The social quality policy: theory and international approaches in the context of the Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction task
Expediency of forming the state policy in accordance with the basics of the scientific concept of social quality used to improve the social parameters of the development of the European Union. Adaptation international approaches to social quality.
| Рубрика | Политология |
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| Язык | английский |
| Дата добавления | 10.05.2023 |
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The social quality policy: theory and international approaches in the context of the Ukraine's post-war reconstruction task
Burlay T. V., Dr. Habil. (Economics), Leading Researcher, Department of Economic Theory, SO “Institute for Economics and Forecasting, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”, Kyiv
Dmytruk D.A., PhD. (Sociology), Senior Researcher, Department for monitoring-based research of social and economic transformations, SO “Institute for Economics and Forecasting, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”, Director of the NGO “Social Monitoring Center”, Kyiv
Kostrytsia V.I., Deputy Chairman of the Association of Employers' Organizations of Ukraine, Kyiv
The paper presents the expediency of the formation and implementation of post-war Ukraine state policy under the basics of the social quality scientific concept, used to improve the social parameters of the European Union development. The authors discuss the general theoretical basis of the social quality concept, the essential milestones of its development, key foundations and concepts, and the approaches proposed by the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the International Labour Organization, the International Association on Social Quality to ensure modern societies' social quality of life, its quantitative and qualitative assessment. Attention is focused on the expediency of the post-war introduction of the social quality approach into the system of state administration of Ukraine, which can help politicians and citizens to rethink the strategy of Ukrainian society development in the European direction based on socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion, guaranteed social opportunities, and to root social values of equality, solidarity, social justice, and human dignity. The authors determined the relevance of the need to adapt the international approaches of social quality to the implementation in the functioning and development of Ukraine's public administration system in the reconstruction of post-war Ukraine, focusing primarily on overcoming the consequences of the war. The paper shows the critical importance of the efforts that Ukraine has made since the beginning of the war to support the institutional and financial sustainability of the national social protection system and the implementation of state policy measures to promote employment and prevent the destruction of the national labour market. It is argued that the introduction into the system of public administration of post-war Ukraine of the concept of social quality adapted to domestic conditions should contribute to the “social contract” to gradually find a reasonable balance between two priorities: simultaneous increase of efforts to systematically eliminate threats of external aggression and accelerated restoration of the national socio-economic space on the principles of sustainable, inclusive development.
Keywords: the concept of social quality, post-war socio-economic reconstruction, sustainable inclusive development, convergence with the EU.
Бурлай Т.В., д-р екон. наук, провідний науковий співробітник відділу економічної теорії ДУ “Інститут економіки та прогнозування НАН України ”, Київ
Дмитрук ДА., канд. соціол. наук, науковий співробітник відділу моніторингових досліджень соціально-економічних трансформацій ДУ “Інститут економіки та прогнозування НАН України ”, директор ГО “Центр “Соціальний моніторинг ”, Київ, Костриця В.І., заступник голови Об'єднання організацій роботодавців України, Київ
Левін Р.Я., канд. пед. наук, старший науковий співробітник відділу моніторингових досліджень соціально-економічних трансформацій ДУ “Інститут економіки та прогнозування НАН України Київ
ПОЛІТИКА СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ ЯКОСТІ: ТЕОРІЯ ТА МІЖНАРОДНІ ПІДХОДИ В КОНТЕКСТІ ЗАВДАНЬ ПОВОЄННОЇ РЕКОНСТРУКЦІЇ УКРАЇНИ
Показано доцільність формування та реалізації державної політики повоєнної України відповідно до основ наукової концепції соціальної якості, застосовуваної для поліпшення соціальних параметрів розвитку Євросоюзу. Наведено загальнотеоретичне підґрунтя концепції соціальної якості, основні віхи її розвитку, ключові засади та поняття, а також пропоновані Економічною і соціальною радою ООН, Європейською економічною комісією ООН, Міжнародною організацією праці, Міжнародною асоціацією соціальної якості підходи до забезпечення сучасними суспільствами соціальної якості життя, її кількісної та якісної оцінки. Акцентовано увагу на доцільності повоєнного впровадження в систему державного управління України підходу соціальної якості, що може допомогти політикам і громадянам переосмислити стратегію розвитку українського суспільства в європейському напрямі на засадах соціально-економічної безпеки, соціальної згуртованості, соціальної інклюзії, гарантованих соціальних можливостей, а також укорінити соціальні цінності рівності, солідарності, соціальної справедливості та людської гідності. Визначено актуальність потреби адаптації прийнятих міжнародних підходів соціальної якості до впровадження в практику функціонування та розвитку вітчизняної системи державного управління в умовах відновлення повоєнної України, орієнтуючись, насамперед, на подолання наслідків війни. Показано критичну важливість зусиль, які з початку війни докладає Україна для підтримки інституційної та фінансової стійкості національної системи соціального захисту населення та реалізації заходів державної політики щодо сприяння зайнятості та недопущення руйнування національного ринку праці. Аргументовано, що впровадження в систему державного управління повоєнної України адаптованої до вітчизняних умов концепції соціальної якості має сприяти “суспільному договору” про поступове знаходження розумного балансу між двома пріоритетами: одночасним нарощуванням зусиль щодо системної ліквідації загроз зовнішньої агресії та прискореним відновленням національного соціально- економічного простору на принципах сталого інклюзивного розвитку.
