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May 2020 - Formal and informal workers’ crisis response in the face of COVID-19
Welcome to the May edition of our monthly newsletter!
This month, our newsletter is dedicated to formal and informal workers worldwide, who have probably faced the most adverse International Workers´ Day of their lives. Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, companies are forced into massive layoffs and wage reductions, and informal workers have seen their business drop dramatically in the past few months. However, this urgent situation has also brought to the fore social protection solutions that can persist even after the pandemic is over to improve working and living conditions everywhere.

Below you can find the usual sections of our monthly newsletter, as well as a mapping of social protection measures being implemented all around the world to respond to the emergency. 

Enjoy your reading!
Upcoming webinars
Impacts of COVID-19 on care politics
SPIAC-B | IPC-IG | GIZ | DFAT

19 May
09:00 - 10:30 (GMT-4/EDT)
Register now
Past webinars
To date, we have hosted ten sessions of the “Social protection responses to COVID-19” webinar series, a joint effort by the IPC-IG, GIZ, and DFAT. They feature multiple approaches and examples of how different countries are addressing the social and economic dimensions of the pandemic. You can access all the recordings and presentations, as well as information on upcoming webinars, here.
E-learning
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, social protection has become a hot topic in the international debate. But can you clearly define social protection? Can you list its instruments and identify its conceptual approaches? To introduce the concept of social protection, we have developed a free self-paced micro-course, a partnership between the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Participants can choose to start and finish the course at any time, progressing through its content and activities at their own pace. It requires two hours to complete and awards a certificate after all required activities are concluded.
Featured Online Community
Many large cash transfer programmes have incorporated elements that support access to job opportunities, but very little has been written on which approaches work well, which ones work only occasionally, and which ones should be avoided outright. The Social Protection for Employment – Community (SPEC) was created to help bridge this knowledge gap and facilitate South-South learning using innovative online tools. It also features content on social protection measures to protect formal and informal workers from falling into poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Job Opportunities and Calls for Papers
Country Capacity Strengthening Programme and Policy Officer
WFP | Rome, Italy  | Apply by 30 May
Regional Programme Policy Officer
WFP | Dakar, Senegal  | Apply by 12 June
WASH Coordinator
Solidarités International | Yangon, Myanmar | Apply by 13 July
Senior Cash and Voucher Assistance Coordinator
GOAL | Syria | Apply by 12 August
News, documents and other relevant materials on COVID-19
This section presents relevant materials on social protection responses to COVID-19, as the result of a joint task-force, which is producing a weekly newsletter on this subject. We invite you to access and become a member of the initiative's online community. There, you will find high-quality materials on how countries are responding to the pandemic, as well as a discussion space.
Global
East Asia and Pacific
Indonesia New Zealand Thailand Regional
Europe and Central Asia
Azerbaijan Denmark Finland Ireland Lithuania Malta United Kingdom Regional
Latin America & Caribbean
Argentina Brazil Colombia Costa Rica Dominican Republic Jamaica Perú Venezuela Regional
Middle East & North Africa
Iran Jordan Morocco Tunisia Turkey
North America
Canada United States
South Asia
Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Regional
Sub-Saharan Africa
Mozambique Nigeria Senegal Regional
This initiative comprises an Online Community, a webinar series and a weekly newsletter. All of them featuring global efforts on social protection responses to COVID-19. It is a joint effort initiated by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of Australia, in collaboration with the socialprotection.org online platform. All partners and organisations are welcome and strongly invited to contribute by sharing knowledge and discussing their findings on social protection responses to the crisis. Learn more on how to collaborate. If you have any questions or comments, please send an email to [email protected].

socialprotection.org is an unbranded, member-based platform with more than 5,500 members, offering free access to publications, webinars, multi-language online communities, e-courses and other learning materials to support knowledge-sharing and capacity building in the field of social protection.