Réunion Region (18.05.2020) This fund is part of a principle of subsidiarity, in addition to the other mechanisms operated by the State and the local authorities, and must allow “last resort” intervention. It is therefore mobilized if: • the applicant does not have access to a bank loan or to other support tools offered by the State, the Region (rebound loan) or other communities, • the other support tools did not meet the cash flow requirements.

It is an Advance of 10,000 € - repayable in 3 years, including 1 year deferred No Guarantee - Interest rate = 0%

Réunion region (02.07.2020)With the objective of strengthening the cash flow of SMEs affected by the crisis, in the amount of € 30K to € 300K, this aid takes the form of a zero-interest loan and is open to SMEs potentially created for more than a year (with at least 1 balance sheet) This fund allows SMEs to have facilities and the possibility of seeing coming with:  2 years deferred repayment, 0% interest rate, and  No administration fees.

Réunion region (13.04.2020) To support small Reunion Island companies in the implementation of teleworking and encourage their digital transition, the Region has decided to strengthen its “Digital Check” so that it responds more effectively to current needs. Thus, the procedures are simplified and the subsidy rate goes from 50% to 80% (the subsidy ceiling going from € 2,000 to € 3,200). Projects can now include consulting and data security services to support companies in the implementation of teleworking. 

Réunion region (13.04.2020) Regional solidarity fund, the amount of which varies from 1000 to 2500 €, benefits Reunion VSEs, micro-entrepreneurs and independent professions included. It is open to companies with less than 10 employees whose turnover is less than € 500,000 and which, during the confinement period , have been forced to close or have suffered a loss of turnover of up to minus 20%.

The subsidy will be allocated on a lump sum basis per segment of turnover (turnover):
Turnover <50,000 euros ⇒ 1,000.00 €
50,001 euros <Turnover <150,000 euros ⇒ 1,500.00 €
150,001 euros <Turnover < 250,000 euros ⇒ 2,000.00 €
250,001 euros <Turnover <500,000 euros ⇒ 2,500.00 €

State services in Reunion Island (23.07.2020) In the current context of emerging from the crisis and resumption of activity, the Petrel plan (Priorities and gathering for local employment in Reunion Island) has been revised and updated in order to best respond to the integration difficulties of the most vulnerable groups. distant from employment and to the recruitment needs of companies. As part of this revision, by decree dated July 20, 2020, Jacques Billant, Prefect of Reunion Island, extended the system of free jobs to people who are coming out of other integration pathways, and more particularly those in favor of disabled workers. This extension marks the State's desire to mobilize this mechanism for the return to employment, in the commercial sector, of the most vulnerable people.

REGIONAL COUNCIL OF GUADELOUPE (16.07.2020) The Guadeloupe Region informs students and high school students who have not been able to complete their internship application file online within the framework of the "Regional Internship: Youth in Company" device due to the health situation that they are exceptionally invited to send the documents constituting the file by e-mail to the following address: srje@cr-guadeloupe.fr no later than Thursday 23 July 2020.

REGIONAL COUNCIL OF GUADELOUPE (22.04.2020) This system takes the form of a refundable advance, without guarantee and at zero rate for an amount between 3,000 and 15,000 € per company, corresponding to 12.5% ​​of the turnover achieved in 2018, and for newly created companies , 12.5% ​​of the turnover achieved since the start of the activity, without exceeding 1 year. This advance will be repayable over a period of 5 years with a grace period of two years. This aid applies to companies with a maximum annual turnover of € 180,000.

A new generation of government-to-person (G2P) payment systems is emerging in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

As described in CGAP’s new publication, “The Future of G2P Payments: Expanding Customer Choice,” modern approaches of transferring cash assistance can reduce costs for governments, significantly improve recipients’ access to payments and bring digital G2P one step closer to becoming the large-scale conduit for financial inclusion that observers have always hoped it would be.

The main difference between these new systems and traditional approaches to digital G2P is that they give people greater choice over how to receive government payments.

We see an opportunity for G2P recipients to receive better payment services from providers they trust and value — an important first step for a sustained financial inclusion journey.

Many low-income country governments have begun to digitize government-to-person (G2P) payments by making electronic transfers directly into the accounts of individual customers.

While digitization has helped to fill the gaps in delivery, further advances are needed. Building modern payments systems can: Improve the customer experience by allowing customers to choose which providers and accounts they use to receive funds; they have a wider array of service points from which to withdraw cash; and they can switch providers.

Lower delivery costs for governments and reduce leakage. Introduce incentives to provide good service for financial service providers who must compete for customer business.

