On 20th of August 2025, LIRNEasia, together with the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) and the Sri Lanka and Maldives office of the International Labour Organization (ILO)  convened a policy roundtable discussion titled “Bridging Policy Pathways for an Inclusive Future of Work”.

The roundtable brought together key stakeholders from the public and private sectors including  policymakers, trade union and corporate representatives and practitioners, together with regional experts through the FutureWORKS Asia network, an initiative funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. Regional experts included Selim Raihan (PhD) of SANEM, Cheryll Soriano (PhD) of the De La Salle University (Philippines), Jayvy Gamboa of Manila Observatory (Philippines), Towfiqul Islam Khan of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (Bangladesh), Balwant Mehta (PhD) of the Institute for Human Development (India), and Reiner Lorenzo Tomayo of Women in Global Health (Philippines), and Gayani Hurulle of LIRNEasia. Opening remarks were delivered by Joni Simpson of the International Labor Organization (Sri Lanka and the Maldives), with sub-themes of the discussion moderated by Helani Galpaya of LIRNEasia, Gayathri Lokuge (PhD) of CEPA, and Sabina Dewan of the JustJobs Network.

The objective of the discussion was to explore critical policy themes shaping the future of work in the Global South: the care economy, ensuring social protection for all workers, and ensuring a just transition. The event offered a platform to reflect on emerging challenges and opportunities for workers, businesses, and governments in an era of rapid technological change, climate disruption, and evolving labour markets.

Recognizing and supporting the care economy

The discussion opened with reflections on the growing importance of the care economy, highlighting the vulnerabilities and structural gaps facing care workers, particularly unpaid care workers; unpaid care work has been identified as one of the key barriers to women’s labour force participation in the Asia-Pacific.

Key insights included the global and regional trends reshaping the care workforce. In the Philippines, nurses and care workers are increasingly moving from traditional roles in hospitals and communities to more flexible, alternative employment, such as telehealth, home care, and private care services. Better working conditions, flexibility, and better pay are driving these shifts, yet government policies remain inadequate in supporting transitions or ensuring decent work standards. In India, where an estimated 39 million care workers will be required to meet its 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, there is significant potential to create decent jobs, provided the requisite investments in infrastructure, social protections, pensions, and other benefits are made. The need to look at existing models from across the region was discussed. One example is Karnataka’s Koosina Mane scheme in India, where an existing public work program (MGNREGA) can be leveraged to provide childcare and support to working mothers, offering lessons for other countries.

Across the region, the discussion emphasized the need for social security measures and decent work protections, particularly for informal and self-employed workers in the care sector, as well as crucial components such as standards, minimum wages, and certification processes, among others.

From the policy perspective, the sector remains underdeveloped in Sri Lanka. There is a need to understand the skills needs and gaps, as well as to make budgetary commitments toward care provision; while some policy provisions exist, a closer examination is required to ensure the right solutions are implemented, with participation from the private sector as well. Work is underway to develop a policy roadmap for the care sector with the participation of relevant stakeholders, which will address not just care service provision, but also other key aspects such as return-to-work policies, flexible work recognition, etc. Given the significant investments that would be required, alternative models for care provision through care cooperatives are also being explored to help bridge the gaps in care provision. Both of these activities are being led by CEPA, funded through grants from IDRC and the ILO.

Ensuring social protection for platform and gig workers

Nearly half of the world’s population lacks access to even one form of social security; this number is higher in South Asia as a region. Evidence shows that there are significant gains to be made for workers and economies at large through systematic investment in social protection.

A significant portion of the roundtable focused on the challenges facing informal workers, with a specific focus on platform and gig economy workers. Workers in this segment often operate without the legal and financial protections afforded to formal employees. The discussion highlighted the rise of online freelancers, ride-hailing drivers, and delivery workers in climate-vulnerable countries, such as the Philippines. Workers in these roles face precarious conditions, occupational risks, and limited access to insurance, all of which are exacerbated by severe weather events or accidents. The importance of definitions was also noted: how we define a worker or employee, social protection, and so on.

Speakers noted the fragmented nature of social protection schemes for platform workers across the region. While Singapore and India have pioneered sector-specific legislation, challenges remain in financing benefits, ensuring compliance from platform companies, and extending coverage to workers who may operate across multiple platforms. There is a need to examine and draw from global experiences in designing policies that can contribute to greater resilience of workers in the platform economy, as well as, more broadly, informal workers across the economy.

In Sri Lanka, pilots using wallet-based contributions for gig workers demonstrate potential solutions, althoug limited financial literacy and infrastructure remain barriers. Experts and government officials alike underscored the importance of government leadership in designing policies, creating enforceable legal frameworks, and engaging all stakeholders, including trade unions, workers, and platform companies, to deliver inclusive social protection.

Financing a just transition

The third thematic discussion focused on ensuring just outcomes for workers in the face of the multifaceted impacts of transitions driven by ‘seismic shifts’ to the landscape, including technological change, climate change, energy transitions, pandemics, and trade shocks. While ensuring environmental sustainability, the need to safeguard jobs, promote social justice, and foster social dialogue to bridge the gaps faced by workers was highlighted.

A recurring theme was the centrality of financing. Governments play a critical role in creating regulatory architectures, funding social protections, and guiding private sector investment. Experiences from the Philippines, Bangladesh, and India highlighted that, without adequate financing mechanisms, transitions risk being unjust—burdens falling disproportionately on low-income workers, informal employees, and vulnerable communities. Examples from Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry and the Philippines’ renewable energy and transport transitions illustrated how structural inequalities, weak enforcement of labour standards, and underfunded social protections can exacerbate inequalities during periods of economic and environmental change.

Experts stressed the importance of aligning fiscal policy, incentives, and international financing with inclusive strategies for skills development, reskilling, and social protection. Public-private partnerships, innovative mechanisms such as climate finance, and evidence-based policymaking were identified as essential tools for ensuring that transitions are both effective and equitable. A key issue raised was the difficulty of balancing the demand for a just transition with fiscal constraints—a challenge faced by much of the Global South, where poverty, inequality, and other urgent pressures dominate policy agendas.

Moving forward

The roundtable underscored that recognizing and supporting the care economy, achieving social protection for all workers, and financing a just transition are deeply interconnected challenges. By fostering social dialogue between governments, workers, businesses, and international partners, the Global South can move toward labour markets that are inclusive, resilient, and capable of supporting workers through periods of rapid change.

This event is the first of, hopefully, many interactions to come with policymakers and stakeholders toward inclusive and sustainable policies for the workers in the context of the constantly evolving world of work.

FutureWORKS Asia is a network convened by LIRNEasia, a regional digital policy think tank based in Colombo.