Ключові слова: концепція соціальної якості, повоєнне соціально-економічне відновлення, інклюзивний сталий розвиток, конвергенція з ЄС.
The socio-economic recovery of Ukraine after the war with Russia, launched by the aggressor on February 24, 2022, will be an absolute priority of state policy and will involve the implementation of several complex tasks to overcome the catastrophic humanitarian shocks; accelerated restoration of normal functioning and development of Ukraine's institutions, industries and markets; reconstruction of housing, transport and social infrastructure; ensuring the development of human potential; stimulating the growth of the human capital and the development of the economy. In this article, we do not raise crucial tasks in the defence-security, EU integration and other spheres since their coverage is the prerogative of specialists in the relevant profile. state policy post war social quality
Understanding that in the modern world, among the significant factors of economic growth and institutional development, the main factors are socialization processes, the focus of public policy in post-war Ukraine should focus on the implementation of the tasks of the social agenda as one of the most influential endogenous factors of the development of modern societies [1]. At the same time, a very weighty exogenous factor will be interaction with global players on the achievement of social objectives defined by the current Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine [2] and the tasks associated with the acquisition by Ukraine in June 2022 of the status of a candidate country for accession to the EU. Therefore, it seems appropriate to implement the state policy of post-war Ukraine under the foundations of the scientific concept of Social Quality, developed during the social development of the European Union, the effective implementation of which entails the improvement of social conditions and the acceleration of social progress of countries [3].
At the same time, in particular conditions of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, it will be difficult or impossible to effectively apply all approaches, principles, tools, indicators, etc., of the concept of Social Quality created for peacetime Europe. Therefore, the need for transformation and adaptation of the accepted international approaches of social quality to the conditions of post-war Ukraine is actualized - it will be necessary to introduce them into Ukraine's system of state administration, considering all the consequences of the war. It is advisable to start defining the main components of such adaptation now to avoid wasting time searching for adequate directions for the implementation of Ukraine's variant of the social quality policy and to start immediate planning and implementation of specific programs and measures of reconstruction of post-war Ukraine.
Considering everything mentioned above, this article aims to highlight the main theoretical provisions of the EU concept of social quality and outline the possible directions of its adaptation to the conditions and needs of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
The presentation of the primary material contains the main milestones of development, key foundations, and notions of the concept of Social Quality, in particular, specific indicators defined by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), as well as available at this time achievements of scientific cooperation of Ukraine with the International Association on Social Quality (IASQ).
Fundamental principles, notion, and development of the concept of social quality. The scientific concept of Social Quality was formed in the late twentieth century in the context of social development of the European Union on the characteristic principles of social peace, social equality and justice, social well-being, and quality of life. This concept is meaningfully related to some crucial elements of the EU institutional architecture created at that time, such as the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers (1989), the EU Agreement on Social Policy (1992), The Green and White Papers on European Social Policy (1993-1994), the European Social Charter (revised in 1996), etc. With the support of the European Commission of the Amsterdam Declaration on Social Quality (1997) to the European Parliament, this concept came to be considered an ideologeme of state management of the EU social development [4]. The formation of the concept of Social Quality in the territory of united Europe was facilitated by the fact that the model of a welfare state (according to experts, its blossom in the EU occurred in 1970-1980) began to transform in the 1990s under the influence of the rapid liberalization of the global economy. The decreasing of the state's role in the European Union's economy due to liberalization and the reduction of its social obligations did not satisfy the high demands of Europeans concerning the level and quality of life, social support, and protection. The answer was the implementation of the “social quality” approach in the European social policy, which, according to the definition of its founders (A. Walker, L. Van der Maesen, and W. Beck), mediates a state when citizens can participate in the social and economic life of society in conditions of increasing their welfare, opportunities, and personal potential [5, pp. 6-7]. Accordingly, the formation of this state is the primary goal of the state policy of social quality, the implementation of which is designed to provide both a high quality of life (in the traditional sense of high social standards) and “social quality” of society, providing for a high level of human and social capital, social cohesion and inclusion, broad social opportunities for citizens, in particular, realized through social institutions, the use of social elevators, social and community associations, social networks (family, friends, collectives), information and communication and social technologies, etc.
