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 Organisation (ILO) convened a policy round table discussion titled Bridging Policy Pathways for an Inclusive Future of Work. The round table 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 Ruth Soriano (PhD) of 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 Organisation (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 from the JustJobs Network. The objective of the discussion was to explore critical policy themes shaping the future of […]
As digital labour platforms continue to expand across Asia, debates on the future of work often circle back to a familiar reference point: ride-hailing apps such as Uber. But focusing on one dominant model can obscure more than it reveals—particularly in countries like India, where platform work has taken on diverse forms across sectors such as home-based services, education, logistics, agriculture, and healthcare. This was the central argument of a recent FutureWORKS Asia knowledge-sharing session by Dr. Aditi Surie of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, which examined how different types of labour platforms govern workers’ time, income, and behaviour. Rather than asking whether platform workers are “employees” or “independent contractors,” the session invited participants to look more closely at how platforms exercise control—and how that control shapes workers’ everyday experiences. 
The FutureWORKS Collective was officially launched at an inception workshop organised by the JustJobs Network on March 6-9, 2024 in Negombo, Sri Lanka. The workshop was the first in-person convening of the five regional hubs that will form the Global South research network. The FutureWORKS Collective seeks to foster innovation that advances skills for the future of work and promote decent work globally. It will do this through Southern-led interdisciplinary research, network consolidation, and collaboration in public policy processes. This network, the FutureWORKS Collective is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.