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).

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.