial institutions and within the roll-out of schemes at national level – which highlighted the importance of the role of the ideas.
In order to unpack, shed light into these assumptions and help us understand these dominant ideas and the actors behind it, we invited Florian Jurgens-Grant. Florian is leads, at WIEGO, the project “Challenging the global orthodoxies which undermine Universal Social Protection”. Before joining WIEGO, he worked on social protection for the ILO and HelpAge International. Read more
More than half of the world still lacks access to social protection. However, the consequences of Covid-19 have awakened awareness everywhere of the urgent need to move towards universal social protection.
Where do we stand today? What are the current challenges of social protection in the world and how does Belgian cooperation contribute to addressing these?
The Belgian dialogue USP2030 invites you to reflect on these issues at a Conference on 17 May 2022, from 9am to 5 pm.
With the participation of Meryame Kitir, Belgian Minister for Development Cooperation; Jutta Urpilainen, European commissioner for international partnerships ; Shahra Razavi Director of the Social Protection Department of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Sharon Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and many other partners in international cooperation. Registration hereRead more
By Christy Braham
The rhetoric of an easing COVID-19 pandemic obscures the array of occupational health and safety risks that the world’s informal workers still face. The intersecting global health and economic crisis, combined with continued local and national COVID-19 restrictions, deficiencies in public health responses and a lack of meaningful economic and infrastructural support, continues to have a significant impact on workers’ physical and mental health and wellbeing. Read more.
The study on low-income countries’ (LICs) views of the proposed Global Fund for Social Protection (GFSP) sought to contribute to discussions on the operational dimensions of the fund, adding to existing knowledge on the available financial and administrative options. Findings from this study point us to several broad areas of interest, including the political economy, systems and structures, technical and financial capacity to implement, and accountability.
The voices of low-income countries (LICs) in the social protection discourse are not yet being listened to, and more must be done to increase their participation throughout the Global Fund for Social Protection (GFSP) programme cycle.
Conceptual clarity and policy coherence by the social protection fraternity are crucial for the sector to be strategic and to communicate a consistent message to all stakeholders.
To commit to initiatives like the Global Fund for Social Protection while avoiding further indebtedness LICs need guarantees for long-term financing of social protection.
The primary objective of the study is to give LICs more of a voice in the debate on the establishment of the GFSP, by accessing better and more recent evidence of LIC views, in light of the fact that these may differ from those of middle-income countries. Specifically, the study seeks to establish the extent to which LIC governments prioritise publicly funded SP and how this reflects the priorities of their populations; whether funding is predictable and long term; the concerns that governments have regarding autonomy; interest in technical cooperation on SP strategies; etc.
The picture that emerges from this study is one of cautious optimism for the future of SP in LICs, and specifically for the anticipated global fund. There is enthusiasm that SP, a key item on the sustainable development agenda, is not only beginning to be incorporated in the mainstream development agenda but is also in the process of finding a potential facilitator and driver with an independent and focused remit. The establishment of the fund would demonstrate recognition that the scale and complexity of poverty, risk and vulnerability cannot be left to old-style poverty eradication approaches adopted by individual countries. A challenge of such magnitude cannot be successfully addressed by single actors, as this requires a variety of tools, models, and experiences. Thus, the representation and participation of LICs in moving forward with this agenda is extremely crucial.
By Markus Kaltenborn and Laura Kreft LABOUR AND SOCIAL JUSTICE. In line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development international support for establishing and financing social protection floors must be organised within a partnership-based framework.
The authors therefore argue that if a new international financing mechanism is set up for this purpose, it should be designed in such a way that recipient governments retain full ownership of their social protection systems.
Moreover, it will be necessary that the recipient countries, as well as civil society actors be included in the decision making processes of the new mechanism and that effective accountability instruments are implemented. Read more
By Florian Juergens-Grant
Both savings and social protection systems are important, and, on some level, they respond to similar needs: they can help us navigate uncertain futures, stabilise consumption across financial peaks and troughs, and enable us to invest in all kinds of opportunities.
Yet, it is important to insist that they are not the same and follow very different principles. Emphasising one over the other has important consequences for equity and income security.
In this light, a recently launched report by the World Bank that provides guidance on how to expand Social Protection for the Informal Economy in Africa and beyond, requires a response. Read more
The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) invites you to the side event on “SDGs and Migration in Europe” at the UNECE Regional Forum for Sustainable Development 2022, discussion on recommendations, listening to the views of refugees and migrants, and reactions of Governments, EU and UN.
