Informal Economy Podcast: Social Protection Wiego

In episode five of the systems’ mapping, building blocks approach, we continue to explore the topic of registration. This time, we look closely at the Cambodian IDPoor programme, to understand to what extent a government-led effort to improve how beneficiaries of social assistance and social protection schemes are effectively accounted for – and what are the gaps, challenges and merits of this new registration drive.

To understand the Cambodian case, we invited Bunly Than. Bunly is the lead of the Inclusive and shock-responsive social protection system project at Oxfam Cambodia.

*Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)

References
WIEGO Resource Document #30 (2023). Home-Based Workers’ Access to Social Protection: Lessons Learned from the IDPoor Programme in Cambodia. Available at: https://www.wiego.org/publications/home-based-workers-access-social-protection-lessons-learned-idpoor-programme-cambodia

Government of Cambodia (2021). Performance Assessment of the Cash Transfer Program for Poor and Vulnerable Households during COVID-19. Available at: https://nspc.gov.kh/Images/GiZ_CT_Policy%20Brief_20210602_Design_Draft_2021_06_02_17_46_02.pdf

And we start the year with the first episode of the second building block of our new season, in which we will discuss the issue of registration. How is digital technology helping to include informal workers into social protection schemes or how is it creating new barriers for these people to access protection? What are the risks and opportunities? What is the role of informal workers organisations in building more inclusive registration systems?

These are some of the questions we will try to answer by looking at some cases of programmes and policies countries are implementing to expand their social protection systems to include informal workers.

We start this new block with the case of the Social Relief of Distress Grant in South Africa. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the government expanded the SRD to reduce the impact of income loss, targeting a much broader population than the ordinary social assistance programmes were covering. The second new aspect is that this policy was that it heavily relied on digital means to register new beneficiaries.

To understand how the implementation of the SRD was rolled out, how digital forms of registration contributed or hindered access of informal workers to the grant, we talked to Hoodah Fayker.

Hoodah holds a Law degree from the University of the Western Cape, and she is the National Advocacy Manager for the veteran human rights organisation Black Sash, which advocates for the right to social protection in South Africa.

*Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)

References

A Digital Bridge to Social Support https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/social-programs-for-informal-workers-must-bridge-digital-divide-by-laura-alfers-2021-06?barrier=accesspaylog

R350 Covid grant is too little and excludes too many, research report finds https://www.groundup.org.za/article/r350-covid-grant-too-little-and-excludes-too-many-research-report-finds/

Social Protection in a Time of Covid: Lessons for Basic Income Support https://socialprotection.org/discover/publications/social-protection-time-covid-lessons-basic-income-support

Black Sash report reveals extent of issues experienced by Social Relief of Distress grant recipients https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-05-17-black-sash-report-reveals-extent-of-issues-experienced-by-social-relief-of-distress-grant-recipients/

SOCIAL PROTECTION IN A TIME OF COVID: LESSON FOR BASIC INCOME SUPPORT https://www.blacksash.org.za/social-protection-in-a-time-of-covid-lesson-for-basic-income-support/

The Social Relief of Distress Grant: how it stimulated local economies https://www.econ3x3.org/article/social-relief-distress-grant-how-it-stimulated-local-economies

COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy: Informal Workers in Durban, South Africa https://www.wiego.org/publications/covid-19-crisis-and-informal-economy-informal-workers-durban-south-africa

This is the third and last episode of the financing building block. Previously, we discussed alternative ways to finance social protection extension for waste pickers in India and Argentina, and the struggle to finance gig workers in Rajasthan. Now we explore the challenges of financing social protection in a changing world of work.

What are the possible paths, strategies and innovations countries are undertaking to include informal workers? What about digital platforms: is there room to improve social protection for these workers?

To discuss these and other issues we invited two guests: Sarah Cook and Ruth Castel-Branco.

Sarah is a Professor and Head of the School of Economics at the
University of Nottingham Ningbo China. She has held UN positions as Director of UNRISD and UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti. Her research focuses on China’s economic and social development, covering issues of gender, labour and social policy.

Ruth Castel-Branco is a Senior Researcher at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Wit-waters-rand. Her research is focused on the casualization of labour, worker organizing and the redistributive role of the state. She holds a PhD in Sociology also from the University of the Witwatersrand.

They talked to us about some of the findings and debates arising from their research.



*Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)


References

Podcast: Financing Social Protection for Waste Pickers in India and Argentina. Informal Economy Podcast, episode 33 https://soundcloud.com/informaleconomypodcastsp/33-financing-social-protection-for-waste-pickers-in-india-and-argentina

Pune Waste Pickers’ Innovative Efforts to Fund the Extension of Decent Work and Social Protection, WIEGO Resource Document 33. Available at: www.wiego.org%2Fpublications%2Fpune-waste-pickers-innovative-efforts-fund-extension-decent-work-and-social-protection&token=83d341-1-1701176313090

Efforts of Argentina’s Informal Waste Pickers to Finance Decent Work and Social Protection through Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation, WIEGO Resource Document 34. Available at: www.wiego.org%2Fpublications%2Fefforts-argentinas-informal-waste-pickers-finance-decent-work-and-social-protection&token=e9c485-1-1701176313090

The current episode is the second of this new season. We will continue to look at the issue of financing, which was the topic of the first episode of the system’s mapping series.
We will talk about a very important theme: how to finance the inclusion of gig workers from digital platforms of service provisions in social protection system.
We turn our attention to the Indian State of Rajasthan, where the local legislative has just passed a law creating the Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers Welfare Board.
In order to understand what the Welfare Board is, what is their role in financing informal workers’ social protection, how will it work and the challenges and potential ahead I invited Nikhil Dey.
Nikhil is a social activist in India for the empowerment of peasants and workers, and is a founder member of the MKSS, a membership-based organization that fights for the right to information and to advocate for a national work guarantee law in India.

*Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)

References:

The Wire: "Gig Workers' First Major Victory in India: Rajasthan Leads the Way" https://thewire.in/labour/gig-workers-first-major-victory-in-india-rajasthan-leads-the-way

WIEGO Resource Document No. 37: "I Will Not Auction My Back! Lessons from Maharashtra’s Welfare Boards in Financing Social Protection for Informal Workers" https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/file/wiego-resource-document-no.37.pdf

WIEGO inaugura una nueva etapa de su podcast. A partir de este episodio, vamos a comprender mejor las piezas del sistema de protección social, para poder mejor comprender los retos, oportunidades y dificultades que enfrentan los trabajadores informales. Todo eso ofreciendo la perspectiva de los trabajadores, desde una aproximación ascendente.

En esta etapa, daremos atención especial al tema de la digitalización, aunque no será el único aspecto discutido aquí. Vamos a mirar como la tecnología está siendo utilizada para mejorar la inclusión de trabajadores informales, pero también comprender los riesgos y retos involucrados.

En los próximos episodios, vamos a investigar las distintas partes del sistema de protección social, y mirarlo como un sistema solar, en la que en el centro están las políticas, legislación, governaza, financiación; luego afuera están los diseños de los programas, questiones sobre elegibilidad y cuestiones relacionadas; y por fin, asunto relativos a la implementación – como registro, entrega de beneficios etc.

En el primer episodio de la cartografía de sistemas, usando el enfoque de bloques de construcción, nos sumergimos en el tema de la financiación de los regímenes de protección social para los trabajadores informales. La financiación es uno de los elementos clave del "sistema solar" de protección social, y supone un reto especial en el caso de los trabajadores informales, que en muchos casos no tienen un empleador que comparta la carga de los costes de salud, las pensiones, el cuidado infantil y otras prestaciones laborales.
Vamos a conocer a un experimento de financiación alternativa de la protección social y el trabajo decente para los recicladores de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Para ello, hablé con Andrés Cappa. Andrés es docente de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora y de la Universidad de Buenos Aires y ha dirigido una investigación de WIEGO sobre cómo los movimientos de trabajadores utilizaron los marcos de responsabilidad extendida del productor para avanzar en la extensión de la protección social y la mejora de las condiciones laborales en Argentina.

*Nuestro tema musical es Focus de AA Aalto (Creative Commons)

Referencias

Pune Waste Pickers’ Innovative Efforts to Fund the Extension of Decent Work and Social Protection, WIEGO Resource Document 33. Available at: https://www.wiego.org/publications/pune-waste-pickers-innovative-efforts-fund-extension-decent-work-and-social-protection

Efforts of Argentina’s Informal Waste Pickers to Finance Decent Work and Social Protection through Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation, WIEGO Resource Document 34. Available at: https://www.wiego.org/publications/efforts-argentinas-informal-waste-pickers-finance-decent-work-and-social-protection

WIEGO starts a new phase of its podcast. From this episode onwards, we will gain a better understanding of the pieces of the social protection system, in order to better understand the challenges, opportunities and difficulties faced by informal workers. All this by offering the workers' perspective, from a bottom-up approach.

At this stage, we will give special attention to the issue of digitalisation, although it will not be the only aspect discussed here. We will look at how technology is being used to improve the inclusion of informal workers, but also understand the risks and challenges involved.

In the next episodes, we will investigate the different parts of the social protection system, and look at it as a solar system, in which at the centre are policy, legislation, governance, financing; then outside are programme designs, eligibility and related issues; and finally, implementation issues - such as registration, delivery of benefits etc.
In the first episode of the systems’ mapping, building blocks approach, we dive into the topic of financing social protection schemes for informal workers. Finance is one of the key elements of the social protection “solar system”, and it is particularly challenging in the case of informal workers, who in many cases don’t have an employer to share the burden of the costs of healthcare, pensions, child care and other labour benefits.

We will learn more about two experiments of alternative financing of social protection and decent work for waste pickers in Pune, India, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. First, I talked to Lákshimi Narayan, the founder of the waste picker organization KKPKP. In the second part, you will listen to a conversation with Andrés Cappa. Andrés is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at the Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora and at the Universidad de Buenos Aires.
They both will tell us more about how workers’ movements managed use extended producer responsibility frameworks to leverage advances towards the extension of social protection and better work conditions in their respective countries.

*Our theme music is Focus from AA Aalto (Creative Commons)

References

Pune Waste Pickers’ Innovative Efforts to Fund the Extension of Decent Work and Social Protection, WIEGO Resource Document 33. Available at: https://www.wiego.org/publications/pune-waste-pickers-innovative-efforts-fund-extension-decent-work-and-social-protection

Efforts of Argentina’s Informal Waste Pickers to Finance Decent Work and Social Protection through Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation, WIEGO Resource Document 34. Available at: https://www.wiego.org/publications/efforts-argentinas-informal-waste-pickers-finance-decent-work-and-social-protection