Addressing socio-economic inequalities in a time of global and regional instabilities

Addressing socio-economic inequalities in a time of global and regional instabilities

Project Summary

The compounding impact of the political, economic and climate change crises, such as the tensions on the borders with Afghanistan and other neighbouring countries, disrupted labour migration to Russia, energy crises and Aral Sea issues, and the conflict in Ukraine have posed additional constraints in addressing poverty. In light of the past and ongoing crises, the Government of Uzbekistan has doubled its efforts at poverty reduction by pursuing a comprehensive approach towards strengthening institutional capacities for evidence-based policy design, data collection and data analysis, monitoring and reporting on poverty trends and sustainable public sector financing.

The project aims to enhance the capacities of the Government of Uzbekistan in addressing socio-economic inequalities and multidimensional poverty, reducing social protection gaps through the promotion of the care economy aiming at inclusive and gender-balanced growth, and supporting job creation and employment opportunities through the prism of the Future of Work systems approach. The Project covers three main intervention areas, contributing to reducing socio-economic inequalities and prevention of extreme poverty among the most vulnerable: 

  • Supporting poverty eradication efforts, including guidance, good practices and tools to promote integrated, inclusive policy approaches to poverty reduction in Uzbekistan.

  • Unpacking opportunities of the “Future of Work” paradigm through evidence-based policymaking, stronger poverty-employment nexus, supporting formalization of informal employment and promotion of social entrepreneurship.

  • Filling the gaps in the social protection systems by amplifying social investment and developing market-based solutions, including PPPs that recognize, reduce, redistribute and reward unpaid and paid care and domestic work that will mainly focus on creating an enabling environment for boosting care economy businesses.

Main objectives

Enhancing the capacities of the Government of Uzbekistan in addressing socio-economic inequalities and multidimensional poverty, reducing social protection gaps through the promotion of the care economy aiming at inclusive and gender-balanced growth, and supporting job creation and employment opportunities through the prism of the Future of Work systems approach.

Expected results:

The key intended outcome of this project is to enhance the capacities of the Government in addressing socio-economic inequalities and multidimensional poverty, reducing social protection gaps through the promotion of the care economy aiming at inclusive and gender-balanced growth, and supporting job creation and employment opportunities through the prism of the Future of Work systems approach.

Output 1: Integrated, evidence-based, inclusive policymaking enhanced, which is based on the multidimensional poverty metrics. 

The main results will include development of informed gender-sensitive policies and measures on multidimensional poverty reduction to better target the diverse profile of poor who are in need of employment, social assistance or social services. 

Output 2: Harnessing the emerging opportunities from the Future of Work. 

This will focus on addressing the existing and emerging risks that the Future of Work brings to the most vulnerable, including the risks of exclusion, through adapting and integrating national employment and social protection policies

Output 3:  Job creation among women strengthened through the promotion of the care economy.

The main objective of this intervention will be to supporting formalization of the care economy actors, by developing market-based solutions and business models for provision of care services, including PPPs, promoting decent work opportunities for informally – employed in the care sector as well as strengthening the social safety nets of the men and women employed in the care sector. The project will provide support on improving sex-disaggregated data collection mechanisms and gender analyses due to the lack of official information and the informal nature of the care economy.