LOCKED DOWN AND LOCKED OUT: REPURPOSING SOCIAL ASSISTANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA PODCAST
EPISODE TWELVE
The COVID-19 pandemic presented a particular challenge to countries with high levels of labour market informality. Informal workers and their households were especially vulnerable to the negative economic consequences of the pandemic and associated lockdown measures, while the very fact of their informality made it difficult for governments to quickly provide targeted economic relief. Using South Africa as a case study, this project examines how an established social assistance system - not originally designed to support informal workers - can be re-purposed to provide emergency relief to these workers and their households.
Project location: South Africa Read the transcript Published 12 September 2024
SPEAKERS
Ihsaan Bassier
Lecturer
University of Surrey
Rocco Zizzamia
University of Oxford
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT
World Development Journal Paper
Locked Down and Locked Out: Repurposing Social Assistance as Emergency Relief to Informal Workers
Ihsaan Bassier, Joshua Budlender, Rocco Zizzamia, Murray Leibbrandt, Vimal Ranchhod
World Development Journal
Volume 139, March 2021
Daily Maverick Article
Covid-19 Job Losses Persist, but Grants Cushion the Blow
Ihsaan Bassier, Joshua Budlender, Ronak Jain, and Rocco Zizzamia
Daily Maverick
30 September 2020