Dear members and colleagues,

We are pleased to share the new newsletter, highlighting some of the remarkable activities carried out by Alliance members between July and November 2024.

This year, activities on the occasion of the International Day of Care and Support intensified significantly. To mark this date, Alliance members organized and participated in numerous commemorative events, campaigns, and publications.

Noteworthy initiatives also took place around the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, featuring preparatory and side meetings that showcased the Alliance's contributions. Additionally, there was a strong engagement at UNGA79 and the Summit of the Future, alongside various other initiatives.

A key highlight in September was the approval of the Strategic Priorities for the 2025-2030 period by the Alliance General Assembly. This milestone reinforces the Alliance's role as the leading global multi-stakeholder community, advancing the care agenda from the local to the global level. The Alliance continues to grow and remains committed to embedding care at the heart of sustainable development.

Enjoy this shared journey and the stories within this newsletter!

Click here to view it online ‍‍

WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING

International Day of Care and Support

We are still celebrating the incredible number of activities created and developed by the Alliance’s members to commemorate the International Day of Care and Support. It has truly been amazing! In this calendar of care-related events, you will find a compilation of events, publications, and campaigns organized or co-organized by GAC members. 

One of the most notable outcomes has been the strengthening of the global care movement through a common and inclusive agenda that advocates for the human rights of both caregivers and care receivers. The celebrations around the International Day showcased a powerful collaboration among international organizations, philanthropy, civil society organizations, trade unions and union associations, academia, and local and national governments committed to gender equality.

Another remarkable achievement has been the strengthening of the Alliance itself and its visibility, aligning with one of the Strategic Priorities approved by the GAC General Assembly for the 2025-2030 period.

The Alliance's social media posts achieved excellent reach. The publications reached 943 unique user accounts on Facebook, 7,858 accounts on Instagram, and 1,088 unique accounts on LinkedIn. On X (formerly Twitter), the posts generated a total of 6,900 impressions, representing the number of times the content appeared in users' feeds.

Find GAC events and initiatives here.

Find materials around October 29 in the Global Digital Community on Care here.

Care at the 2024 G20 Rio de Janeiro Summit

The Summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro produced the G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration in which the signatory countries committed to “promoting gender equality in paid and unpaid care work to ensure equal, full and meaningful participation of women in the economy, by promoting social and gender co-responsibility, encouraging and facilitating men's and boys’ equal involvement in care work and challenging gender norms that prevent equitable distribution and redistribution of care work responsibilities. 

This success was a result of previous agreements and declarations in which several members of the Global Alliance for Care have participated. In this way, the Alliance’s efforts were acknowledged last July during the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting in Fortaleza. The Declaration of the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers' Meeting recognized, in paragraph 27, the efforts led by the Global Alliance for Care to reverse the current unfair distribution of care.

The ministers also acknowledged the challenges women and girls face, including the disproportionate burdens of poverty, climate change impacts, and health emergencies, which are exacerbated by a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work, and lack of adequate care policies and services, in particular childcare, among others.

Moreover, Think Tanks 20 (T20) selected and published a policy brief to inform the G20 for Task Force 1: Fighting Inequalities, poverty, and Hunger. The policy brief “Pathways to Comprehensive Care and Support systems: translating G20 Commitments into Action“ outlines recommendations aimed at valuing care as a fundamental pillar for building resilient societies and achieving sustainable development by translating G20 commitments into action.

Also in the T20, UNRISD participated in the policy brief “ Rethinking the Care Economy and Promoting Gender Equality for All Ages by Reducing and Redistributing Unpaid Care and Domestic Work”. This policy brief outlines essential strategies for addressing unpaid care work and developing comprehensive care systems. More information here.

In addition, in the framework of the G20 in Brazil, the Alliance participated in the panel "Recommendations to Support Care Economy" at the Women 20 (W20) International Summit on October 1. The meeting received representatives from the public and private sectors, academia, civil society, hailing from Brazil, G20 countries, the Global Alliance for Care, and a few non-G20 countries, mainly from South America. During the summit, a Communiqué was delivered to the G20 Brazilian Presidency. In that framework, representatives of the GAC made recommendations to develop policies to reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, measure its contributions, promote fair employment and decent work, access social protection for care workers, and boost sustainable investments in care services and infrastructure.

