Social Protection Series I - Spotlight on Informal Workers -
18 - 25 March 2021 (Three online sessions)
Background
In the wake of fighting back the spread of COVID-19
infectious disease, countering measures like lockdowns and social distancing
have affected informal workers disproportionately with higher risk of falling
into extreme poverty as their economic activities were severely disrupted by
those measures. The WIEGO-led COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy Study in
2020 indicates that informal workers have displayed three common patterns since
the onset of the pandemic: sudden and massive drop in earnings, limited and
disproportionate reach of relief measures, and lastly, heavy reliance on coping
strategies that erode any assets accumulated.[1]
Informal workers usually work in poor occupational safety
and health surroundings with poor
access to social protection services. They are easily exposed to the risk of illness
and injury. Even before the pandemic, access to healthcare was almost out
of reach for these workers because the cost of such services was far too high
for their earning.
As shown
in the WIEGO study, informal workers experienced significant disruption to their
earnings regardless of variations in lockdown measures with 69.8 per cent of all
respondents reporting zero earnings during the lockdown period.[2] The
study clearly demonstrates that Informal
workers are more vulnerable to socio-economic disruptions caused by sudden
shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of social protection can worsen the
realities facing those in informal sectors. For instance, drastic revenue cuts and
lack of social
protection in place during the pandemic have pushed the workers to depend on other alternatives such as digging into
savings, borrowing money, and selling off their assets.[3] This
will lead to the rapid increase in their household debt, thus making it more
difficult for them to recover financially from the crisis since most of them
earn on a daily basis.
In this challenging context, it would be critical to develop appropriate mechanisms to extend
social protection to informal workers, which can be conducive to protecting
their economic and social rights, reducing their vulnerability and minimising negative
impacts on local communities and societies.[4]
Many countries have come a long way in developing
and enhancing their social protection systems, and the COVID-19 crisis prompted governments to consider implementing relief
measures. According to the WIEGO-led study which was conducted for 12 cities
around the world, the relief measures, even though being implemented, were limited
in most cases and uneven. Across these cities, about 40 per cent of workers
reported getting food or cash from the government.[5] This
urges both national and local governments along with the international
community to effectively respond to the the specific needs of vulnerable
popuations for better devising and implementing social protection policies.
In
this regard, CIFAL Jeju organizes an online event entitled as Social Protection Series: Spotlight on Informal
Workers. This virtual event will discuss
various approaches to social protection with a focus on informal workers in the
pandemic situation, and explore how social protection can be applied in
different contexts. Participants will be given an opportunity to share their
own case studies and get engaged in designing action plans for better implementation
of social protection strategies in line with their own national and local
context.
Objectives To provide a platform for
good practices and lessons learned To share and discuss how various
social protection strategies and policies by country have been implemented for informal
workers To practice designing an
action plan to be implemented in participants’ home countries for resilient
livelihoods of informal workers
Expected Outcomes Better understanding of the
realities facing informal workers in the pandemic context Sharing policy strategies
to minimize the economic and social impact of the pandemic on informal workers Viable action plan designed
to better implement the social protection schemes for informal workers
Target Audience
This program is open to government
officials and practitioners from CSOs who have been working in the social
development area.
Program
* Please see the
final page for the program details.
*All online sessions will begin at 15:00 (Seoul
Time, GMT+9).
*Kindly note that Zoom and Microsoft Teams platform
will be used for online sessions and communications.
Requirements
Selected participants are required to: submit
necessary documents on time, e.g., case studies, action plan etc. actively
participate in the training program and submit assignments be fluent in written and spoken English
Application and deadline
Send
the following two documents to cifaljeju.jitc.1@gmail.com by 12 March 2021 (Friday)
*Kindly note that only selected applicants
will be notified individually.
Organizer
UNITAR
CIFAL Jeju/Jeju International Training Center
Certificate
Once selected participants have
completed the course along with assignments, UNITAR and UNITAR CIFAL Jeju will
jointly issue a certificate upon completion of the training.
* Successful
participants will receive a hard copy of the certificate along with CIFAL Jeju resource
materials by mail.
Program Details
- All three online sessions
will begin at 15:00 (Seoul Time, GMT+9).
*The
above program is subject to change.
[1] WIEGO 2020, available at
https://www.wiego.org/blog/informal-workers-see-long-road-recovery-ahead-unless-governments-act
[2]Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] OECD Development Matters,
available at
https://oecd-development-matters.org/2020/04/17/why-protecting-informal-economy-workers-is-so-critical-in-time-of-covid-19/
[5] WIEGO 2020, available at
https://www.wiego.org/blog/informal-workers-see-long-road-recovery-ahead-unless-governments-act
|