Social Protection for Informal Workers: Insecurities, Instruments and Institutional Mechanisms

This paper presents a broad definition of social protection to include basic securities, such as income, food, health and shelter, and economic securities including having income generating productive work. A conceptual framework is developed to analyse the causes of insecurities of informal workers, identify the core needs of social protection, develop instruments and visualize the institutional mechanisms to address the needs. Using evidence from the micro study, the insecurities faced by the workers are shown due to the structural features of the household and the nature of work. The evidence shows that casual labourers and self-employed workers are the most insecure. Further, the institutional mechanisms for delivering social protection for these workers are discussed. [GIDR WP NO. 127]