OTHER ACTIVITIES AND NEWS

ASIA PACIFIC FORUM 2024

The Asia-Pacific Forum: Transforming Care: Building Alliances, Empowering Women, Reshaping Economies, held in Bangkok from October 22 to 24, was an opportunity to recognize more than 40 members from the Asia-Pacific region within the Global Alliance for Care, all of them working to advance the care agenda in the region. Among them are UN Women, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Asian Development Bank, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and AYAT Care.

The Forum brought together diverse stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific to learn, collaborate, and take action on care to advance women’s economic empowerment and gender equality. It delved into issues such as the intersection of care and economic development, focusing on women's economic empowerment and gender equality. Discussions also addressed the impact of demographic changes and job creation in the care sector, addressing the disproportionate impact of climate change on women's unpaid care and domestic work. It was also a space for sharing innovative approaches to financing and implementing care delivery models, strengthening social protection systems for caregivers, and advancing capacity building and professionalization within the care sector.

Find here the latest report on Caring Societies, Inclusive, and Green Economies in Asia and the Pacific, and the Recap of the Highlights and Recommendations from the 2023 Asia-Pacific Care Forum.

UNGA79 and the Pact for the Future

The Global Alliance for Care was intensively involved at UN General Assembly (UNGA79) and the Summit of the Future. Many of the GAC’s members organized and/or participated in care-related events and meetings, not only in New York ­– UNGA79 and Pact discussions venue— but also in other cities around the world.

Many of the events highlighted how the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is being measured and the need to shift the way the GDP is being made up. There was an agreement that care is an investment and not an expense. To that extent, the GDP should consider the care economy’s contributions to the economy’s invigoration, to the creation of (decent) jobs, and to the well-being of all persons.

In collaboration with the Alliance and the Swiss Development Cooperation, UN Women and the ILO hosted a webinar in September 2024 held in the margins of the UNGA79 and the Summit of the Future to present findings from the tool's application. This event also served to present the report ‘Caring Societies, Inclusive, and Green Economies in Asia-Pacific. Unveiling Data to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment Beyond GDP’, produced by UN Women. The recording of the event can be accessed here.

During these international convenings, 143 States approved the Pact for the Future, a roadmap for the years to come. The Pact for the Future commits to increasing investments to close the gender gap, including in the care and support economy. It also commits to dismantling inequalities in the care economy and establishing and ensuring young people’s access to universal, adequate, comprehensive, sustainable, and nationally owned social protection systems.

2nd National Meeting: The Future of Care in Mexico

During November, Mexico hosted the 2nd "National Meeting: The Future of Care in Mexico", where specialists stressed the urgency of transforming Mexico into a care society through sustainable actions and policies based on a feminist, intersectional, intercultural, multifactorial, and human rights perspective. 

During the meeting, the organizers presented the Decalogue of Care Policy. This document serves as a practical guide for decision-makers to design regulations, public policies, and care systems that promote a fairer social organization.

The Meeting was organized by the  Global Alliance for Care, Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias, Coalición por el Derecho al Cuidado Digno y Tiempo Propio de las Mujeres, Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS), German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) in Mexico, Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Mexico, Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres (Inmujeres), UN Women, International Labor Organization (ILO), and Oxfam Mexico.  

Find out more here.

Launch of the MENA working group on care

Care specialists and decision-makers participated in the event "Moving Towards a Care Society,” organized by the Foreign Ministry of Mexico, the National Institute for Women (Inmujeres), the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS), the International Cooperation Roundtable for Gender Equality in Mexico (MCIG), in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Care.

The forum, chaired by the Chilean and German embassies in Mexico and UN Women, was an important opportunity to advance the debate on care. It also served as a space to address significant inequalities in the distribution of care work, the challenges to public policy and institutions, and to exchange experiences on care systems at the international, national, and local levels and care networks. 

Care & Climate Initiative: Funding opportunities

The Climate and Care Initiative launched a call to fund proposals to support innovative practices at the climate and care nexus in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Climate and Care Initiative Fund, led by Fundación Avina, UNRISD, and Oxfam Canada, in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Care and funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), offers funding of up to USD 50,000 per project. It targets Global South organizations developing integrative proposals across the climate change and care agendas, promoting a just and equitable transition. 

For more details on criteria and thematic priorities, you can find all the information here. The application deadline is December 10, 2024

Learning Community: “Realities and Challenges on Financing Policy and Care Systems”

The sessions on “Public budgets for gender equality and the financing of policies and comprehensive care systems” (here) and “The challenges of sustainability and financing of Care Policies and Systems” (here) concluded the Learning Community: Realities and Challenges on Financing Policy and Care Systems in the Global South.

