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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

WHO/Europe, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (16.07.2020) Government across the European Region and Central Asia have introduced a variety of policy responses to mitigate the consequences of the containment measures on well-being and the economy, employment and incomes, and on families and children who are not able to access social and health services.

socialprotection.org (July 2020) 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.

United Nations ESCAP (25.06.2020) South Asia, a subregion with nearly a quarter of world’s population but over a third of world’s people living in extreme poverty and hunger, has been impacted severely given the vast proportion of population living at the margins, fragmented coverage of social protection, pervasive informality in economic activities and employment, and wide gaps in public health infrastructure.

latinamerica.undp.org (May 2020) The growing crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has dire implications for Latin American societies. As is often the case, the most vulnerable segments of society, especially those living in extreme poverty, are being hit the hardest. This article identifies strategies and specific responses designed to achieve three goals: (1) reduce epidemiological risks to save lives; (2) protect livelihoods; and (3) ensure human capital accumulation. Epidemiological externalities as well as humanitarian concerns demand universal social inclusion.

lawafrica.com (May 2020) The purpose of this paper is to examine current state interventions taken to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 using social protection in Uganda in comparison to what is happening in Kenya and South Africa. This paper will also briefly examine the impact of legal framework in supporting the right social protection in COVID-19 responses.