HelpAge International (June 2018) Starting this week, more than half a million older women and men in Kenya are receiving their first ever pensions. Under the new Government-funded Inua Jamii 70 and Above universal social pension, launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday 2 June, all Kenyans over 70 will receive 2,000 shillings (just under US$20) per month.

Philippine Information Agency (11.06.2018) The Social Security System is currently making big steps to improve social security and retirement benefits for its members  and in  improving the financial viability of the institution while enjoining   members  to regularly pay their contributions  as investment  for their future

economist.com (31.05.2018) Safety-nets, in one form or another, have proliferated across Africa in recent years

ILO (15.06.2018) Social protection systems around the world face challenges to provide full and effective coverage for workers in all forms of employment, including those in “new” forms of employment. This paper provides a review of innovative approaches that countries have undertaken to close coverage and adequacy gaps, and to adapt social protection systems to changing circumstances and demands through a combination of contributory and non-contributory mechanisms. 

The Guardian (23.05.2018) Workers across Europe, including 70,000 in UK, to be offered pay protections under new insurance policy The ride-hailing service said a new insurance policy, to be provided free to its drivers, would give them “peace of mind while preserving the flexibility they value”.

The Times of Central Asia (19.05.2018) There are about 100 thousand Kyrgyz labor migrants in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan’s State Migration Service says. Some of them work legally in the regions closer to Kyrgyzstan — the South-Kazakhstan, Karaganda and Almaty oblasts and Almaty city.

iadb (2018) Disruption is the new norm and the digital transformation can spur innovation growth across many activities. Emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) can help governments reduce costs while improving services. Not every emerging technology will alter the social landscape, but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo and change the way people live.

Daily Times (17.04.2018) A social protection model presently being implemented through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) across Pakistan is meant to effectively support and empower women, children and poorest segments of the society.

Mondaq /22.03.2018) The requirement that all Cambodian employers register their enterprises and employees with the National Social Security Fund is one of a number of changes introduced in recent months as part of the implementation of the health care insurance scheme.

 Development Pathways (08.02.2018) Get your inner nerd out! The World Bank has launched a competition to help them better predict a households’ poverty status based on easy-to-collect information and machine learning algorithms.