DFAT, GIZ, SPEC (2022) Selected Annotated Bibliography: Social Protection for Employment

Social protection has proven to be an effective instrument for reducing poverty. However, social protection alone cannot bring the poor people out of poverty sustainably. This is why many countries have linked social protection to complementary employment generation programs. Historically, public works programs, active and passive labour market policies, skill development programs, and livelihood programs have been key instruments to facilitate employment for poor or unemployed people. A new kind of intervention emerged during the last two decades which is called graduation program or economic inclusion program or productive inclusion program. The trend of linking such programs to cash transfer program is growing.

Social Protection for Employment – Community (SPEC), supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the German Development Cooperation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), is an online platform for promoting the exchange of knowledge on linking social protection to employment. SPEC published a resources matrix on social protection for employment in 2018. The current bibliography is an updated and expanded version of the resources matrix. This bibliography aims to help practitioners, policy makers, and researchers access the literature in this field. It provides access to 430 materials in 5 categories: Social protection for employment and COVID-19 responses, Cash plus/productive inclusion, Public work programs, Labour market, and Skill development – Enhancing labour quality.