News and features

December 2020

  1. The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, the ILO and UNICEF join forces to expand social protection for all through sustainable financing

    01 December 2020

    Joint programme on improving synergies between social protection and public finance management

  2. The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, the ILO and UNICEF join forces to expand social protection for all through sustainable financing

    01 December 2020

    Joint programme on improving synergies between social protection and public finance management

November 2020

  1. The European Union and ILO joins forces to promote social protection systems in Sudan

    09 November 2020

October 2020

  1. Universal social protection floors are a joint responsibility

    26 October 2020

    Building back better from the pandemic so that we have greater resilience against future crises’ requires international solidarity and better social protection for all, that covers the poorest and most marginalized as well as those who currently have resources to pay.

  2. © ILO 2024

    Critical gaps in social protection hampering Asia-Pacific region’s resilience to COVID-19

    15 October 2020

    Despite their rapid socioeconomic ascent, most countries in the Asia-Pacific region have weak social protection systems riddled with gaps, says a new report.

September 2020

  1. © Asian Development Bank 2024

    ILO: Developing countries should invest US$1.2 trillion to guarantee basic social protection

    17 September 2020

    Closing the coverage gap, worsened by COVID-19, will require additional sources of financing says a new ILO study.

  2. ILO/Germany programme to protect garment workers affected by COVID-19

    08 September 2020

    The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is giving €14.5 million to an International Labour Organization (ILO) multi-donor programme to help garment sector workers in seven countries who have been affected by COVID-19.

July 2020

  1. Social Security in Chile: the Future of Pensions and the Proposal to Withdraw 10 Per Cent

    17 July 2020

    The proposal to withdraw up to 10 per cent of total individual pension fund savings responds to households’ need to ensure income during the COVID-19 crisis as well as to the wider discussion of the future of the pension system in Chile, according to the ILO experts in this brief.

  2. © Ploy Phutpheng / UN Women 2024

    Building back better: Equality at the centre

    16 July 2020

    We must put equality and environmental sustainability at the centre of the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 2020

  1. The importance of strengthening social protection systems to cope with the impact of Covid-19 on the world of work

    20 April 2020

    The rapid spread of COVID-19 has not only caused millions of confirmed cases and hundreds of thousands death worldwide, but also brought significant impact on the economy, employment and social affairs.

  2. Improving nurses’ and midwives’ working conditions: An investment in resilience for all

    06 April 2020

    The rapid expansion of COVID-19 emphasizes the urgent need for a strong health workforce as integral part of every resilient health system.

March 2020

  1. © Chassenet / BSIP via AFP 2024

    COVID-19: Social protection systems failing vulnerable groups

    25 March 2020

    Governments must use the momentum created by the COVID-19 pandemic to make rapid progress toward collectively financed, comprehensive, and permanent social-protection systems.

  2. Indonesia to improve its social protection system by adding unemployment benefit

    09 March 2020

    The Government of Indonesia is in the process of setting up an unemployment benefit scheme to better protect the workers from any involuntary resignation cases. To find the most suitable mechanism for Indonesia, the government and other related stakeholders learnt good practices from other Asian countries.

  3. Indonesia to learn unemployment benefit schemes from five countries’ experiences

    03 March 2020

    Experts from five countries share their experiences in providing protection against unemployment as lessons learnt for Indonesia.

February 2020

  1. Regional knowledge hub, connect, strengthens capacity across Asia-Pacific to promote universal health coverage

    04 February 2020

    A regional technical facility on Social Health Protection in Asia-Pacific has been developed with support from ILO, to facilitate knowledge development, capacity building and technical assistance with a goal to achieve Universal Health Coverage across the region.

  2. Expansion of Lao People's Democratic Republic’s National Health Insurance accelerates progress towards universal health coverage

    04 February 2020

    Since 2016, Lao People's Democratic Republic’s landmark National Health Insurance Scheme has been progressively scaled up, streamlined and consolidated to deliver on the country’s goal to achieve universal health coverage by 2025.

January 2020

  1. Indonesia to build a new scheme to protect the unemployed

    29 January 2020

    The ILO with support from the Fast Retailing Co. Ltd commenced a new project to help Indonesia developing an effective mechanism for the unemployed through employment insurance, re-skilling and up-skilling programme and improved public employment service.

  2. Lao People's Democratic Republic Health Insurance Reform allows 70 year old to access to healthcare for the first time

    29 January 2020

    70-year old’s first experience of medical treatment illustrates progress of Lao People's Democratic Republic’s social health protection system since implementing a National Health Insurance scheme to promote universal health coverage.

December 2019

  1. Making social protection fit for the future

    04 December 2019

    At an Infopoint organized by the European Commission, Valérie Schmitt, Deputy Director of ILO’s Social Protection Department, welcomed the new EU-funded flagship programme which aims to increase social protection coverage in eight priority countries.

November 2019

  1. State Secretary-Deputy Minister Andrei Pudov: Russia Is Taking Multi-Faceted Interagency and Interregional Efforts to Develop Social Protection

    26 November 2019

    Andrei Pudov, State Secretary-Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection, made this statement during the Global Social Protection Week in Geneva, Switzerland.

  2. © Stuart Price / UN Photo 2024

    More than 500 billion dollars a year needed to ensure basic levels of social protection worldwide

    25 November 2019

    A new ILO report highlights critical financing gaps in social protection and provides policy recommendations on how these gaps could be closed.