fao.org (2021) The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted digital financial inclusion trends across the world in many and complex ways. In developing and emerging contexts, this crisis also holds the potential to propel an unprecedented acceleration in the process of financial digitization and turn out to be a game-changer for digital financial inclusion. The aim of this study is to illustrate the opportunities and risks associated with the surge in uptake and use of digital financial service, providing ideas on how to leverage the paradigm changes affecting the overall approach and perspective towards digital financial services – on the part of various stakeholders – to advance financial inclusion and development. It also seeks to showcase how digital financial services have been used – in both traditional and innovative ways – to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on economies and societies, by both public and private actors.

Close to 23 million low-income individuals from Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna will receive an in-kind doleout worth ₱1,000. The aid will be limited to a maximum of four members per family.

EU Reporter (29.03.2021) The European Commission has published the March 2021 edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) Quarterly Review, with a thematic focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-employed. The review shows that this group has experienced a strong reduction of their working time and more severe income losses than employees in most member states. National social protection systems typically provide lower coverage and compensation for the self-employed. In the context of the pandemic, most member states have introduced temporary measures to support the income of the self-employed, in addition to short-time work schemes and similar measures accessible for workers, which were supported by the SURE instrument. This support took many different forms, including low interest loans, paid family leave, extended coverage of sickness benefits and income replacement.

Philstar.com (20.03.2021) The poorest sector, especially those with no access to banking services, will benefit from the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys), so President Duterte is urging every Filipino to sign up for the national ID.

Eurofound (March 2021) This report sets out to assess the initial impact of the COVID-19 crisis on employment in Europe (up to Q2 2020), including its effects across sectors and on different categories of workers. It also looks at measures implemented by policymakers in a bid to limit the negative effects of the crisis. It first provides an overview of policy approaches adopted to mitigate the impact of the crisis on businesses, workers and citizens. The main focus is on the development, content and impact of short-time working schemes, income support measures for self-employed people, hardship funds and rent and mortgage deferrals. Finally, it explores the involvement of social partners in the development and implementation of such measures and the role of European funding in supporting these schemes.

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) March 2021 - The COVID-19 crisis has had a huge impact on the world of social protection. The pandemic has alerted national governments and the international community to the urgency of accelerating progress in building and expanding social protection systems and programmes to leave no one behind. From 5 to 8 October 2020, the socialprotection.org team organised a global e-conference titled ‘Turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity: What’s next for social protection?’. To further disseminate its key discussions, the socialprotection.org platform and the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) have developed two special issues of Policy in Focus. This first issue focuses on experiences from countries in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the overall lessons for the future, including shock-responsive and universal social protection.

(Dec 2020) This new UNICEF Innocenti report explores how the social and economic impact of the pandemic is likely to affect children; the initial government responses to the crisis; and how future public policies could be optimized to better support children. 

Asian Development Bank (March 2021) This brief presents digital and online platforms for civil services in Asia and the Pacific, along with recommendations for holistic government interventions and reforms in policies, business processes, and management systems.

This guidebook is designed to be used by planners, policy-makers and stakeholders in countries that are considering the introduction social health insurance (SHI) as a replacement for or to supplement to existing financing mechanisms for health care. This book is not meant to be an advocacy tool but a technical guide for those who are interested in the issues and techniques of SHI.

thestandard.co.zw (06.12.2020)

UNICEF Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry and Goal Zimbabwe is rolling out the emergency social cash transfer programme (ESCT) to reduce food insecurity, improve dietary diversity, and maternal and child health outcomes of vulnerable households, whose situation has further deteriorated as a result of Covid-19. The programme is primarily focused on households headed by the elderly (65 years and above), those with pregnant women or with children under the age of two years, persons living with disability and child-headed households. The beneficiaries of the programme will be supported through a combination of monthly cash transfers and complementary nutrition and child protection services for a period of 12 months.

helpage.org (22.07.2020)

The government decided to increase the monthly transfer of their universal social pension by 20 per cent. This is another bold step from the government, which follows on from becoming in 2016 the first country in the Eastern African region to offer social pensions to older people.

worldbank.org (21.12.2020)

The World Bank Board of Executive Director approved today a $10 million Development Policy Operation (DPO) for São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) to support the government's response to the human and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as economy-wide and sectoral reforms for a stronger, more resilient recovery.