Thursday, 7 April, 13:15-14:45 Geneva time (11:15-12:45 GMT).
Please register here: https://bit.ly/3Ltvgmc
The side event will discuss the report SDGs and Migration in the European Union.
By Carmelo Mesa-Lago
Four decades of privatization of pension systems in Latin America also translate into four decades of an ongoing debate on whether the well-being of a better society can be promoted through the market, based on competition and profit concepts, or rather than through a social welfare state committed to the social security and justice objectives, implicitly involving the notion of solidarity to ensure the participation of all citizens in the development of political and social life.
These countries have already experienced 40 years with privatized pension systems. Evidence is not optimistic, at least not from the perspective of most of the private system “clients”.
Clearly, the introduction of private systems has defined winners and losers. Discontent is growing; therefore, several countries conducted re-reforms or are discussing them, aimed at cushioning the effects of the logic of their operation in an environment of social segregation based on the labor market and on the concentration of income that translates directly into insufficient old-age pensions for the great majority of people. Read moreDisponible en español aquí
Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work
Based on an ILO legal survey of 185 countries, the report reviews progress made around the world over the past decade while assessing the persisting and significant legal gaps that translate into a lack of protection and support for millions of workers with family responsibilities across the world. The report pays attention to the most frequently excluded workers, such as the self-employed, workers in the informal economy, migrants, and adoptive and LGBTQI+ parents. It concludes with a call for action to invest in a transformative package of care policies that is central to the broader international agenda on investing in the care economy – a breakthrough pathway for building a better and more gender equal world of work. Read more
300 people from four continents met virtually on Thursday 3 February to celebrate the official launch of INSP!R, the international network for social protection right.The participants, coming from various backgrounds (international cooperation, social movements, continental political bodies, trade unions and mutuals, etc.) were able to discover and debate during this seminar the vision and objectives shared by hundreds of members of this network: to fight together to make universal social protection for all a reality while highlighting the key role of the civil society in this mission. Read more
Members of the Civil Society Organisations from across Africa, Development Agencies, individual participants; gathered on the sidelines of the 8th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development co-organized by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and the Africa Platform for Social Protection (APSP); have noted the importance of the Forums objectives to follow-up, review and catalyze actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development within the context of the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19; review the goals of the AU Agenda 2063 and support peer learning through discussion of Voluntary National Reviews under the overall topic “Building forward better: A green, inclusive and resilient Africa poised to achieve the 2030 Agenda and AU Agenda 2063.” Read more
Informal workers are identified as individuals with casual work arrangements or no fixed salary. There are 2 billion informal workers, representing social protection’s missing majority. This session provided a deeper understanding of the heterogeneity of the informal economy and the different social protection instruments targeted at informal workers during COVID-19. The 5th webinar of the ‘ASPects series’ is related to the Building Block ‘Programmes and Delivery Systems’ of the World Bank’s Adaptive Social Protection framework.
Participants: Laura Alfers (Director of Social Protection Programme, WIEGO); Melis U. Guven (Senior Social Protection Economist, The World Bank); Regis Hitimana (Deputy Director General, Rwanda Social Security Board, Government of Rwanda) and Joanne Sharpe (Independent Consultant). Moderator: Silas Theile (Social Protection Advisor, GIZ). Watch the recordingRead more
CSOs in the Arab world have assumed a key role in ensuring that no one is left behind and have spared no effort to make sure that disability issues are reflected in policies and programs that are more comprehensive and inclusive of the rights of persons with disabilities in line with the sustainable development goals and targets. In this context, this brief paper aims to shed light on the overall course of action and circumstances affecting their efforts in this regard by examining several aspects. Read more
This interactive, facilitated course explores the basics of social protection and, in particular, how to view social protection through a sustainable development lens. The course champions the concept of universal social protection and focuses on designing, financing, and implementing comprehensive systems and policies that reduce vulnerabilities throughout all stages of people's lives. Read more
The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, whose work constitutes the cornerstone of the ILO's supervisory system on international labour standards, has just published its annual report. Read more
By Michael Cichon and Hajo Lanz
The authors suggest a simple, feasible, pragmatic and affordable global strategy to support the attainment of social protection for all as a central means to combat poverty, inequality, insecurity and ill health; the strategy involves: Establishing a new international standard of universal social protection or universal social protection floors to extend the policy space for social protection on the national level; and Pivotal, targeted support for the temporary extension of national fiscal space for social protection in the poorest countries through a Global Fund for Social Protection or a similar financing facility. Read more
Human rights provide standards for the material conditions a society should guarantee to everyone. These standards, and the commitments that flow from them, can be leveraged to shift narratives about the economy and shift power in political debates. To help build a new story about what our economies are for and how they can be remade, CESR created Key Concepts, a new series made for anyone fighting for economic and social justice and in need of new inspiration and tools to catalyze change.