Contemporary research on the social quality of social development is interdisciplinary and it covers three main areas: the analysis of important social problems, the study of characteristic social practices, and the assessment of the effects of social practices on ecosystems. These interdisciplinary studies of social quality address four main dimensions of social dynamics [6]: 1) socio-economic and financial; 2) socio-political and legal; 3) socio- environmental; 4) socio-cultural and well-being. Social quality is shaped by the combined influence of three groups of factors representing the relevant principles of social quality [7]: constitutional factors (operating at the level of the individual) concerning personal security, social acceptance, social responsibility, and the individual's capacity to resist situations that cause feelings of exclusion, exploitation, discrimination, or humiliation; contingent factors (operating at the level of society) representing the socioeconomic conditions in which people live: social cohesion they experience in their communities; social integration and inclusion to exercise their civil rights; the extent to which they are empowered to play an essential role in society and processes of social change; normative factors (also operating at the level of society): social justice built on the rule of law; solidarity; social equivalence of all people without exception; protection of human dignity; environmental equilibrium.
Comprehensive research in the social quality of social development was founded by the National Interdisciplinary Institute of Social Sciences of the Netherlands, based on which the European Foundation on Social Quality was established in 1997, which in 2013 transformed into the International Association on Social Quality. It currently works closely with some universities and research institutions around the world: International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University and Radboud University (Netherlands); Leipzig and Bielefeld Universities (Germany); University of Sheffield, Liverpool Hope University, Kingston University and University of Aberdeen (UK); Chiba and Kyoto Universities (Japan); Seoul National University (South Korea); The Institute for Political, Social and Economic Studies (Italy); Griffith University (Australia); Zhejiang University (China); the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; State Organization “Institute for Economics and Forecasting of NAS of Ukraine” (Ukraine) [8].
Scientific cooperation and support of Ukraine by the International Association on Social Quality. Scientific cooperation between the State Organization “Institute for Economics and Forecasting of NAS of Ukraine” and the International Association on Social Quality, which began in 2015, had one of the practical results of the feasibility study of the international scientific-applied project on the introduction of the concept of Social Quality in the system of public administration of Ukraine [9]. The implementation of this project should not only strengthen the institutional capacity of Ukraine and accelerate its integration with the EU but also further spread the approach of social quality in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe because, in the example of Ukraine, the leading institutional role of the state in ensuring the social quality of development of transitional societies was revealed [10] and the influence of the trust institution on the social quality of social dynamics was justified [11]. Some research results obtained within the framework of this scientific cooperation were published in the “International Journal of Social Quality” (the Netherlands) and other professional publications. Ukraine's researchers emphasized the importance of Ukraine's transition from a traditional social policy to a policy of social quality, which should contribute to achieving the social goals of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU [2]. At the same time, European experts argued that the social reforms carried out in Ukraine during 2014-2017 were not effective enough and did not bring the country significantly closer to EU standards, so in the future, they should be adjusted and based on the social quality approach, to achieve results in such areas of social transformation as socio-economic security, social cohesion, social integration and inclusion, as well as the empowerment of citizens in Ukrainian society [12].
The International Association on Social Quality condemned Russia's military aggression, expressed unconditional support for Ukraine, and noted the need for rapid postwar reconstruction of its society, economy, and infrastructure and accelerated accession to the EU. Along these lines, the implementation of the social quality approach in Ukraine after the war will be necessary, which should help politicians and citizens to rethink and reconstruct Ukrainian society based on socio-economic security, social cohesion, social inclusion, guaranteed social opportunities; to root social values of equality, solidarity, social justice, and human dignity [13]. The anti-war position and optimistic vision of Ukrainian prospects by the International Association on Social Quality found broad support among the academic community. Modelling the future, the scientists of the State Organization “Institute for Economics and Forecasting of NAS of Ukraine” identified relevant aspects of social quality policy in the post-war Ukrainian economy [14] and joined the discussion of the proposal of the leaders of mentioned Association to create a Social Quality Observatory for Central and Eastern European countries and to form an Academic post-war network of social quality monitoring in Ukraine [15]. The creation of such a network should be coordinated with corresponding measures of Ukraine's Recovery and Development Plan (within the framework of the United-24 initiative), the basis of which was presented by national officials dated July 4, 2022, during the high-level session “Framework for the sustainable recovery process in Ukraine” of the International Ukraine Recovery Conference (Lugano, Switzerland), priorities of updated post-war Human Development Strategy, approved by the President of Ukraine Decree No. 225/2021 dated June 2, 2021, and social objectives of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, ratified on September 16, 2014.
