Development and investment for a sustainable response to COVID-19
The economic and social disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to damage global employment and livelihoods in the long term, with losses in the order of hundreds of millions of jobs. As of 30 June 2020, the ILO estimated that 400 million full time-jobs could be destroyed due to containment measures. While several countries are already preparing and launching initial response and recovery measures, certain population groups, such as the many working poor in the informal economy and those living in fragile contexts, are disproportionately affected by the crisis and require specific support.
The Development and Investment Branch (DEVINVEST) is well equipped to assist ILO member States in addressing the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, particularly in LICs, LDCs and countries affected by fragility, conflict and disaster. Following the immediate response, which focuses on protecting the unemployed and the most vulnerable through social protection mechanisms, it will be the time for these countries to “build back better” and adjust to a "new normal".
Supported by DEVINVEST and guided by Recommendation 205 on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience, governments, employers and workers organizations can develop job creation and income generation initiatives for effective recovery from COVID-19 with a view to increasing resilience to future shocks. The ILO’s Jobs for Peace and Resilience Flagship Programme (JPR), which is currently active in over 30 countries, can be used as a vehicle for mitigating the socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 while reinforcing existing paths of resilience through multi-disciplinary responses that create jobs, reinforce skills and support private sector and local economic development in affected countries. Employment-intensive public works, designed and implemented with the support of the Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) of DEVINVEST, are one of the most viable instruments to generate immediate employment opportunities while creating quality infrastructure, thus promoting the revival of the local economy and of the environment.
The Development and Investment Branch (DEVINVEST) is well equipped to assist ILO member States in addressing the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, particularly in LICs, LDCs and countries affected by fragility, conflict and disaster. Following the immediate response, which focuses on protecting the unemployed and the most vulnerable through social protection mechanisms, it will be the time for these countries to “build back better” and adjust to a "new normal".
Supported by DEVINVEST and guided by Recommendation 205 on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience, governments, employers and workers organizations can develop job creation and income generation initiatives for effective recovery from COVID-19 with a view to increasing resilience to future shocks. The ILO’s Jobs for Peace and Resilience Flagship Programme (JPR), which is currently active in over 30 countries, can be used as a vehicle for mitigating the socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 while reinforcing existing paths of resilience through multi-disciplinary responses that create jobs, reinforce skills and support private sector and local economic development in affected countries. Employment-intensive public works, designed and implemented with the support of the Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) of DEVINVEST, are one of the most viable instruments to generate immediate employment opportunities while creating quality infrastructure, thus promoting the revival of the local economy and of the environment.
COVID-19 Knowledge and Tools
Policy Briefs:
- COVID-19: Impact on trade and employment in developing countries
- The role of public employment programmes and employment guarantee schemes in COVID-19 responses (available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese)
- COVID-19 crisis and the informal economy : Immediate responses and policy challenges (available in English, French, Spanish and Bahasa Indonesia)
- Coping with double casualties: How to support the working poor in low-income countries in response to COVID-19 (available in English, French, Spanish, and Japanese)
- Impact of COVID-19 on the informal economy in Africa
- Joint ILO/WWF publication: NATURE HIRES: How Nature-based Solutions can power a green jobs recovery
Technical Guidance:
- COVID-19 - Job Creation through Employment Intensive Public Works Programmes (available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic)
- Adjusting labour practices in employment-intensive works in response to COVID-19 (available in English, French and Arabic)
- Technical note on water, sanitation and health (WASH) interventions in response to COVID-19 (available in English and Japanese)
- Jobs for Peace and Resilience: A response to COVID-19 in fragile contexts
- How to mainstream conflict-sensitivity, social cohesion and peacebuilding in COVID-19 socio-economic/labour market assessments (available in English and French)
- COVID-19 response and recovery in countries affected by disasters and climate vulnerability: challenges and opportunities
Country-level initiatives:
- COVID-19 Réponse de l'EIIP à la crise en Tunisie (en français)
- Facing double crises: Rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable workers in Jordan
- Employment effects in impact investments - Key insights emerging across studies in Tanzania and in Zimbabwe
- COVID-19: the resilience of young Lebanese and Syrian refugees
Statements:
- OPEC Fund quarterly report (with an interview on development, job creation and economic transformation in the face of COVID-19)
- Podcast (Spanish): Banco do Brasil : COVID-19 e as relaçoes de trabalho no mundo
- Podcast: The deepening crisis in the informal sector
- Jobs, economies and COVID-19 in the developing world - Interview with OFID
- Helping the “double casualties” of COVID-19
- The construction sector can help lead the economic recovery – Here’s how
- A better future of work means building it green
- "From Crisis to Opportunity for Sustainable Peace" - ILO's intervention on health, employment, and peacebuilding at Geneva Peace Week 2020
COVID-19 Resource Pages
- EIIP’s Response to COVID-19
- The socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in fragile settings : Peace and social cohesion at risk
COVID-19 Webinars
- 5 May 2020 - Labour-Intensive Public Works in Jordan
- 7 May 2020 - Geneva Environment Dialogues
- 22 May 2020 - Nature-based Solutions
- 28 May 2020 - Recovery from COVID-19 in the Irrigation and Drainage Sector
- 12 June 2020 - SDG Lab on inequalities and the informal economy: A high level event with UNDG, ECLAC and ILO, organized jointly by SDG Lab and ILO. (video and related tweet also available)