The first primer in the series, Human Rights & Economic Recovery from COVID (Spanish, Arabic), shines a light on the structural injustices exposed by the pandemic, what we gain from looking at recovery efforts through a human rights lens, and how we can hold governments and private actors to account. The next Key Concepts primer - on debt justice - will be launched next week ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting. Read more
There are 2 billion informal workers, representing social protection’s missing majority. This session will provide a deeper understanding of the heterogeneity of the informal economy and the different social protection instruments targeted at informal workers during COVID-19. The 5th webinar of the ‘ASPects series’ is related to the Building Block ‘Programmes and Delivery Systems’ of the World Bank’s Adaptive Social Protection framework.
17 February - 14:00 - GMT+2
Participants: Laura Alfers (Director of Social Protection Programme, WIEGO); Melis U. Guven (Senior Social Protection Economist, The World Bank) and Regis Hitimana (Deputy Director General, Rwanda Social Security Board, Government of Rwanda). Read more
PSI brought the voice of frontline workers to the debate at the World Health Organization (WHO)’s latest Executive Board meeting in January. Members of PSI's delegation raised deep concerns on the need for a covid recovery which prioritises strong public health institutions over market provision.
At the core of PSI’s arguments was the assertion that public health must be put before the commercial interests of corporations. Once again, PSI called for the suspension of patents on COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and medicines as a pivotal step towards ensuring equitable access. Read more
From 7 to 16 February 2022, the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD60) was held under the title: “Inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 for sustainable livelihoods, well-being, and dignity for all: eradicating poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions to achieve the 2030 Agenda.”
During the UN Commission, the NGO Committee for Social Development held a Virtual Civil Society Forum (CSF 2022) featuring two plenary sessions and an NGO Collaboration session. The first plenary session, Setting the Stage: A global overview on poverty, human dignity and well-being, addressed how poverty, social exclusion and the lack of wellbeing impacts the dignity of individuals, showing the importance of including those directly impacted, and also presenting the case for measuring and understanding poverty differently, beyond a monetary lens. Session 2, Transitioning from Talk to Action: Towards a Hunger-Free, Green and Just Society included concrete examples of policy implementation at regional and national levels, highlighting the situation of children in conflicts and emphasizing the importance of using a rights-based approach to food. Click here to read the Civil Society Declaration endorsed by over 900 organizations and individuals.
Social protection schemes have played a key role in helping the world’s poor recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and should be expanded, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, told the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development in New York.
Experience from more than 200 countries has shown that countries with strong social protection systems were better able to respond to the burgeoning demands for immediate assistance.
Examples of social protection schemes that have worked include cash transfers, school and child feeding programmes, the sale of basic food baskets at discounted prices, as well as tax and debt relief for vulnerable businesses and households. Read more
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is to host the Global Forum for a Human-centred Recovery from 22-24 February. The virtual Forum aims to increase the level and coherence of the international response to the profound and unequal impact of the COVID-19 crisis on people globally. It will bring together heads of State and Government, heads of international organizations and multilateral development banks, and employers’ and workers’ leaders from around the world to propose concrete actions and strengthen the international community’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The Forum will examine in particular the actions and investments needed to promote: Decent jobs and inclusive economic growth; Universal Social Protection; Workers' protection and enterprises' sustainability and Just transition towards a carbon-neutral global economy. Read more
From 7 to 16 February 2022, the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD60) will be held under the title: “Inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 for sustainable livelihoods, well-being, and dignity for all: eradicating poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions to achieve the 2030 Agenda.”
During the UN Commission, the NGO Committee for Social Development will hold a Virtual Civil Society Forum (CSF 2022) on February 9th, and 11th. CSF 2022 is organized with the support of FES and UN DESA. This year's Forum will include an all virtual Orientation and Networking event, as well as two Thematic Sessions and an NGO Collaboration Session. Learn more and register here.