This was a series of six meetings, co-convened by Oxfam LAC, the Global Alliance for Care, and UN Women, with the cooperation of the Colombian Feminist Economics Roundtable and Latindadd. The objective was to learn about the main challenges in terms of public financing and tax collection from the feminist and economic justice agenda, to enable the exchange of international, national and local initiatives in this area, and to generate a space for multi-sectoral dialogue to socialize existing tools for investment and costing in the area of care.

Watch all the sessions here.

4th  Regional Forum on Local Economic Development for LAC

As part of the 4th Regional Forum on Local Economic Development for Latin America and the Caribbean in Montevideo, the Global Alliance for Care and the UN Women Argentina-Uruguay office co-organized the Roundtable “Women's Economic Autonomy and Empowerment,” which took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, in August.

The Alliance stressed that actions in the care agenda “must be transformative, with a focus on human rights, gender and intersectionality. The people who provide and receive care must be at the center so that their needs are reflected in effective policies.”

The objective of the roundtable on care was to identify concrete actions to advance women's economic autonomy and empowerment in Latin America and the Caribbean and strengthen collaboration between governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations to create an environment that favors women's development.

Watch the Alliance’s participation here.

Global Roadmap for Action

In September, the Center for Global Development, The Asia Foundation, CIPPEC, Women Deliver, and the International Center for Research on Women released the Global Roadmap for Action on the Care Economy (GRAC), in support of the Global Alliance for Care.

The GRAC provides a strategic framework that maps the global care landscape and its opportunities, highlights existing data and gaps in measurement, supports coordination and de-siloing efforts, and provides insights to inform future advocacy, research, policy action, and financing. The GRAC focuses on specific recommendations and existing metrics to highlight care at key global moments, with the ultimate goal of enabling targeted discussion and action to see progress on a global scale by 2030.

To learn more about the GRAC, you can read this blog, watch the launch event, or listen to this podcast.

Second call of the Care Economy Public Policy Innovations

The second call for proposals of the Care Economy Public Policy Innovations Collaborative Action-Research Fund in Latin America and the Caribbean received numerous interesting proposals. This initiative, led by GRADE with the collaboration of the Global Alliance for Care and IDRC, seeks to promote innovative projects in the field of care.

The Fund will provide up to 100,000 USD to support four to six projects that promote innovations in public policies related to care. The projects must use action-research approaches with a transformative gender perspective.

MORE FROM OUR MEMBERSHIP

 These initiatives are promoted by one or more members of the Global Alliance for Care. The Technical Secretariat of the Alliance has not participated or provided support in any of the processes of their organization.

UN Women and +

In July 2024, the first-ever UN system-wide Policy Guidance on Transforming Care Systems was launched at an ECOSOC Special Meeting on Care and Support Systems in the margins of the 2024 High-Level Political Forum. Under the leadership of UN Deputy Secretary-General, UN Women led the development of this policy guidance through an inter-agency working group with UNDP, ILO, ECLAC and OHCHR, and with contributions from external experts. The guidance highlights the importance of care work and the need to transform care systems to achieve sustainable development and gender equality.

Also in July 2024, UN Women and the ILO launched a global report detailing findings from the application of a UN Women-ILO policy tool to estimate investment costs and evaluate the economic and social returns of investments in care services. The report showcases results from Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Nepal.

Towards the XVI Regional Conference on Women in LAC

A variety of members of the Alliance participated in the Academic Forum “Territories of Care. Contributions from academia to the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean”. The meeting took place in Mexico City and was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UN Women, INMUJERES, and El Colegio de México (Colmex).

It was an opportunity to exchange and discuss the care agenda in the region, generate documents and advocacy proposals to advance the right to care, and move towards a care society.

You can watch the Forum here and here, and here.

Wirtschaft ist Care (WiC)

Wirtschaft ist Care (WiC) has been closely working with the lead author of a new Regenerative Economics course and materials that recognize the economy’s embeddedness in social and ecological systems and encourages student agency to understand and catalyze economic transformation. WiC counselled the chapter of caring economy and the household, paying attention to the existential role of care within economic systems. 

In October 2024, the Care Revolution network celebrated its 10th anniversary. This network unites over 80 groups and individuals across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, all actively engaged in diverse areas of social reproduction, including domestic work, healthcare, caregiving, assistance, education, housing, and sex work. There was ample opportunity to look ahead, exploring fresh approaches to advancing the cause of care and identifying new pathways toward a society centered around care.

