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Title of activity
Social Protection in South Asia
Registering Organizer
Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC)
Email Organizer
URL Link of the Registering Co-organizer in this website
Co-organizer and Links
Phone/ WhatsApp Number
+84913349011
Contact Us
📷 Surendra Pratap is the Coordinator of the Center for Workers Education (CWE), especially focuses on research, education and training on labour issues. He has researched working conditions in both formal and informal sectors. His important publications include Emerging Trends in Factory Asia: International Capital Mobility, Global Value Chains, and the Labour Movement (2014); Political Economy of Labour Law Reforms in India (2015); India’s Informal Sector: Demystifying a problematic Concept (2015), Liberalisation in India: Does it Resolve or Aggravate Employment Problems? (2018); and Worker cooperatives in India (2019). He has an MA in Economics, a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Science (Environmental Sciences),and a Bachelor of Science.
Email: spsurendrapratap@gmail.com
📷 Khalid Mahmood is currently Director of the Labour Education Foundation (LEF), which focuses on building a democratic labour movement in Pakistan, and Regional Urgent Appeal Coordinator for South Asia for Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC).
He works closely with different vulnerable groups to take the voice and struggle of workers into the development of collective actions at national, regional and international level with the aim of reducing inequality and achieving long term positive change in the lives of workers; provides trainings for workers to better organise, negotiate with employers and understand labour laws and ILO conventions; and emphasizes on gender equality issues within trade union movement in Pakistan.
He has an MBA in Human Resource Development and a Diploma in Industrial and Employment Relations from ITC/ILO.
Email: Khalidmalik13@gmail.com
📷 Om Thapaliya is co-founder and currently the Executive Director of HomeNet Nepal (HNN), a not-for profit organization aiming at to ensure visibility, recognition, resilient livelihood and social protection of informal sector workers especially women home based workers.
Om has nearly 3 decades of experiences on policy advocacy, disaster management, decent work, sustainable livelihood and gender equality in the informal economy. He has played a crucial role to establish SAARC Business Association of HBWs in Nepal as co-founder. Mr. Om holds a Masters Degree in Economics and Nepali literature.
Email: omthapaliya.hnn@gmail.com
📷 Asad Uddin is the program coordinator at Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE).
OSHE is specialized labour foundation promotes Labour Standards, Decent and Green Jobs at national level. It’s the platform for major national trade unions centres working together on different development issues based on common position. The foundation maintains constructive working relations with the government, employers’ organizations and other social actors on policy development matters, better work, social protections, issue of sustainable employment and decent livelihood of workers at the formal and informal economy. OSHE foundation supports the national efforts towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through different workplace actions. www.oshebd.org
📷 Mabel Au is currently director of the Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC).
AMRC is an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) focusing on Asian labour concerns (https://www.amrc.org.hk/.) It works to support a democratic and independent labour movement in Asia, promoting the respect of labour rights, gender equality, and active workers’ participation in work-related issues, through participatory and empowering interventions like action research, capacity building, networking, and advocacy. Organising the marginalised for social protection is one among AMRC key programmes, in which, AMRC supports and works closely with Asian Roundtable on Social Protection (AROSP).
Email: mabel.au@amrc.org.hk
📷 Van Thi Thu Ha is currently coordinator of the Asian Roundtable on Social Protection (AROSP).
AROSP is a network focused on learning and mutual supports on the thematic issue of social protection for both formal and informal workers in 13 countries in Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. As a regional network, it aims to support and consolidate the regional struggle for social protection for the poor across various sectors in Asia.
Email: thuha@amrc.org.hk
AROSP, LEF Pakistan, OSHE Bangladesh, HomeNet Nepal, CWE India
Kindly note that the time dedicated to self organized activities are 18th third and fourth slot and 19th third and fourth slot.
18th, 19th, 20th first and second slots are focused on opening session and activities developed from the thematic focus groups - and 20th third and fourth slot to agora of actions and closing moment. Info: https://www.asiasocialforum.net/3-day-event or see Menu info/ 3 days event
Language
We are using Bangkok Time UGT+7 as standard Time
English
Other language (by interpreter)
Bangla, Nepali, Gujarati
URL Link to Activity (online meeting Link)
URL link to access the broadcast of the activity if any
Summary of activity
Less than a half of the population in Asia and the Pacific was covered by at least one social protection benefit. An overview picture of social protection systems in South Asia countries will be shared in the webinar.

Description of activity
South Asia accounts for about 24.8% of the world population and about 33.4%[1]of the world’s extreme poor live in this region. Percentage of GDP spent of social protection in South Asian countries is one of the lowest, and ranges from 1.3% (Pakistan) to 3.2% (Sri Lanka)[2]. Covid Pandemic has further aggravated the problems of poverty, unemployment and overall crisis of social protection. South Asian countries are all typically located at the lower ends of the value chain and have similar socioeconomic systems and face similar socioeconomic problems. It is in this context, AROSP partners in South Asia decided to develop a regional campaign for social protection. With this objective a comparative study was conducted on challenges of social protection in South Asia to highlight the common problems and also to appreciate the best practices. The research was conducted in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India. Based on the findings of this research AROSP partners of South Asia articulated a common agenda of social protection for South Asia towards developing a regional campaign for social protection in South Asia. The research team included: Surendra Pratap (CWE, India), Khalid Mahmood (LEF, Pakistan), Asad Uddin (OSHE, Bangladesh), Om Thapalia (HNN, Nepal) and TMR Raseedin (Trade Union Leader, Sri Lanka).
The objective of this webinar is to present our report on ‘Social Protection Agenda for South Asia’ to broader audience, seeking comments and suggestions on the report as well as on the possible strategies to develop the south Asia campaign on social protection.
Speakers:
Khalid Mahmood, LEF, Pakistan
Surendra Pratap, CWE, India
Asad Uddin, OSHE, Bangladesh
Prof. Vijaya Kumar, President of Lanka Estate Workers'Union
Mabel Au, AMRC
Van Thi Thu Ha, AROSP
Moderator: Om Thapalia, Homenet Nepal
[1] https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/689686/adr-vol38no1-poverty-south-asia.pdf
[2] https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/30293/social-protection-index.pdf
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