More specifically, the first Thematic Session is entitled; Setting the Stage: A Global Overview on Poverty, Human Dignity and Well-being, and will feature Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter as keynote. Click here to view flyer and register.
The purpose of this side event, organized by the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) in cooperation with several international partners is to explore the pre-requisites and core activities necessary to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, are food-secure and have access to healthy nutrition. Sustainable pov- erty eradication cannot be achieved without addressing the threats to food and nutrition security and implementing a well-focused set of mutually reinforcing social and economic policies attuned to the national circumstances and implemented in an integrated manner. Read more Event Flyer - Wednesday February 9th 2022, 8:30-9:45 am EST
You can join the event in Zoom - Meeting ID: 868 2023 7369 - Passcode: ICSW22
This side event will bring together activists with a lived experience of poverty from Burkina Faso and Ireland, academics working on poverty-based discrimination, and Member State representatives proposing good practices, including laws prohibiting discrimination based on social status. They will discuss the importance of addressing poverty-based discrimination, both at interpersonal and institutional levels, to ensure the rights, dignity, and well-being of all, especially that of individuals and families with a lived experience of poverty. Read more Click HERE to register - Friday February 11th 2022, 11:30 am - 12:45 pm EST
As the WHO Executive Board met for its 150th session, HelpAge shared a statement calling on the WHO and Member States to do more to address the continuing inequity of global vaccine distribution which is exposing millions of those most in need to unnecessary risk. Read more
2021 was another tough year for informal workers: their earnings stayed far below pre-pandemic levels and hunger and debt remained huge obstacles to their recovery. The crisis is by no means over for these workers, making this an important time to look at what we have learnt from the pandemic in 2021, so that workers can be supported better in 2022.
Through the WIEGO COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy Study we have listened to workers and, also drawing on our programmatic work, were able to distill five valuable lessons. Read more
By Mai Saleh
In times of political conflict, occupation, major economic crises, and epidemics, the poorest and most marginalized, including women and especially refugees and migrants, are exposed to multiple forms of violence and discrimination. In the past two years, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the fragility and sometimes absence of social protection and led to the collapse of health systems worldwide. The global aspect of the crisis meant that many women have become scapegoats, sacrificed, and thrown into the ocean until the storm ends! Read more
Filling the financing gap through domestic resource mobilization and international support and coordination. The ILO Working Paper 44 by Mira Bierbaum and Valérie Schmitt discusses the magnitude and urgency of the challenge of filling social protection financing gaps and the options for achieving this. Options exist even in low-income countries, including by broadening the tax base; tackling tax evasion and building fair and progressive tax systems together with a sustainable macroeconomic framework; duly collecting social security contributions and tackling non-payment or the avoidance of social security contributions; reprioritizing and reallocating public expenditure; and eliminating corruption and illicit financial flows.National social protection systems should be primarily financed from domestic resources; however, for countries with limited domestic fiscal capacities or countries facing increased needs due to crises, natural disasters or climate change, international financial resources, in combination with technical assistance, could complement and support domestic resource mobilization for social protection. Furthermore, more dialogue and coherence need to be achieved between international financial and development institutions to avoid contradictory policy advice on the level and nature of investment in social protection. Finally, international cooperation, such as on tax matters or debt restructuring, is needed to create an environment that facilitates domestic resource mobilization. Read more
The ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2022 report warns of a slow and uncertain recovery, as the pandemic continues to have a significant impact on global labour markets.
The ILO has projected that total hours worked globally in 2022 will remain almost two per cent below their pre-pandemic level, corresponding to a deficit of 52 million full-time equivalent jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week).
The impact has been particularly serious for developing nations that experienced higher levels of inequality, more divergent working conditions and weaker social protection systems even before the pandemic. Read more
Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics studies has launched two studies on gender-based violence in the workplace and the impact of the COVID-19 on the employment of youth within the Jordanian labor market.