International approaches to promoting the development of modern societies based on social quality, reflected in the activities of UN ECOSOC, ILO and UNECE, closely correlate with the dominant paradigm of sustainable development in the 21st century, which involves a balanced combination of economic, social, and environmental components in the territorial and spatial reproduction processes of the globalized world. Almost all (with few exceptions) of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period up to 2030, approved by the UN General Assembly, are human- or social-centric priorities, so their achievement directly contributes to the social quality of the development of states, societies, and the world as a whole. In recent years and decades, there has been notable progress toward the SDGs, tangibly enhancing the social quality of development in all dimensions, but with the unfolding of a series of global crises in the 2020s, there is a real danger that positive change will stall or even regress. Thus, the UN Economic and Social Council in the Report on Sustainable Development Goals for 2022 [16], drew attention to the rapidly increasing risks that most states of the world and the international community will be unable to fulfil their obligations to support the most vulnerable people and achieve the social benchmarks indicated by national and global frameworks for achieving the SDGs. A number of these benchmarks, clearly associated with characteristics of social quality, have recently become increasingly challenging to achieve, hindering the social development of states and regions of the world.
An analysis of the UN Report [16] and its supplementary information [17] regarding the achievement of 8 out of the 17 SDGs directly responsive to social quality needs:
- Goal 1 “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic returned steady progress in reducing global poverty over the past 25 years. This unprecedented reversal is amplified by rising inflation and war in Ukraine. These crises will result in 75-95 million more people living in poverty in 2022 than predicted before the pandemic. Although the recent period saw a continued historic decline in the global poverty rate, from 10,1% in 2015 to 8,6% in 2018, because of the pandemic, the global poverty rate rose sharply for the first time since 1998, from 8,3% in 2019 to 9,2% in 2020. In 2020, the percentage of the world's workers living with their families below the international poverty line increased for the first time in two decades, from 6,7% in 2019 to 7,2%. By 2020, only 47% of the world's population was covered by at least one of the cash assistance programs. This means that 4,1 billion people had no social protection of any kind.
- Goal 2 “End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition”: From 2014 until the pandemic, the number of hungry and food insecure people gradually increased, and the crisis caused by the pandemic accelerated this process. The war in Ukraine further disrupted global food supply chains and could lead to the largest global food crisis since World War II. In 2020, 720-811 million people worldwide suffered from malnutrition, 161 million more than in 2019. In addition, in 2020, more than 30% of the world's population (2,4 billion people) were moderately or severely food insecure, without consistent access to adequate nutrition. This figure rose by nearly 320 million people in 2019. The share of countries burdened by high food prices, relatively stable since 2016, increased dramatically, from 16% in 2019 to 47% in 2020.
- Goal 3 “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages ”: By April 2022, the pandemic reached more than 500 million people worldwide (more than 6,2 million people died) and disrupted the delivery of essential health services, reduced life expectancy and increased inequalities in access to basic health services. For the first time in 10 years, the world reduced immunization coverage and increased deaths from tuberculosis and malaria. Ten million people worldwide became ill with tuberculosis in 2020. For the first time in a decade, there was an increase in TB deaths caused by the pandemic: from 1,2 million in 2019 to 1,3 million in 2020 (not including TB deaths among people with HIV). The global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% in 2020.
- Goal 4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”: The COVID-19 outbreak caused a global education crisis, most systems suffered educational failures, and school closures had devastating effects on children's learning and well-being. In the past 2 years, 147 million children missed more than half of their classrooms. Inadequate skills hinder the use of information and communication technology. According to 2017-2020 data, in only 10% of countries, more than 70% of the population could perform one of the activities that make up basic skills, such as sending an email with a file attachment, in the past three months. In 2020, about 25% of the world's elementary schools lacked access to basic services such as electricity, drinking water, and basic sanitation. Only about 50% of elementary schools had access to information and communication technology and a disability-friendly environment.
