White Paper

Catalyzed by the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is growing acceptance and recognition around the world that care work is both a ubiquitous and vitally important social and economic activity. Globally, care providers support over one billion people, including children, elderly adults, and people with disabilities. While some are paid for this work, care providers are predominately women from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds who are unpaid or poorly paid and lack adequate support to deliver the volume of care that is required to maintain inclusive, healthy societies.

While interest in the care economy has gained traction in recent years, few examples of concrete action and innovation exist, particularly within the context of Asia and the Pacific. Although the region comprises a diverse number of societies across different levels of income and cultural values, understanding and solving the challenges of care provision and care workers across the region will be critical going forward. This is especially important today in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has laid bare the fragility, inadequacy, and injustice of the global care infrastructure, leading to an uneven economic recovery that remains highly vulnerable to future shocks.

Together with partners and experts from across the region, The Asia Foundation led the development of a white paper to synthesize key insights as they relate to the role of governments, markets and the private sector, civil society, and households and families in meeting care demands and needs in Asia and the Pacific. The paper delves into issues of paid vs. unpaid care, formal vs. informal care workers, care infrastructure, and the intersection of the care ecosystem with climate change, migration, conflict, and gender-based-violence.

By evaluating and elevating promising care-related interventions for governments, civil society, and the private sector, this white paper served as a foundation to foster evidence-based discussion at the Bali Care Economy Dialogue and a collaborative agenda for action to build a resilient Asia-Pacific care economy of the future.

Image credit: International Labour Organization