01 Dec Social Protection for Informal Workers: Supporting Social Inclusion in Asia
This three-year multi-country research project seeks to assess the effectiveness and relevance of social protection in tackling social exclusion and promoting social inclusion in Asia. The research has been developed and will be conducted in collaboration with research partners in four countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. It will examine the potential for social protection initiatives to enhance labour market and economic opportunities for socially excluded individuals and improve their access to and utilisation of essential social services, including health and education. It will also explore the extent to which social protection can support individual empowerment and social cohesion in local communities. It will assess various dimensions of social exclusion, such as caste, ethnicity, religion, gender and disability. The project will assess a range of social protection interventions, including health insurance for the socially excluded in India, youth employment programmes in Afghanistan, and cash transfers in Bangladesh and Nepal.
In Afghanistan, the study will focus on BRAC’s Girls’ Education Project, initiated in 2007, particularly on those young women aged 15-24 who have taken the social and life skills and livelihood training activities of the programme. The aim of the study is to:
• Assess whether the project has, through increased skills, knowledge and awareness, improved young women’s labour market and economic opportunities;
• Assess whether the project has improved people’s access to, and utilisation of education and health services;
• Assess to what extent the project has contributed to individual empowerment and social cohesion.
Outputs of this project are expected in summer 2013.