Call For Expressions of Interest 1692841654

Call for expression of interest
Review of country experiences on the extension of social protection coverage to

workers on digital platforms, including refugees and host communities
1. Background and objective

Digitalization is transforming societies and economies worldwide at an unprecedented scale and pace. In the wake
of automation, globalization and digitalization, new forms of employment have been emerging in various
occupations and sectors, such as the platform economy. The platform economy covers multiple business models,
many sectors of economic activity, various forms of service provision and, where work is concerned, many ways of
working and profiles of those who are involved in the respective work. It offers diverse forms of work and
represents an opportunity for promoting employment and creating jobs and organise production processes in a
more flexible manner. At the same time, the growth in the platform economy and platform work also poses a
challenge in terms of achieving labour and social protection for workers, which is a pre-condition for decent work
consistent with international labour standards. Work in the platform economy includes jobs provided locally and
facilitated by digital platforms (such as on-demand transportation and logistics, or personal care services), and
crowd-based work which is provided in a global setting (such as financial services, trading or audio-visual content
production). Much of such work is task-based, temporary, and often casual in nature, and the boundaries between
self-employment and employment relationships are often blurred. These factors increase the relevance of the
demands for adequate, sustainable and comprehensive national social protection systems to cover workers in the
platform economy.
Gaps in social protection coverage for workers in the platform economy constitute a double challenge. On the one
hand, the lack of adequate protection leaves workers vulnerable to the labour market and lifecycle risks, violates
their human rights, including the rights at work, aggravates poverty and inequality, and undermines their labour
market transitions and labour mobility. On the other hand, gaps in social protection coverage for workers in the
gig economy can distort employment and hiring decisions, weaken investments in education and skills, undermine
fair competition for enterprises, disrupt formalization processes for workers and businesses, and jeopardize the
sustainability of solidarity systems. Nevertheless, during the transformative changes in the world of work caused
by digitalization, national social protection systems have to ensure that people can seize new opportunities, while
enjoying adequate and comprehensive protection throughout their lives, particular during life and work transitions.
At the same time, the digitalization of the world of work is fundamentally transforming how refugees can make a
livelihood and gain access to jobs. The rapid emergence of gig economy platforms that use digital technologies to
intermediate labour on a per-task basis is fast growing. Frequently struggling to enter local labour markets,
refugees, especially the younger ones, may turn to digital platforms that can provide remote job opportunities –
domestically, regionally or globally. Despite a growing trend towards the inclusion of refugees into national social
protection systems, they rarely enjoy the same rights as nationals. In practice, equality of treatment is still far from
being achieved in many countries around the world. National legislation may restrict their access to one or more
social security benefits owing to their often-temporary legal status, unpredictable length of stay, limited history of
contributions, lack of social protection from their countries of origin and limited or lacking access to the formal
labour market, while the level of accessible benefits may be inadequate.
Given the fast pace of change in the digital economy and relevant policy responses, a comprehensive review of
country practices of social security coverage for workers in the digital economy is envisaged to assess the situation
and distil lessons learnt. This review should include an assessment of legal aspects (law and practice) and other
measures to facilitate access to social protection for workers as well as implementation related to covering workers
in the digital economy. The proposed assignment seeks to produce a review that would consolidate, through desk
research, the existing knowledge on the extension of social protection coverage to workers on digital labour
platforms, including to refugees, asylum seekers and other displaced populations. The review will synthesize the
available knowledge on challenges, opportunities, pathways and lessons learned on the extension of social
protection to workers in the digital economy and, if and where applicable, match the main observations against the
specific situations of refugees and other displaced populations. Against the upcoming discussion of the 113th
Session (2025) of the International Labour Conference on decent work in the platform economy which will be
devoted to discussing the existing regulatory gaps, including access to social protection, this review synthesis
report will also contribute to map potential avenues to develop creative levelling-up solutions that make both social
and fiscal sense for national social protection systems.
2. Scope of assignment
The scope of the study is limited to desk review and synthesis of the recent existing and accessible knowledge
products on the extension of social protection to workers in the digital economy and refugees through national
social protection systems in developed and developing economies, including from national and international
sources, including those produced by the ILO, other UN agencies and development partners, including the World
Bank, OECD, GIZ and others. The study will focus on a set of countries with relevant experiences in law and in
practice. The selection of countries will need to be agreed with ILO, considering that the following countries could
potentially be included: Argentina, Chile, China, Dominican Republic, France, India, Italy, Kenya, Peru, Spain, United
States (California and other federal states), Uruguay. To the extent possible, the selection of countries should take
into account the applicability of its findings and conclusions to the context of developing countries that are also
hosting most of the forcibly displaced population worldwide, frequently have limited national capacities and
experience policy and fiscal space limitations for an effective extension of social protection coverage.
3. Key guiding questions to consider for this analysis

To the extent possible, the research will attempt to address the following (non-exhaustive) questions:
1. Why is it necessary to extend social protection to workers on digital platforms as for other workers?
2. What has been done so far to extend coverage to workers in the gig economy?
3. Why is it necessary to include refugees working in online labour platforms? What are the specific
challenges and barriers to extending social protection to refugees in online labour platforms?
4. What are the benefits and drawbacks of short-term solutions vs long-term integration in established
national social protection systems?
5. What are the promising strategies for the extension of social protection to refugees engaged in the gig
economy for governments and development partners to further explore?
4. Deliverables and timeline

Tentative annotated outline of the report
Delivery date: within 2 weeks after commencement of the implementation agreement, 18 September 2023
A first full draft of the synthesis report

Delivery date: 15 December 2023
Final draft of the desk-based report, reflecting comments.

Delivery date: 5 January 2023
Presentation and discussion of results

Delivery date: tbc, before 29 February 2024
All assignment’s deliverables are expected to be delivered to the satisfaction of the ILO no later than 29 February
2024.
5. Expertise required
The study requires proven experience in labour and social security legislation and national practices in the provision
of social protection to platform workers in different national contexts, including in advanced and emerging
economies. Proficiency in English and excellent drafting skills; proficiency in other working languages of the ILO is
a plus.
6. Expression of interest
Expressions of interest should be sent by 28 August to Mr Kroum Markov (markov@ilo.org) and Ms Christina
Behrendt (behrendt@ilo.org), including a technical and financial proposal and the CV of all involved researchers.

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Call for expression of interest

Review of country experiences on the extension of social protection coverage to

1. Background and objective

3. Key guiding questions to consider for this analysis

4. Deliverables and timeline

A first full draft of the synthesis report

Final draft of the desk-based report, reflecting comments.

Presentation and discussion of results

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