Report: Western Balkans Regular Economic Report, No. 17, Spring 2020: The Economic and Social Impact of COVID-19 by the World Bank In Spring 2020, Western Balkan countries – like most others in the world—have been forced to impose tight restrictions on economic life to contain the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. In the first half of 2020,…
Report: TVET Systems’ Response to COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities by the World Bank This note focuses on the role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides guidance on reducing the adverse impact of the pandemic on TVET provision and enhancing the contribution TVET can make…
In periods of crisis caused by major social upheavals such as the current coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2), society is derailed with great consequences to social institutions and people’s lives. The states’ response to this challenge is varied, although most countries are implementing measures to regulate the market and its basic principles in order to meet the subsistence minimum and ensure the socio-economic security of their citizens.
At first glance, there is a solid ground for singling out older people during the current pandemic as a special group: the mortality related to COVID-19 is increasing with the age and for those 80 and above years old it is five times the global average based on WHO data.
Research carried out by the European Centre had already shown pervasive inequalities in access to care as well as in the coverage of health insurance and potential remedies. The Covid-19 crisis brings the evidence to the headlines of the news that social inequalities and the dismantling of health and social welfare systems are killing people. The current crisis also shows that health and social care are not a ‘product’ which can be produced low-cost and provided to those with sufficiently large incomes only.
Policy Brief: Unleashing transformation through partnerships: The lost potential of SDG 17 by A. Scoppetta & L. Stott This Policy Brief analyses how partnership is understood and promoted in European Union regulations and programmes. The central argument of the brief is that a much deeper understanding of partnership than that presented in the Sustainable Development…
According to Ukrainian legislation social services are provided from municipal social protection departments for free to old lonely people without any mental health problems. Old people suffering from mental health problems must be cared for from special agencies. Unfortunately, these agencies do not exist, yet.
In the current conditions of coronapandemia, social services and the activities of social service providers are communicated in Slovakia in two main contexts. Firstly, social service providers, their managements and staff are highlighted as heroes of the today who act „in the first line“. Secondly, the venues of social services are considered as one of the possible spaces for the infection outbreaks of the COVID-19 disease. In connection with COVID-19, in organisations providing social services for care-dependent persons the state emergency status was declared in the end of March 2020, and, since April 2020 they have become subjects of economic mobilization.
Open coordination in education, social protection and social inclusion
The peer review focused on occupational safety and health of posted workers (OSH) in the European Union (EU). The presentations and discussions during the peer review focused on the legal framework at both the EU level and the national levels.