This Focus Note explores the core idea behind future-ready G2P payments, lays out its advantages and challenges, and describes how governments can create modern G2P payments systems. It draws heavily from ongoing efforts in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.

This note describes the main strategies used by, and available to, countries to deliver cash support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of the note is to inform both ongoing responses to COVID-19 and medium to long term investments in delivery mechanisms that could be used to respond to future crises.

In detail, it builds on existing literature (see Box 1 for full references) to provide governments and development partners with concise information on the main payment options available, outlining strengths and weaknesses of each, as well as pre-requisites and key actions required for their inclusive implementation.

It is important to highlight that this note focuses on:

• the provision of cash support to new beneficiaries, not existing ones. Reaching new caseloads is more challenging than supporting existing beneficiaries since it requires creating new payment mechanisms or adapting/leveraging existing ones.
• monetary or semi-monetary transfers (vouchers), not in-kind;
• Government to Person (G2P) transfers and Humanitarian cash delivery (noting considerations will differ slightly across the two);
• social assistance transfers primarily, not social insurance.

The Informal Workers and Social Protection background note outlines the options for providing social protection to informal workers, with a particular focus on the implications for COVID-19 response and urban settings.

In order to do so, it provides information on the impacts of COVID-19 on earnings and wellbeing among informal economy workers, considering the opportunities the crisis presents for reform to more efficiently link informal workers with social protection systems.

Given the extent to which COVID-19 has affected urban livelihoods, this analysis focuses primarily on challenges faced by urban informal workers. Of course, much of it also applies to informal workers in rural areas, particularly those who are not involved in agriculture (e.g. household enterprises).

It is essential to understand ‘Who’ will be affected, ‘Where’, ‘How’ and ‘When’ to better understand the ‘What’ of the social protection response to COVID-19.

Social protection is recognised as an essential mechanism to reach those who are in urgent need because of the COVID-19 crisis, and efforts are under way to scale up systems, so they can be ‘shock responsive’. What is needed next, however, is a much more disaggregated view, based on an understanding of who will be affected, how, and when so as to better understand the ‘what’ of the social protection response. While ultimately country-level assessments will be most useful for specific policy recommendations, this note sets out a framework for some of the key considerations.

The main takeaway from this note is that it is essential to first understand which livelihood groups are most likely to (i) be severely impacted and (ii) lack the resilience to withstand such an acute shock.

It is very likely that in many places, this will not necessarily be the same as either the usual social protection caseload or the target population for ‘business as usual’ humanitarian assistance. This will require innovative thinking in terms of how to reach those who are most in need, as: •

• ‘Vertical’ expansions of existing programmes (topping up what current recipients receive)would not solve the problem of reaching those most affected by COVID-19. 
• Well-designed expansion of coverage will be needed, either via ‘horizontal expansions’ of existing programmes or new programmes that leverage (‘piggyback on’) existing systems to the extent possible1 . These new programmes may be led by the social protection sector or other actors (e.g. humanitarians). Either way, targeting will need to be considered very carefully, as even where social registries are in place, they may systematically exclude those most in need as a result of COVID-19 (depending on their design and implementation ).

For further details, Annex A discusses the context and channels of impact, while Annex B looks at the ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘how’, and ‘when’ of these impacts. The following sections discuss the main insights from the more in-depth analysis contained in Annex B.

This document provides key considerations and examples of how gender and social inclusion (GESI) can be integrated into potential COVID-19 response options/strategies via existing social protection and / or humanitarian programmes (or a hybrid approach, leveraging social protection delivery systems and capacity). It aims to highlight key considerations for integrating GESI into social protection design and operation, in an effort to increase wellbeing and dignity, while minimising potential negative effects on vulnerable populations.

This document links to the SPACE Strategy Decision Matrix and Delivery Systems Matrix, providing further detail on GESI issues for both documents.

There are potential trade-offs between design and implementation options that will need to be decided in each context according to programming objectives and priorities. In addition, not all options will be feasible or desirable in every context.

However, the aim is to build on existing gender-sensitive social protection features and ensure that i) GESI issues have been strategically considered across all the potential options, ii) that all social protection responses will, at a minimum, be GESI-sensitive and not exacerbate gender and social inequalities, and iii) that longer-term objectives of equality and empowerment are considered and, where possible, factored in to immediate responses, as well as considering how to ensure inclusive medium-to longer-term recovery.

The document is divided into two parts:

1. Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on vulnerable groups.
2. Social protection strategy decision matrix – considerations for integrating GESI into social protection responses.

Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 - Expert Advice Helpline, SPACE

Stakeholder Profile Publications Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 - Expert Advice Helpline, SPACE

2020 . Publisher:  Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 - Expert Advice Helpline, SPACE

This is a living document tracking relevant COVID-19 and Social Protection materials. 

blogs.worldbank.org (14.07.2020) While the world is still in the midst of dealing with the health and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shock, one key lesson is already emerging: Social protection is proving its potential as an emergency instrument to protect affected households. Countries with strong social protection systems, underpinned by inclusive personal identification systems, comprehensive social registries with household information and robust digital payment systems, have been able to ramp up support to their impacted populations faster and more effectively. 
The response to the COVID-19 shock shows how “adaptive” social protection can expand on a temporary basis in response to a shock by expanding to a larger pool of beneficiaries or by providing larger benefits (or both).  

NOW Grenada (21.07.2020) The Ministry of Finance through the Covid-19 Economic Support Secretariat (CESS) announces the deadline for receipt of applications to the Income and first time Payroll Stimulus Programme as of Wednesday, 22 July 2020 at 4 pm.

This cut off for receipt of applications relates to the following categories:Hotels, Restaurants/ Bars and Small Travel Agents, Tourist Vendors, Market Vendors, Bus Owners, Taxi Owners, Hair Dressers, Barbers, And other tourist related businesses.

Businesses making application for the payroll support prior to Wednesday, 22 July 2020, can continue to make their monthly applications for the period April to June 2020.

smart warter magazine (07.04.2020) For the next two months, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to supply water and electricity free of charge to its citizens, local authorities have said. According to the Anadolu Agency, the water supply business Regie de Distribution d’Eau (REGIDESO) and the country’s National Electricity Company (SNEL) have agreed to provide free water and electricity in the country for the following two months.

Ministry of Labor and Social Security (10.07.2020) This Thursday, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Mixed Institute of Social Aid, IMAS, began with the payment of the third month for the beneficiaries of the Protect Bond. The Protect Bond was launched on April 9 as a response to provide assistance to people affected by labor because of COVID-19. As of today, 962,572 Bonus requests have been received and a total of 533,829 Bonds have been awarded.

Minister of Labor and Social Security (15.06.2020) The Minister of Labor and Social Security signed a directive that allows employers to request an extension of the measure to suspend their employment contracts due to the pandemic by COVID-19. The MTSS-DMT-CIR-5-2020 directive allows employers to request the extension of the initial period of three months for up to an additional equal period, as long as the impact on the economic turn of companies is maintained. The procedure, like the initial application, must be done virtually through the form available on the website of the Ministry of Labor in which the application must be sent indicating that the economic conditions of the company are maintained as it does three months when the initial request was made. In the case of reductions in working hours, the law that governs them already provided for the extension of the term according to the needs of companies, always based on the economic impact that they may have.

Ministry of finance (17.07.2020) Starting this July, the National Treasury of the Ministry of Finance will apply to pensions higher than ¢ 2,296,000 corresponding to the National Pension Directorate, Pension Board of the National Teaching Staff and the Ex-Presidents Regime, the deduction for special solidarity and redistributive contribution, established by Law No. 9796 (“Law to Redesign and Redistribute the Resources of the Special Solidarity Contribution”).   

The New York TImes (22.07.2020) The  US government committed to purchase 100 million doses of a not-yet-finished vaccine. The private sector buys most vaccines in the United States, not the government.“We’re trying to make sure access for all Americans is equal,” said L.J. Tan, chief strategy officer at the Immunization Action Coalition. “The best way to do that is to make vaccines free for everybody.” The U.S. government has also recently declared that insured Americans wouldn’t face fees for coronavirus testing, and it dedicated a new fund to cover the testing and treatment costs of the uninsured.

UN/DESA Policy Brief #82 (14.07.2020) All social protection systems are designed to respond to shocks since, in addition to addressing chronic conditions, they are meant to address acute events that negatively impact individuals and households. However, some systems respond better than others. Typical life cycle events, related to the loss of jobs or illness, usually only affect some households at the same time. Standard social protection systems are set to respond to these individual or household-level shocks. A shock-responsive social protection system is also prepared to respond to covariate or systemic shocks that affect a large number of households simultaneously—be they natural disasters, food shortages, economic crises or disease outbreaks such as COVID-19. It is a system that can cope with sudden changes in both context and demand. Covariate shocks can be natural, political, or economic in nature.

Time (23.07.2020) Temporary basic income payments could stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic by allowing the world’s poorest people to stay at home, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Programme.

• The distancing measures deployed by South Africa impose large reductions in wage income particularly for low-skilled workers.
• Initial lockdown policies will jeopardize the food security of low-income households dependent on labor income.
• The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate the value of transfer policies that support vulnerable households.