- Goal 5 “Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls”: the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic turned the world further away from the goal of achieving gender equality by 2030; women and girls suffer disproportionately from job and livelihood loss, inability to continue learning, increased burden of unpaid care work and domestic violence. In 2018, 641 million women worldwide experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Working women were much more affected by the pandemic. In the 2019 pandemic, women accounted for 39,4% of the total employed population, but they accounted for nearly 45% of those who lost their jobs in 2020. As of January 1, 2022, women reached only 26,2% of national parliaments worldwide; in local governments, they were more than a third in 135 countries for which data are available.
- Goal 8 “Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all”: In 2020, the pandemic led to the worst economic crisis in decades, with seriously devastating effects on working hours and incomes. The global economy began to recover in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic waves, rising inflation, widespread supply chain disruptions, political uncertainty, and unsustainably high levels of developing country debt caused the global economy to slow at the end of 2021. The war in Ukraine is also expected to seriously slow its growth in 2022. In 2021, the global unemployment rate decreased (to 6,2%), but it was much higher than before the pandemic (5,4%). The ILO predicts that the unemployment rate will remain above the 2019 level until at least 2023. The share of the world's youth who are not working, learning, or acquiring job skills has been at its highest since 2005. This figure remained unchanged from 2015 to 2019 (21,8%) but increased to 23,3% in 2020. Before the crisis, young people made up only 13% of total employment, but they accounted for 34,2% of the decline in employment in 2020.
- Goal 10 “Reduce inequality within and between countries”: The pandemic crisis exacerbated global income inequality, stalling the reduction in inequality in the previous two decades. The weak recovery in emerging and developing countries is expected to lead to further increases in inequality. In low-income countries, the ratio of total public and publicly guaranteed debt service payments to exports rose from an average of 3,1 per cent in 2011 to 8,8 per cent in 2020. In 2021, the number of refugees in the world reached a record high. The war in Ukraine entails one of the largest refugee -related migration crises of the modern era. By mid-2021, the number of people forced to leave their countries because of wars, conflicts, persecution, human rights violations, or events alarming public order rose to 24,5 million, an absolute record number. For every 100,000 people, 311 are refugees outside their country of origin, up from 216 in 2015. As of April 12, 2022, some 4,7 million refugees from Ukraine crossed the borders of neighbouring states.
- Goal 16 “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and participatory institutions at all levels”: despite increasingly vociferous calls for global peace, the world is witnessing the highest number of violent conflicts since 1945. By the end of 2020, nearly 2 billion people live in countries engulfed by armed conflict; forced displacement is rising. As of 2020, 82,4 million people worldwide were internally displaced. This figure will increase as the war in Ukraine displaced more than 7 million people internally. In 2021, the UN documented at least 4,1 civilian deaths for every 100,000 people in the cells of the world's 12 most violent armed conflicts; one in eight killed was a woman or child. Violence against children is prevalent: in 2013-2021, in 76 countries (primarily low- and middle-income) for which data are available, approximately 8 out of 10 children aged 1 to 14 years at home were subjected to some form of psychological pressure and/or physical punishment during the previous month. According to 2018 data, of every 10 trafficking victims identified globally, approximately 5 were adult women, and 2 were girls. A surge in unemployment due to the pandemic would potentially increase trafficking; Ukrainian refugees (predominantly women and children) are also at risk of trafficking and exploitation.
Progress in establishing or strengthening national human rights institutions slowed in 2021. Only 43% of countries worldwide can establish independent national human rights institutions.
Consequently, over the past two or three years, the state of achievement of the SDGs predominantly deteriorated, and the risk of failure to fulfil the commitments undertaken by national governments is intensifying. UN ECOSOC explains this by a complex reason - the cascade of global crises that threaten humanity: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and large-scale military conflicts in the world, the war in Ukraine. These cascading global crises cause severe and large-scale, long-term problems, harm the global areas of food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, peace, and security, and encompass all the SDGs - the international framework for creating more resilient, peaceful, equitable, and socially just societies Cascading global crises threaten human survival, and the SDG roadmap is a promising solution. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, July 7, 2022. URL: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ files/report/2022/SDG_Report_2022_Press_Release_RU.pdf.
