unicef (june 2021) The importance of mainstreaming gender into social protection policies and programmes is increasingly recognized. However, evidence on the extent to which this is actually happening remains limited. This report contributes to filling this evidence gap by drawing on the findings of two complementary research projects undertaken by UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and UN Women in 2019.

OECD (21.10.2021) The COVID-19 crisis has hit the long-term care (LTC) sector particularly hard, with large numbers of people dependent on care and particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 have fallen ill, and a disproportionate rate of LTC workers both exposed to, and infected by, COVID-19. The analysis presented in this report describes the effects of COVID-19 on LTC in OECD countries, mainly showing infection rates and mortality of LTC recipients.

There were a massive 99 data breaches and cyber attacks in August, making it the third-biggest monthly total of the year by number of security incidents. But, by contrast, only 36,673,575 records were confirmed to have been leaked, which is the fewest we’ve recorded since May 2018. The true figure, as always, will be higher than this – in part because organisations rarely disclose how many records were involved in security incidents. But we’ll take a positive however we can take it, particularly given how leaky organisations have been throughout lockdown.

As always, you can find the full list of incidents below, with those affecting UK organisations listed in bold. In case you missed it, you may also be interested in our first quarterly review of data breaches and cyber attacks. The report takes the information collected in these lists and summarises our findings. It includes year-on-year comparisons in the number of incidents that were detected, a review of the most frequently breached sectors and a running total of incidents for the year.

worldbank.org (07.10.2021) The World Bank, in collaboration with the Government of South Africa, released a new report assessing the country’s social assistance programs and systems. In an environment of high unemployment, persistent poverty, weak economic growth and shrinking fiscal resources that has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review: South Africa report underscores the critical role of the grant and social assistance system in mitigating poverty.

oecd.org (14.10.2021) The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant deterioration in public finances, adding to pre-existing strains from long-term structural challenges including population ageing, climate change, rising inequality, digitalisation and automation. This report, originally prepared for G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at the request of the Italian G20 Presidency, considers the challenges and opportunities of developing public fiscal policy strategies as countries seek to “build back better”.

 Asian Development Bank (August 2021) The three-tiered elderly system in the country consists of home-based care as the core support, community-based care as necessary support, and residential care as supplementary support. The main policies and progress of the system are explained, including insights on how the government encourages private sector involvement. A key recommendation of this paper is the need for better integration of residential and home- and community-based care as part of the elderly care system. 

worldbank.org (06.10.2021) In Nepal, the lockdowns that were adopted to mitigate the public health impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) were accompanied by a significant contraction in economic activity. These in turn suggest a negative outlook for poverty and welfare, particularly in the face pre-existing macro and micro vulnerabilities. Even prior to Coronavirus (COVID-19), with consistently high rates of vulnerability and exposure to a range of shocks, the risks to falling back into poverty remained high in Nepal.

worldbank.org (23.06.2021) The report discusses the "Takaful and Karama" cash transfer program (TKP) in Egypt. Launched in 2015, it is a flagship social assistance initiative of the government. Takaful is a family income support program. It is a conditional cash transfers programme targeting poverty reduction and improved human development outcomes in health and education. Karama is an unconditional income support and social inclusion sub programme. The intended beneficiaries are the poor elderly (above age 65) and persons with severe disability.

calpnetwork.org (10.03. 2021) Challenges due to the pandemic have led to all kinds of innovations and adaptations focused on remote targeting, enrolment, verification and delivery. While required for the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, these new approaches might be useful in future responses that require remote targeting and delivery, such as in fragile contexts.