Exploring new policy pathways: How to overcome obstacles and contradictions in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
Building on the content of the previous reports, the Spotlight Report 2018 dives more deeply into the policies, resources and actions that will actually be necessary to implement the 2030 Agenda, based in part on proposals and ideas that have already been discussed or attempted in different parts of...
Read MoreThe role and vulnerabilities of older people in drought in East Africa Progress, challenges and opportunities for a more inclusive humanitarian response
Whilst older people have special needs, they also have unique skills, experiences and roles within their families, communities and societies. These roles continue to a certain extent during droughts, though household burdens may increase as younger adults have migrated or are grazing livestock further away. At the same time, droughts...
Read MoreWater and sanitation, migration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Key Messages Migration isn’t driven by a lack of water and sanitation services, but providing services can support successful migration. The barriers faced by migrants make achieving the SDGs’ ambitions of universal access more challenging. Challenges stem from failures in governance, not the amount of water available, numbers of...
Read MoreEnergy, migration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Key messages Migration can contribute to improving access to reliable, affordable modern energy services (SDG target 7.1) through higher incomes for migrants and the sending of remittances. The informal or irregular status of many migrants is a barrier to universal access to modern energy services. Migrants in informal settlements...
Read MoreFAO’s Role in Social Protection: Innovation to Achieve Zero Hunger, Reduce Poverty and Build Resilient Communities
The event gathered representatives of FAO partners in social protection to discuss important achievements made thus far – and the way forward – to continue to increase rural prosperity, food security and resilience through the scale-up of social protection systems. Link to...
Read MoreThe household and individual-level economic impacts of cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa
Results from seven recently completed rigorous impact evaluations of government-run unconditional social cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa show that these programmes have significant positive impacts on the livelihoods of beneficiary households. In Zambia, the Child Grant programme had large and positive impacts across an array of income generating...
Read MoreQualitative research and analyses of the economic impacts of cash transfer programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa
Support for (CT) programmes has been growing in sub-Saharan Africa over the last ten years. Since late 2004, the African Union has provided encouragement to countries to develop their own social policy frameworks, with a Plan of Action supported by governments that commits member states to expanding and empowering...
Read MoreMyth-busting? Confronting Six Common Perceptions about Unconditional Cash Transfers as a Poverty Reduction Strategy in Africa
In this paper we summarize evidence on six perceptions associated with cash transfer programming, using eight rigorous evaluations conducted on large-scale government unconditional cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa, under the Transfer Project. Specifically, we investigate if transfers: 1) induce higher spending on alcohol or tobacco; 2) are fully consumed...
Read MoreCare Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work
The report analyses the ways in which unpaid care work is recognized and organized, the extent and quality of care jobs and their impact on the well-being of individuals and society. A key focus of this report is the persistent gender inequalities in households and the labour market, which...
Read MoreCAC 40: Des Profits Sans Partage — Comment les grandes entreprises française alimentent le spirales d’inégalités
En 2017, 82 % des richesses créées dans le monde ont bénéficié aux 1 % les plus riches, alors que les 50 % les plus pauvres n’en ont reçu que des miettes. La France n’échappe pas à cette tendance : les 10 % les plus riches détiennent plus de...
Read MoreUniversal Basic Income proposals in light of ILO standards: Key issues and global costing (ESS ─ Working Paper No. 62)
This paper reviews proposals for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) in light of ILO standards. Some UBI proposals have the potential to advance equity and social justice, while others may result in a net welfare loss. The ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation (No. 202) includes a number of principles...
Read MoreRegional Roadmap for Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific
At the global level in 2015 countries set in motion the most far reaching and ambitious development agenda of our time, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In Asia and the Pacific, countries have already begun translating this ambitious agenda into action and many have already set up the...
Read MoreLabor Institutions and Development Under Globalization
Labor market regulation is a controversial area of public policy in both developed and developing countries. Mainstream economic analysis traditionally portrays legal interventions providing for minimum wages, unemployment insurance and (often only a modicum of) employment protection as ‘luxuries’ developing countries cannot afford. After decades of de-regulatory advice, international...