ec.europa.eu (02.11.2020)

The European Commission and the Government of Mozambique have today signed a budget support programme worth €100 million to respond to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. This new EU programme will provide the Government of Mozambique with short-term financial assistance to tackle the economic and social impact of the crisis, maintain vital State functions and protect social spending, thanks to effective delivery of basic services to the population. The programme is part of the Team Europe global response to COVID-19 which, in Mozambique, has mobilised approximately €170 million by the EU and its Member States to tackle the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

ec.europa.eu (26.10.2020)

As part of Team Europe's response to COVID-19 in Malawi, the European Union has allocated €39 million to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will address the increasing needs of vulnerable parts of the population in the field of nutrition and social protection, including pregnant women and children.

liberianobserver.com (28.01.2021)

The Government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) will begin cash transfer pilot Project to fifteen thousand households in rural Montserrado County. The total amount to be distributed according to the government is US$3.4 million. This initiative is led by the Ministry’s Social Cash Transfer (SCT) Program under the Liberia Social Safety Nets Project sponsored by Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the World Bank.

nation.africa (02.11.2020)

The National Gender and Equality Commission is rooting for stakeholders to address the multiple challenges rural women are facing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Each beneficiary of Inua Jamii program receives Sh2,000 stipend per month, which NGEC wants extended to rural women. 

the-star.co.ke (04.11.2020)

Some 24,000 vulnerable families in Mombasa will each get Sh4,000 monthly stipend enough to cover half of the monthly food and nutrition needs for a family of four under a new partnership between the national government and the World Food Programme. The cash-based support arrangement targets families in informal urban settlements that have lost income due to Covid-19.  The cash and additional nutrition support for women and children will be provided for three months.

devdiscourse.com (23.03.2021)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $73 million loan to improve social welfare support for the poor and vulnerable, especially women and children, to mitigate the socioeconomic impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Mongolia.

DAWN.COM (22.03.2021) Many countries including Pakistan are actively engaged in developing a new set of social policies and widening the social safety net not only to help calamity-hit poor but also those vulnerable to technology disruptions in a post-covid-19 world

This report comparatively reviews the national social security measures in response to COVID-19 crisis, analyse their effectiveness and long-term consequences, and discuss future challenges in improving the social security system. The report covers seven countries in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.

Official Gazette Jordan (16.04.2020) The Tadamun (Solidarity in Arabic) I and II programs is a work suspension allowance targeted to both work institutions covered under social security (Tadamun I) and for those excluded from it (Tadamun II). Tadamun I applies to employers that have contributed for at least 12 months to the Social Security Corporation (SSC). Employees are entitled to 50% of their deductible monthly salaries between JDs 165 and JDs 500 (for lower salaries, the SSC will pay the difference up to the lowest amount). Employers will contribute with 20% of the employees' salaries up to a contribution of JDs 250.  For the Tadamun II program, employers can enroll their employees for work suspension insurance from May 202o to December 2020. A pre-condition is that all employers and employees enroll to all other available social insurance schemes by January 2021. The monthly benefit amount is JDs 150, of which JDs 100 are covered by SSC, and JDs 50 by the employer.

Reuters (11.03.2021) - Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved the basic text of a bill on Thursday that revives a federal cash transfer program to help millions of poor families whose incomes have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure will allow emergency stipends totaling up to 44 billion reais ($7.96 billion) to be paid to low-income Brazilians over the next four months, with recipients expected to get an average of 250 reais per month.

Voice of America (09.03.2021) Gyeonggi Province has  sent cash to all its residents during the coronavirus pandemic — on top of the stimulus payments the central government has given South Koreans.  

 Asian Development Bank  (March 2021) Digitalization has gained more prominence amid COVID-19 and has highlighted the value of big data for public sector management. The brief explains the potential benefits of big data for public services such as health, social protection, and education and how this can contribute to the post-pandemic recovery. It also assesses the key enablers and policy actions needed to realize big data benefits in the region. 

etui (March 2021) The purpose of the present study is to map key social protection measures taken during the pandemic from the perspective of fragmentation of labour market statuses, notably by focusing on non-standard workers and the self-employed as well as taking into account the gender dimension of these social protection measures. The analysis focuses on the 27 EU Member States, covering the period of the first wave of the pandemic: from the beginning of the lockdown measures (for most countries at the beginning of March 2020) until 31 December 2020.