South-4-Care Learning Hub: Advancing Decent Work in the Care Economy in South Asia

The Learning Hub will provide a regionally adapted platform for peer learning, policy dialogue and capacity building. It will facilitate the exchange of regional and global best practices, promote research on the care economy, and strengthen the institutional capacities of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations to design, finance and implement inclusive and coherent care policies.

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The South Asia edition of the South-4-Care Learning Hub will bring together key stakeholders in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 21 to 24 April 2026 to advance decent work in the care economy across the region. Building on the momentum of the inaugural edition held in Doha in 2025, the event contributes to the implementation of the ILO Resolution on Decent Work and the Care Economy (2024) and its Plan of Action.

The Learning Hub aims to strengthen regional cooperation, promote policy dialogue, and enhance institutional capacity to design and implement inclusive and sustainable care systems. It is organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO), in collaboration with the World Bank Group, as part of ongoing efforts to expand research, policy advocacy and practical solutions for the care economy in South Asia.

Care systems play a vital role as labour market infrastructure. They enable greater workforce participation—particularly for women—while supporting enterprise productivity, workforce stability and inclusive economic growth. The event will provide a platform to explore how investment in care can generate employment, reduce inequalities, and foster sustainable development across the region.

Participants will include representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, international organizations, development partners, academia, and the private sector. Around 90 participants from across South Asia are expected to attend, alongside technical experts from the ILO and the World Bank.

The programme will feature a high-level opening session, plenary discussions, thematic tracks, and interactive group work. Participants will exchange regional and global good practices, identify national priorities, and strengthen South–South cooperation mechanisms to advance decent work in and through the care economy.

Key themes will include the ILO 5R Framework for Decent Care Work (Recognize, Reduce, Redistribute, Reward and Represent), financing and governance of care systems, sustainable business models, social protection, migration, and innovative approaches such as care cooperatives. The Learning Hub will also support countries in developing national care roadmaps and identifying actionable priorities tailored to their specific contexts.

The event comes at a critical time for South Asia, where unpaid and underpaid care work remains a significant barrier to women’s participation in the labour market. Limited access to affordable and quality care services continues to constrain productivity and inclusive growth. By fostering dialogue and strengthening capacity among tripartite constituents, the Learning Hub seeks to promote rights-based approaches, enhance policy coherence, and support the development of equitable and resilient care systems.

This regional Learning Hub represents an important step towards advancing social justice and decent work in the care economy. By bringing together diverse stakeholders and facilitating knowledge exchange, it aims to catalyse concrete action and long-term collaboration to build inclusive care systems that benefit workers, enterprises and societies across South Asia.

Would you like to learn more on this topic? Join our course on Promoting Decent Work and the Care Economy.