Each cascading crisis generates several accompanying and subsequent crisis phenomena, narrowing the prospects for ensuring the social quality of human and social development. Thus, Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine led to the deployment of several crises of regional and global dimensions: migration (forced displacement of Ukrainian refugees abroad and within the country); price (sharp increase in prices for food, fertilizers, fuel, and other raw materials); trade (disruption of supply chains in regional and global trade systems) and security (global military, energy, food security is threatened). Each of these crises will have severe social consequences, especially for the most vulnerable populations, requiring an appropriate response at all levels of government. At the global level, countering the current global cascading crises requires improving the international financial architecture, stimulating large-scale socio-economic transformation, renewing the social contract, and investing in data systems development [16, p. 4]. At the state level, it is necessary to support the institutional and financial sustainability of national social protection systems and intensify state policy in employment and national labour markets. Since the beginning of the war in late February 2022, Ukraine has made efforts in both areas, which made it possible to mitigate social shocks, support domestic businesses and prevent a critical collapse of the labour market.
Thus, maintaining the sustainability of the social protection system of Ukraine under martial law is ensured by the Government through the UN structures and other international institutions. Many donors attract budget support from the Trust Fund to co-finance the Program “Development policy in the sphere of economic recovery for Ukraine” and the Project “Support to public spending to ensure sustainable public administration in Ukraine”. To prevent arrears in social payments to Ukrainian citizens living in the territories controlled by the Government, only for March - June 2022 for social payments from the state budget allocated 153,5 billion UAH, in particular: to the Pension Fund of Ukraine for the payment of pensions, supplements and increases to pensions - 68,5 billion UAH; for assistance to insured persons in connection with the loss of part of their wages (income) as a result of military operations under the program “Support” - 30,4 billion UAH; for state social assistance payments, including families with children - 21,2 billion UAH, to assist in living inside displaced persons - 18,1 billion UAHMinistry of Finance: In June 2022 42 billion hryvnia were allocated from the state budget for social benefits. Government Portal, July 20, 2022. URL: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/minfin-u-chervni-2022- roku-na-sotsialni-vyplaty-iz-derzhbiudzhetu-bulo-spriamovano-42-mlrd-hryven.
In conditions of war, the mechanism of lifesaving access to social payments and assistance for millions of Ukrainians was the digitalization of the social sphere carried out in recent years by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine with the participation of other relevant central executive authorities and international structures. An example is the introduction of the Unified Social Register, which concentrates information on everyone eligible for, receives or received any type of state social support, and provides on its basis a research and industrial (i.e., partial) exploitation of the Unified Social Information System that allows each recipient of social support to quickly apply for any type of assistance through the front office in the territorial community and Administrative Services Centre, or through the electronic services of the Diia (Action) portal. This is a significant step toward increasing the properties of social services for the population, especially in wartime conditions. A Unified Social Information System operates in two regions of Ukraine to process six types of state social assistance (assistance for children under guardianship or custody; assistance for children of single mothers; assistance in adopting a child; assistance for low-income families; assistance for persons with disabilities and children with disabilities, assistance for a person caring for a sick child). In three regions, centralized assignment, accrual, and payments to internally displaced persons are already available through this information system, and in border regions - provision of certificates to people with disabilities for crossing the state border of Ukraine The Ministry of Social Policy implements a Unified Information System for the Social Sphere to improve the quality of social services and the timely provision of social payments. Ministry of Social Policy. August 5, 2022. URL: https://www.msp.gov.ua/news/22107.html. At the end of August 2022, Ukrainian pensioners got an opportunity through the mobile application the Diia (Action) portal to download their pension certificate as a digital document, check it or share it with a QR-code (pension certificate by age is pulled automatically, and the special pension certificate, issued, for example, due to disability or loss of a breadwinner, should be added to the application independently) Pension certificate appeared at the Diia (Action) portal. Pension Fund of Ukraine, August 31, 2022. URL: https://www.pfu.gov.ua/2153808-pensijne-posvidchennya-z-yavylos-u-diyi/.
To support Ukrainians during the Russian invasion, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine also introduced the social platform “eHelp”, which has three directions: 1) “state assistance”, which provides complete information on receiving social payments and benefits from the state; 2) “volunteer assistance”, where one can help people who suffered from the war on their own or leave an application for assistance if it is highly needed;
3) “international assistance”, where one can apply for social assistance from international organizations. Due to the tools of digitalization, international organizations implement projects on additional payments for more than 2 million war-affected Ukrainians, totalling more than 10 billion UAH Ministry of Social Policy: Answers to the most common payment questions from international organizations. Government Portal, July 26, 2022. URL: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/minsotspolityky- vidpovidi-na-naiposhyrenishi-zapytannia-shchodo-vyplat-vid-mizhnarodnykh-orhanizatsii.
