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.

Ministry of Economy and Finances (02.03.2021) The payment of this Bond began on December 1, 2020 and lasted until March 1, 2021. This measure consists of the single payment of Bs1,000.- and benefited people who did not receive a salary remuneration from the public sector or private until September 2020, this aid was also delivered to people over 18 years old on September 16, 2020 and under 60 years old on March 1, 2021.

assembleenationale.bf  (28.02.2021)

On Thursday 28 January 2021, the Coronathon offered medical consumables worth nearly 45 million CFA francs to the Centre for Operations of Response to Health Emergencies (CORUS). This donation is part of the fight against Covid-19 in view of the resurgence of the disease in Burkina.

Government of Mexico (27.02.2021) The advance payment as part of the "Bienestar" (Well-being in English) of the March-April and May-June two-month periods will be delivered to more than nine million elderly people, people with permanent disabilities, as well as girls, boys, children of working mothers, for a global amount of 49 thousand 500 million pesos. In addition, the benefits increased to 2,700 pesos this year.

gouv.bj (21.01.2021)

The European Union allocates 30.5 billion CFA francs to Benin. This is in the framework of the mitigation of the consequences of the Coronavirus. These funds will support the government's efforts to respond to the health and socio-economic consequences of Covid-19. The government will not only be able to support the most vulnerable sectors of the population during this period of the pandemic, but also to maintain its macroeconomic stability.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Japan (08.03.2021) The exceptional treatment of Employment Adjustment Subsidy is extended until 30 April 2021. The subsidy scheme covers part of leave allowances companies pay to furloughed workers. Typically up to two-thirds of the allowances were covered by the program, with the upper limit set at ¥8,370 per day per employee. But under special measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 crisis up to the full amount is covered, with the daily cap set at ¥15,000. The subsidy scheme will be brought back to normal in stages, depending on how the situation continues to develop.