Read MoreFrom principles to practice: A method for identifying income sufficiency when applying International Legal Standards (ESS — Working Paper No. 61)
This paper gives content to the idea of a minimum income as reflected in ILO Conventions and Recommendations. It also aims to provide some practical guidance as to how such minima can best be operationalized. The practical purpose of this analysis is to define a reference income level that...
Read MoreA Simplified Social Protection Scheme for Micro-entrepreneurs
To encourage entrepreneurship and reduce social and tax evasion, the Government of France introduced a simplified mechanism in 2009. It facilitated the creation of micro-enterprises, collected taxes and encouraged affiliation of self-employed workers to the social security system. The scheme has led to the creation of 911,000 micro-enterprises till...
Read MoreBuilding an adequate U.S. labor and social protection system for the 21st century (ESS ─ Working Paper No. 60)
This paper reviews the erosion of labor and social protections for U.S. workers and households over recent decades. It discusses the causes and the relative weight of different elements of the erosion in order to bring clarity to the discussion of needed reforms. It proposes a framework of policy...
Read MoreIs biometric technology in social protection programmes illegal or arbitrary? An analysis of privacy and data protection (ESS ─ Working Paper No. 59)
Social protection programmes require processing significant data amounts, including often-sensitive information such as household assets, health status and physical or intellectual disabilities. Increasingly, social protection programmes use unique, intimate biometric-technology data such as fingerprints, iris structure and face topologies. Inextricably linked to the individual body, they are more sensitive...
Read MoreInnovative approaches for ensuring universal social protection for the future of work
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. While some emerging work and employment arrangements may provide greater flexibility for workers and employers, they may lead to significant gaps...
Read MoreToward more inclusive measures of economic well-being: Debates and practices
This paper reviews debates and practice around the conventional and alternative measures of economic well-being. It presents alternative aggregate indicators, broadly referred to as “Beyond GDP”, that track non-market contributions to well-being, including household production and ecosystem services. Evaluating the major contending measures–Genuine Progress Indicator, Human Development Index, Happiness/lifeevaluation...
Read MoreThe architecture of digital labour platforms: Policy recommendations on platform design for worker well-being
Digital labour platforms connect workers with consumers of this work and provide the infrastructure and the governance conditions for the exchange of work and its compensation. Yet the architecture, or business model design, of digital labour platforms has important consequences for workers, affecting whether they are empowered or exploited...
Read MoreUniversal Social Protection Country Cases
Countries have used many options to finance universal social protection. Those options include: (i) re-allocating public expenditures (e.g., from financing public subsidies to financing specific programs); (ii) increasing tax revenues, including revenue generated from taxation of natural resources; (iii) using the reductions of debt or debt servicing; (iv) expanding...
Read MoreTowards the Urgent Elimination of Hazardous Child Labour
This report brings together and assesses new research on hazardous child labour, following the ILO’s last report on this subject in 2011. The report demonstrates that we have extensive experience and an ample evidence base to assist us in tackling hazardous child labour. Ce rapport rassemble et évalue de...
Read MoreThe causes of falling wage share: sectoral and firm level evidence from developed and developing countries – what have we learned?
The last four decades have been characterised by drastic changes in the distribution of income between wages and profits in both OECD countries and emerging economies. We have recently analysed the causes of the decline in the wage share in the developed and developing countries for a project titled...
Read MoreParadigm Trap: The development establishment’s embrace of Myanmar and how to break loose
Is it possible for Myanmar to take a path to sustainable development that would avoid the pitfalls of the orthodox development paradigm? This report argues that this is not only necessary but...
Read MoreWelfare Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and Behaviour Change
This overview summarises the final findings of the Welfare Conditionality project (2013-2018). It presents analysis on the effectiveness, impacts and ethics of welfare conditionality, and the sanctions and mandatory support that underpin this approach. Discussion draws on analyses of qualitative data generated in interviews with 52 policy stakeholders, 27...
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