European Commission (07.09.2021) This ESPN report examines the (sub)national social protection and inclusion policy measures that European countries put in place to help address the social and financial distress created by the pandemic and by lockdown policies. It covers the 27 EU Member States, the 7 candidate and potential candidate countries, and the UK.

brookings.edu (08.09.2021)  As COVID-19 spread across the world, governments responded with an unprecedented increase in social assistance measures. Policymakers had to shift their focus to urban areas, particularly slums, whose residents were hit the hardest by the pandemic and its economic impact. Social safety nets, traditionally targeting chronic poverty in rural areas, had to be reinvented overnight: The new objective was to prevent informal workers affected by lockdowns from falling back into poverty.

bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com (27.08.2021) Cash transfer program during pandemics provide a social protection mechanism to improve the health of the most vulnerable households. This article analysis the impact of cash transfers on household demand for health care during Covid-19.

globalcitizen.org (10.09.2021) As countries seek to contain COVID-19, a return to the way things were is not an option, according to Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. Instead, countries must guarantee basic living conditions. “We see that when social protection remains weak, the poorest pay the price,” De Schutter said. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown, an estimated 115 million additional people may have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020, and 35 million more may follow this year.

Africa at LSE (01.09.2021) Across Africa, states have adapted or expanded social protection measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These interventions provide valuable policy lessons and political opportunities to reimagine the social contract on the continent.

ILO 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and exacerbated the social protection gap between countries with high and low income levels.

Modern Diplomacy (31.08.01 ) As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to ripple across the world, they leave in their wake an upheaval touching all areas of public life. While all have been effected, no segment of the population has been impacted more, and in more varied ways, than women. The pandemic has shown scant regard for women’s socio-economic or marital status, for motherhood, occupation ethnicity or region of origin.

ideas.repec.org (2021) This paper examines North–South linkages in the politics of contemporary food assistance and social welfare, and in particular the normalisation of poverty and humanitarian crisis caused by increased digitalisation, privatisation and individualisation of aid or welfare. Migrants and displaced populations are considered as extreme cases and we examine how these policies and practices are leading to the growth of a global precariat who are constantly on the edge of survival (or death).

Forbes India (20.08.2021) Structural weaknesses in the jobs market, amplified by Covid-19, continue to quietly impact many, particularly women and younger workers. Creating sustainable, quality employment opportunities need urgent policy attention and reforms

BORGEN (14.08.2021) In an attempt to protect from economic disaster in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments enacted an unprecedented number of social protection programs. According to the World Bank, Social protection “traditionally consists of labor markets, pensions, social funds and ‘safety nets’.” Although developing countries introduced 1,300+ social protection and jobs programs related to COVID-19, the International Labor Organization (ILO) “estimates 255 million full-time equivalent” job losses in 2020.