SITRADOMSA

 The Union of Domestic, Similar, and Self-Employed Workers of Guatemala (SITRADOMSA) launched the campaign “The Super 189 Be my Hero and Be My Heroine”, with the aim of getting the Congress of that country to approve the ratification of ILO Convention 189, where it is to be treated since 2016.

The campaign was promoted before the Congress of the Republic through social networks, as well as through interviews in radio and written media, and lasted three months.

ILO Gender and Inclusion Academy in Latam

The Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Labour Organization (ILO) hosted the first edition of the Gender and Inclusion Academy (21-25 October 2024), an event dedicated to training and sharing experiences among agents of change in gender equality and inclusion across the region, in which several members of the Alliance participated.

The Academy, co-organized with the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITC-ILO) and in collaboration with Spain's Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, plenary sessions and specialized workshops were led by more than 37 regional leaders and experts. Among the key thematic areas

covered by the first edition of the Academy was one on “Transformative care policies”.

More information here.

UNI Global Union

On 24 July, the National Day of Care Workers in Colombia, UNI Americas launched the Care Workers’ Network of Colombia as part of the Together We Care: Partnerships for Equitable Health System activity. More than 60 home care workers attended the kick-off ceremony, and they shared their commitment to securing their rights, raising the visibility of care work, and strengthening their voices in the country. The number of both paid and unpaid care workers in Colombia is substantial and growing as the population ages.

The network unveiled a Charter of Rights that addresses four key issues: formalization, training, freedom of association and collective bargaining. Workers’ demands around these topics will help them achieve a home care system that guarantees decent working conditions and quality care.

Find out more here.

Metropolis

Metropolis announced the award of grants of up to €100,000 to cities working to develop local care systems through its International Fund for Metropolises. Cities were encouraged to submit their most innovative ideas to ensure that caregivers – especially those from migrant, refugee, and internally displaced backgrounds and communities – were included in the project design and implementation.

In addition, leaders from six African cities gathered in Dakar for a Metropolis Solutions Lab on fostering local care systems. The two-day workshop explored how city and metropolitan governments can better recognize, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work and tackle women’s time poverty. They left with practical tools, funding opportunities, and a deepened commitment to fostering caring and gender-equitable urban environments.

Paz Cívica

Paz Cívica carried out LabPaz in August. This is a citizen innovation laboratory where the community of Tultepec (Mexico), but especially children, are sensitized to the importance of care for sustaining life and building peace. In the laboratory stage, children produce prototypes that solve a problem through collaboration; their proposed solution must promote care and peace. In addition, the organization published a diagnosis on local care systems in Zapopan, Jalisco and Atizapán, State of Mexico.

Both documents call on local authorities to take action to address the loss of parental care due to intentional crimes.

Documenta

The organization Documenta held the National Meeting of Relatives of Persons Deprived of their Liberty in Mexico. This open space for dialogue sought to share experiences, challenges, and advances in the field of persons deprived of their liberty and their families in the framework of the right to care, and to prioritize the consolidation of local leadership for the positioning of the Principles and good practices on the protection of the rights of women and relatives of persons deprived of their liberty.

Pro(to)topia

Pro(to)topia has published a blog post "Beyond AI salvation: why a caring society is the future worth fighting for". The blog argues against relying solely on artificial intelligence (AI) to solve pressing issues, advocating instead for a society grounded in empathy and care. It critiques the TESCREAL ideology, which embraces a techno-utopian vision where AI supposedly holds the key to an ideal future. This perspective, promoted by influential tech figures, often overlooks the immediate, real-world needs of vulnerable communities and the planet. 

Instead, Pro(to)topia proposes a care-centric approach that values interconnectedness, relationships, and shared responsibility over technological escape and self-interest. By centering policy and societal direction on care, they suggest, we can build a future that honors all life and fosters resilience.

Planetary Health Alliance

The Planetary Health Alliance is excited to share that 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the seminal report from the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health, which launched the field of Planetary Health. It was announced that they will be creating several events in honor of this milestone year.