To protect the right of citizens to receive state social payments and benefits in wartime conditions, in early September 2022, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine initiated the digitalization of the assignment of all types of social assistance subsidies and benefits for payment of housing and utility services, purchase of hard and liquid heating oil and liquefied gas. Thus, the assignment of social payments, benefits, and provision of benefits through the Pension Fund of Ukraine, which has modern, robust IT systems, is envisaged. This will make it possible to provide citizens at any geographic location in Ukraine with the opportunity to apply for such assignments online to electronically submit the relevant documents through the Pension Fund of Ukraine, Administrative Services Centres, and local authorities (through the mobile application “Social Community”). During the war period, it is essential that the documents of the domestic social protection system must be stored electronically, which will provide not only information protection but also maximum information interaction with the Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property and other state registers of Ukraine The Ministry of Social Policy initiates a solution to the problems of assignment of subsidies and benefits in war conditions. Ministry of Social Policy. September 2, 2022. URL: https://www.msp.gov.ua/ news/22161.html.
Regarding the activation of employment policy under martial law, it is crucial that the problems of employment recovery after the shock effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine must be the focus of attention of the International Labour Organization. Approaches to the formation of labour policy and social and labour relations developed by it are built under the ideology of social quality because they are based on the postulate of employment quality as a consolidating element of the concept of decent work, implemented by the ILO at the international level. This is particularly evident in the ILO Global call to action for a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis that is inclusive, sustainable, and resilient [18], as well as the ILO-led UN Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection UN Secretary-General calls for accelerated action on jobs and social protection. ILO. 28.09.2021. URL: https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_821167/lang--en/index.htm. Taking into account the provisions and proposals set forth therein, the focus on the need for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine and an early overcoming of its grave humanitarian and socioeconomic consequences, the 110th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2022) approved the report of the Committee on decent work and the social and solidarity economy, which contained some essential recommendations on national governments' employment and labour market policies, as well as social support for the population. The Committee's recommendations promote a movement toward social quality (in particular, quality of life and employment) for the following measures:
- timely and practical efforts to maintain the purchasing power of labour income and the living standards of workers and their families;
- urgently initiating a tripartite social dialogue aimed at promoting appropriate and fair adjustments to wages (particularly the minimum wage), strengthening social protection and income security systems, and, if necessary, implementing food security measures;
- a thorough adjustment of macroeconomic policy in favour of addressing inflation and debt sustainability, as well as a comprehensive and supportive job-creation recovery;
- supporting the most affected populations and industries, especially vulnerable categories of workers and those in transition from the informal economy to the formal economy;
- long-term and carefully designed practical steps at the sectoral level aimed at creating decent and environmentally friendly jobs, ensuring sustainability and inclusiveness, and supporting enterprises, especially micro, small, and medium-sized ones The labor market recovery was reversed, the ILO believes. ILO. 23.05.2022. URL: https://www.ilo.org/moscow/news/WCMS_846230/lang--ru/index.htm.
Under martial law, the social quality of employment in Ukraine can be manifested primarily in targeted support for safe working conditions and job preservation, through relocation to safer locations of industries from regions covered by hostilities. Ukraine's nationally representative employers' organizations played a crucial role in implementing relevant state policies since the beginning of the war.
Thus, the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE), with the assistance of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine (FEU), created the Anti-Crisis Centre for Business Support, whose work involved the heads of relevant parliamentary committees, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, representatives of the NBU Council, more than a hundred leading business associations, large companies, and industries. Considering that today the irreversible losses of Ukraine's industrial potential exceed 30% and that about one-third of it is not used due to the high risks, disruption of production and transportation chains, loss of access to raw materials and human resources, FEU initiates the development of necessary state programs to support industry and small business, adapted to the martial law, which will help save the existing and new jobs. The Anti-Crisis Centre for Business Support notes the need to adjust the industrial policy of the state under the influence of military shocks since the draft “Plan for the Recovery of Ukraine” submitted for public consideration contains mainly measures for the development of individual sectors (emphasis is placed on metallurgy, timber, woodworking, and furniture industry, partially on mechanical engineering, textile, biotechnology, and creative industries). FEU proposes expanding the “operational field” to include all possible potential for the development of Ukrainian industry, deepening the areas of processing and innovative production The government should not postpone the current problems of industry for the period of post-war recovery: unemployment is growing and production is falling. Association of Employers Organizations of Ukraine,
August 15, 2022. YURL: https://www.ooru.org.ua/news/1105.uryadu-ne-varto-vidkladati-na-period-
povonnogo-vidnovlennya-potochni-problemi-promislovosti-zrosta-bezrobittya-virobnictvo-pada.htm, which will be an additional driver of post-war employment for Ukrainians. In the context of promoting the social quality of employment in the specific conditions of the war and post-war period, Ukraine should pay special attention to the issues of professional, labour, and psychological rehabilitation and reintegration into the national labour market of servicemen, mobilized and volunteers returning from the war fronts with disabilities, as well as citizens who suffered health injuries or trauma because of Russian aggression.
