News Room

How practical is it to aspire to be self-employed? Does it pay off for all those who venture? What are the pitfalls?

The Women, Work, and the Gig Economy research consortium - supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC), coordinated by JustJobs Network - has released a brief on methodological and ethical questions of how to adapt research to the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the nature of work changes and more individuals derive an income from platform work, existing labour and social protection regulations are no longer fit for purpose. JJN and the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri), with support from the German Development Corporation GIZ, conducted an initial scoping study that sheds light on employment, working conditions and labour and policy regimes for platform workers.

Besides passion, talent and hard work, young entrepreneurs like Vivek also need patronage to succeed. They eventually seek to give back to their communities by creating opportunities for others.

In Kishangarh’s deeply patriarchal society, Sonam’s story tells of the ambition of young women who chart new pathways without disregarding tradition.

The research project "Role of Small Cities" examines the way small cities shape the employment outcomes of migrant youth in India and Indonesia—the two largest democracies in the developing world. As both countries hope to leverage their demographic dividends by employing young people in productive jobs, their small cities lie on the front lines of development challenges surrounding urbanization, migration and work. This short clip based on Amit Mahanti's documentary film "Small City Dreaming" introduces you to the 4 cities in India and Indonesia (Mangalore, Kishangarh, Kupang, and Semarang) that were part of this project.

This report focuses on Mangalore, Karnataka to highlight dispersed urbanisation and job opportunities outside large cities. It provides data and makes policy recommendations for economic development and inclusive job markets.

This research project, of which this city profile is a part, turns its attention to the ‘where’ of the demographic dividend – what kind of geographies are experiencing the transition of youth from agriculture to non-farm work?

In India, the constitution guarantees freedom of movement and migrants are an integral part of India’s workforce, across a range of sectors. However, they remain unable to access many benefits that are due and owed to them, even as our social protection architecture is becoming stronger. Some element of portability and convergence is being introduced, but many benefits continue to be place-specific, notably food security provided through the targeted public distribution system (TPDS). Based on the migrant-inclusiveness of social protection schemes we suggest that clearer legal articulation, interstate collaborative frameworks, sensitisation of the ground level bureaucracy and involvement of civil society organisations are all necessary to address this issue. We conclude with specific recommendations for the construction sector.

https://youtu.be/jPmdPTGxNTQ?si=hTeqeBb45ayyd27O