The study found that over 46% of the study's sample size of over 380 women in the governorates of Tafilah, Madaba, Karak, and M'an are paid less than the minimum wage, with 50% of respondents lacking health insurance and 36.6% being excluded from social security coverage. The study revealed that just 47.8% of women's workplaces in the labor market abide by occupational health and safety practices, which means that more than half of women are exposed to work injuries of different levels of severity. Additionally, the study showed that only 13% of the respondents said that they are able to access their legal financial rights, such as accessing loans and provident funds. The study argues that these factors disempower women both economically and socially. The study also found that women's health is adversely affected as a result of a lack of health insurance and the high costs of treatment compared with their salaries. The study also found that one of the factors leading to an increase in risk of gender-based violence is a common perception within the labor market that women are weaker, despite the fact that 13% of working women are the heads of their households and over 300 thousand households in Jordan are female-headed. Read more
Daria Cibrario and Vera Weghmann
Looking at the intersection between various dimensions of inequality and the lack of equitable access to public services (PS), this paper is PSI's contribution to the GOLD VI Report and it explores emerging trends in local PS delivery, including public, public-community and commoning approaches. It especially focuses on (re)municipalisation as a viable policy option for local and regional governments, highlighting the need for adequate public investment; recal-ling the primary role of public institutions at all levels to ensure equitable PS access for all; and alerting about the risks that privatization entails in terms of deepening inequalities. Read more
You are cordially invited to the launch of the global network INSP!R, the International Network for Social Protection Rights. Close to 100 social movements mobilize across 24 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe join their forces to guarantee the right to social protection for all.
Thursday 3rd February 2022 at 2 PM (CET time)
The invitation is available in English, French and Spanish. Read more
By Thalif Deen. Inter Press Service (IPS).
The UN’s highly-ambitious goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 has been severely undermined by a rash of problems worldwide, including an escalating coronavirus pandemic, continued widespread military conflicts and the devastating impact of climate change.
According to published estimates, more than 700 million people have been living in poverty around the world, surviving on less than $1.90 a day.
But the fast-spreading pandemic, whose origins go back to December 2019, has been singled out as the primary reason for a rise in global poverty– for the first time in 20 years. Read more
The participants in the Arab Ministerial Forum 2021 endorsed the Declaration “The future of Social Protection in the Arab Region: Building a vision for a post-COVID-19 reality”. The Ministerial Declaration states key guiding principles for post-COVID-19 social protection that will inform policy making for countries and international partners in the region. Read more
By Martha Melesse, Rachel Moussié, Ana Ogando
The Covid-19 pandemic is not just a health and economic crisis. It is also a crisis of care, which has impacted women the most. But not all women have been affected in the same way. Nor have they enjoyed the same levels of support through social protection measures and access to public services. Unlike those in the formal economy, informal workers have no paid family and sick-leave policies, or unemployment benefits. They frequently also lack the technology and opportunity to work remotely, which has enabled many white-collar workers to sustain their livelihoods through the pandemic. Read moreVersión en español
The forum “Promote Development Justice for meaningful post-COVID 19 Recoveries” was organized at the critical moment when the whole world is grappling with COVID 19 pandemic and unfortunately, South Asia is already has already been agonized with various internal issues including poverty, hunger, inequality, insecurity, environmental degradation, climate change and decaying democracy and human right situation. The fallout from the pandemic is affecting women and girls significantly, the poor, marginalized, vulnerable and daily wage farmers and workers have been badly affected. Beyond wage and income inequality, digital divide and vaccine inequality have explicitly appeared as new forms of inequality. Social exclusion has been instrumentalized as a political strategy. Geo-politics and growing nationalism are deepening challenges in the region. Ensuring rule of law and access to justice has become challenging at the moment with the SAARC, the inter-government regional cooperation mechanism, is almost non-functional catering the issues of South Asia.
The participants of the SAPF 2021 urge all key decision-makers and stakeholders to act urgently to address the deteriorating democratic and human rights situation and to promote rule of law and access to justice in South Asia with special focus on hunger and inequality, digital divide and environmental justice. These ambitious policy objectives are set out in SDGs of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to which all governments across South Asia are signatories. Read more
With Paraguay's ratification on October 2021, 60 countries have now ratified the ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) , considered to be the foundation of all ILO social security Conventions.
Convention No. 102 is the only international instrument based on basic social security principles that establishes globally agreed minimum standards for all nine branches of social security: medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit and survivors' benefit.
It is considered an important tool in extending social security coverage and provides ratifying countries with an incentive for doing so by offering flexibility in its application, depending on their socio-economic level. Read more
In November 2021 the ad hoc group on IDA20 of the GCSPF submitted Comments on the social protection elements in the IDA20 draft Deputies Report in which it criticises the fact that the World Bank continues to promote targeted social safety nets rather than social protection floors in line with ILO standards.