In addition, over the past few months, they have been diving into the first-ever Planetary Health Roadmap and Action Plan by mobilizing stakeholders around six key areas: measuring Planetary Health; communicating Planetary Health; educating to achieve the just, global transition; building holistic governance; balancing business and Planetary Health; and mainstreaming Planetary Health. Workgroups for each of these focus areas will convene and provide updates on their progress at the next Planetary Health Annual Meeting (PHAM) co-hosted by Erasmus University Rotterdam from October 7-10, 2025 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Pro Mujer

During 2024, Pro Mujer has been implementing in Colombia the project “Generation of skills in gender mainstreaming and strengthening of care economy enterprises and businesses in Colombia”, financed by USAID through the Generating Equity program. The purpose of this project is to strengthen socio-business strengthening for companies, organizations and associations in the care economy sector and their linkage to investment funds. It also aims to strengthen the Intersectoral Care Table of Medellin and Antioquia to improve the processes of political advocacy, as well as the development of training processes with civil society organizations and the private sector for the formation of future tables in others.

To date, they have worked with 15 organizations and companies in the care economy sector, and with 60 people from different civil society organizations in the training processes of the Intersectoral Roundtables.

Mamá Godín

In its fifth edition, the Mamá Godín Ranking has recognized 22 organizations in Mexico committed to co-responsibility for caregiving and gender equality in the workplace. Among the highlighted companies are 3M, Manpower, Reckitt, Danone, Viva Aerobús, Porter Novelli, AT&T and Takeda, which have implemented policies that benefit caregivers and promote gender parity in their workplaces.

Among the main achievements of the award-winning companies are equal parental leave and the provision of flexible working hours for caring responsibilities. In those organizations that have adopted Mama Godin's recommendations for five years, the participation of women in the workforce has increased by 26% and that of working mothers by 113%. 

To see the 2024 recognition event click here to read the full report with the results, see this link: Mamá Godín 2024 Ranking Results Report.

Cuido60

The School of Sociology of the Faculty of Economics, Government and Communications of the Central University of Chile presented a new issue of the Central Journal of Sociology, which includes the works of the dossier on Disability and Aging, coordinated by Dr. Elaine Acosta González, from Florida International University and executive director of the Cuido60 Observatory, and Dr. Beatriz Revuelta Rodríguez, director of the School of Sociology of the Central University of Chile.

In addition, the organization launched the Cuido60 Geoportal, a platform that offers the full range of maps created by the project, focused on care, aging and human rights in Cuba. The platform aims to provide visual information and relevant data to support informed decision-making and the implementation of effective policies.

CISS

The Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS), together with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) gave a virtual workshop on the 5 R's (R's) approach to care within the framework of the X Latin American and Caribbean Meeting of Domestic Workers, organized by the Great Latin American and Caribbean Alliance of Domestic Workers.

They also participated in the 8th GeriatrIMSS Congress on Healthy Aging with the theme of care as a human right; in the Forum “The importance of care and support” organized by the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE), and in the National Meeting on Disability 2024; in the round table “Gender Perspective in the Care System”, as part of a cycle of multidisciplinary round tables to promote the implementation of a Comprehensive Care System in Mexico City.

PUBLICATIONS

Learning What Works

The WORLD Policy Analysis Center (WORLD) is releasing a series of studies providing rigorous causal evidence of the impact of successful approaches taken in countries across Africa that can be replicated. 

WORLD's new studies offer powerful new insights into what has worked to increase pregnancies that are healthy and planned, and children that have a chance to grow up well-nourished and nurtured, at the same time as improving national economies.

Find out more here.

INDOORS

Strategic priorities 2025-2030

On September 26, 2024, the General Assembly of the Global Care Alliance adopted the Alliance's Strategic Priorities for the period 2025-2030, including priority actions for the same period. These Priorities highlight, among others:

1. The importance of promoting the care agenda as a fundamental pillar of sustainable development, gender equality, and social justice through advocacy in multilateral spaces, including the celebration of International Days;

2. Raise awareness of the importance of care and the shared responsibility of the different actors through the generation of spaces and activities for knowledge, collective learning, and capacity building to improve understanding of the agenda;

3 Promote and leverage strategic communications to transform the social perception of care, challenge gender norms stemming from the sexual division of labor, influence public policies, and amplify the voices of caregivers and care recipients.

4. Strengthen the Global Alliance for Care by strengthening members’ participation to promote diverse perspectives and facilitate cross-regional and multi-stakeholder engagement.

The Alliance keeps strengthening

We are very pleased to share some news about the strengthening of the Global Alliance for Care. In these months we have surpassed 240 members. In addition, we have met for virtual coffees to share information and coordinate actions in relation to global events. We will continue to work to advance the care agenda.

http://globalallianceforcare.org

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