Resources on Care Economy

  1. Publication

    Childcare: A Training Manual For Domestic Workers’ Organizations

    16 August 2018

    This training manual is targeted to domestic workers’ organizations, civil society, not for profit organizations and other entities that provide skills trainings to domestic workers. The manual aims to build the skills of domestic workers in the area of childcare and empower them to expand their employment opportunities within this field.

  2. New findings on the global care economy

    Caring for the carers

    28 June 2018

    Investment in the care economy needs to be doubled to avert a looming global care crisis, says a new ILO report "Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work" . Sweeping changes in policies should address the rising need for care and tackle the huge disparity between women’s and men’s care responsibilities.

  3. Publication

    Cooperatives meeting informal economy workers' child care needs - A Joint ILO and WIEGO Initiative

    25 April 2018

    Cooperatives set up and run by workers in the informal economy are among the solutions in meeting women workers’ care needs, while also helping protect their labour rights. This report complements the ILO's previous studies with cases from Brazil, India, and Guatemala on how informal economy workers’ organizations can mobilize through cooperatives to provide child care services to their members. The case studies highlight diverse forms of child care provision and outline the varied partnerships needed to implement and sustain child care services for informal economy workers.

  4. Publication

    Providing Care through Cooperatives 1: Survey and Interview Findings

    03 March 2016

    Cooperatives are emerging as an innovative type of care provider, particularly in the absence of viable public or other private options.This report lists challenges and opportunities that cooperatives face in the care sector, highlighting resources that cooperatives need in order to be viable care providers, enterprises and employers.

  5. Publication

    Workplace solutions for childcare

    05 February 2010

    Workplace partnerships are effective for working parents considering childcare solutions. The focus of this book is on why workplace partners around the world have become involved in childcare and about the nature of programmes that have been implemented. Partnership is a key theme, and the authors highlight the fruitfulness of collaborations that combine the resources and capabilities of different actors. Ten countries, industrialized and developing, are examined through a national overview on policies and facilities for childcare and the implications for working parents, followed by case studies of specific workplaces.

  6. Publication

    Expanding women's employment opportunities: Informal economy workers and the need for childcare

    01 November 2007

    Childcare plays an essential role in supporting the employment of workers, and particularly women who continue to carry the primary responsibility for childcare in most societies. The lack of childcare support undermines women’s employment and steers women into the poorly paid, poorly protected informal economy. To address the gender dimension of informality, policy responses, programmes and projects need to recognize that providing childcare is a basic necessity for expanding women’s employment opportunities and enabling them to shift from informal economy activity to formal economic activity. The paper explores good practices on supporting the child care needs of informal workers through a series of well documented examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America.