The World Bank launched an early twentieth replenishment process of the International Development Association (IDA), its fund for the world’s poorest countries, aiming to support countries in their recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and transition to green, resilient, and inclusive development. The IDA20 replenishment will conclude in December 2021 with a policy and financial package to support 74 countries between July 2022 and June 2025. Read more
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan designed emergency interventions to cover children at the height of Covid-19 infections, a study has revealed.
The Africa Platform for Social Protection (APSP), in collaboration with Save the Children, conducted a study on social protection interventions targeting children in East Africa during Covid-19, with the goal of generating evidence for child-sensitive social protection programmes in the region, during the pandemic.
The research provided an understanding of the nature of the Covid-19 emergency interventions and the challenges in implementing them. It found that governments in the region, with the support of their development partners, offered alternatives to in-person learning during the school closures. Read more
By Florian Juergens, Laura Alfers
‘Informal economy’ - this strange term, which sounds a bit like we are describing the weekend-version of The Real and Very Formal Economy (black-tie, gowns), somehow captures the economic lives of about two billion people worldwide. Rather than being an aberration, it is very much the norm: 61 per cent of all working people in the world and 70 per cent of those working in middle- and low-income countries do so in the informal economy.
Informal workers are mostly excluded from social protection systems — with dire consequences during COVID-19. Read more Spanish version is here
Informal work accounts for over 60% of all global employment and 90% of employment in developing countries, the International Labour Organization reported in 2018. In the first wave of the pandemic, the ILO projected that informal workers would be among those most severely affected, predicting sharp growth in relative poverty levels. Over a year on, labour experts now warn that workers are not recovering as quickly as first expected. They warn of a “great divergence” in recovery: between developed and developing countries. Date: December 8, 2021 Register here
The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Mr. Olivier De Schutter, intends to dedicate his report to the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, to be presented in June 2022, to the gap between legal coverage and effective coverage in the area of social protection as well as to situation of informal workers. The report will seek to identify the obstacles individuals and households face in seeking to access social protection and to propose recommendations for how to overcome them.
The Special Rapporteur invites all interested governments, civil society organizations, academics, international organizations, activists, corporations and others, to provide written input for his thematic report. Deadline: 20 December 2021 Read more
The report by Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) aims to explore current subsidies offered by Arab States to their citizens and basic goods subsidized. The report also attempts to identify recent shifts in subsidies and, more specifically, to answer the following questions: which subsidy reforms were recently adopted by Arab governments?, what are the factors influencing the adoption of said reforms, and to which extent are they aligned with the particularities of Arab societies?, what role do the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and IMF strategy play in the adoption of subsidy reduction reforms, and what are the relevant rationale and arguments? and is subsidy reduction economically and socially viable? Read more
The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is receiving increased attention for its role in addressing a variety of economic and social challenges, ranging from the future of work to the provision of social services. The social and economic problems around the global COVID-19 pandemic have brought into focus the need to strengthen the SSE to support the recovery process, along with the public and private sector.
Five national reports present the analysis conducted in Ecuador, Italy, Morocco, Republic of Korea, Quebec (Canada). Read more
In November 2021 the ad hoc group on IDA20 of the GCSPF submitted Comments on the social protection elements in the IDA20 draft Deputies Report in which it criticises the fact that the World Bank continues to promote targeted social safety nets rather than social protection floors in line with ILO standards. The document is available here (pdf format).
The World Bank launched an early twentieth replenishment process of the International Development Association (IDA), its fund for the world’s poorest countries, aiming to support countries in their recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and transition to green, resilient, and inclusive development. The IDA20 replenishment will conclude in December 2021 with a policy and financial package to support 74 countries between July 2022 and June 2025.
The manifesto positions public services as the foundation of a fair and just society and of the social pact that implements the core values of solidarity, equality and human dignity. It advances a series of ten principles for universal quality public services in the 21st century, and outlines how funding universal quality public services is possible. The Future is Public: Global Manifesto for Public Services was developed collectively by dozens of organisations and actors to serve as a rallying cry for public services for civil society, providing a concrete alternative to the dominant neoliberal narrative that has failed to ensure a dignified life for all.
Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection
Over 200 civil society organizations and trade unions unite to call for a Global Fund for Social Protection to protect the most vulnerable during COVID-19 and beyond.
The programme Improving Synergies Between Social Protection and Public Finance Management provides medium-term support to multiple countries aiming to strengthen their social protection systems at a national level and ensure sustainable financing. The programme aims to support countries in their efforts towards achieving universal social protection coverage.
This initiative is implemented jointly by the ILO, Unicef, and the GCSPF.