The ILO helps the Ukrainian government support national employers and workers during wartime, particularly by implementing special projects. For example, thanks to the ILO project “Inclusive Labour Markets for Job Creation in Ukraine”, implemented jointly with the Danish International Development Agency, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine provided urgent humanitarian aid to the population of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions that were heavily affected by the hostilities. This aid provided food and other products produced by local businesses, helping them to exist despite difficulties and saving hundreds of jobs The Ukrainian Federation of Employers is helping businesses to keep afloat. ILO. 23.08.2022. URL: https://www.ilo.org/budapest/whats-new/WCMS_854135/lang--en/index.htm Ukraine works: How Labour Inspectors are supporting employers and workers in Ukraine. ILO. 05.07.2022. URL: https://www.ilo.org/budapest/whats-new/WCMS_850406/lang--en/index.htm.
Another ILO project, “Towards safe, healthy and declared work in Ukraine”, implemented with the assistance of the European Commission, helps the State Labour Service of Ukraine build new lines of work in wartime conditions, such as: supporting workers' mental health; combating human trafficking and forced labour; providing special counselling and practical assistance to workers and employers; and helping relocated businesses restart their businesses in a new location. As of early July 2022, more than 3,000 Ukrainian businesses benefited from these types of support11.
The approaches of the UN Economic Commission for Europe are also important for introducing a social quality policy in Ukraine. In 2015, the UNECE presented a unique guide for assessing the quality of employment, including both traditional labour market indicators and several new ones concerning labour discrimination, work-life balance, job satisfaction, opportunities to protect social and labour rights and so on. In the post-war sustainable recovery of Ukrainian society, it will be advisable to adopt the approaches of social quality proposed by the UNECE for their further implementation in Ukraine's public administration system. At the same time, considering the scale of humanitarian disaster, human losses, and economic losses during the war and in the initial period of stabilization after its end, the most practically crucial for Ukraine is to borrow the UNECE approaches to the measurement of social exclusion in society [19] and experience of its overcoming in other countries covered by military conflicts, in particular, the Western Balkan countries. The UNECE uses the term “Social Exclusion” to refer to all human conditions that can be seen as the opposite of well-being and prosperity, and refers to social and economic inequality, being below the poverty line, lack of social or economic integration, and lack of social cohesion. The generalized definition of social exclusion, as understood by the UNECE, is substantially close to the corresponding definition in the normative acts of Ukraine As of today, in Ukrainian scientific and legal discourse there is no unified correspondence of the term “exclusion”. According to the authors, the most accurate translation of this term in the social context is “відторгнення” which conveys the acuteness of the problematic state of a person, for some reason deprived of the opportunity to fully participate in society. and correlates with the concepts of multidimensional poverty and neediness (Table 1).
Table 1
The comparison of UNECE and Ukrainian institutional definitions of social exclusion
|
UNECE |
Ukrainian Institutions |
|
|
Social exclusion is the systematic distancing of the individual from universal social structures, relating to the limitation or denial of access to resources, opportunities, rights and relationships, which prevents full participation in society and often leads to lifelong adverse consequences. Key areas of social exclusion include the labour market, services of public institutions, consumption, production, political activism, and social relations |
Social rejection (exclusion - according to the English term “exclusion”) - a social phenomenon or situation in which citizens are unable to enjoy social rights guaranteed to them by law (right to work, decent living conditions, access to social services, health care, education, cultural services, etc.) |
Source: compiled by the authors according to [19, p. 6-7]; The Order of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “On Approval of the Methodology of Comprehensive Poverty Assessment” dated on May 18,2017.
No. 827/403/507/113/232. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/z0728-17#Text
Today the UNECE took three basic approaches to the national measurement of social exclusion [19, p. 24]:
1) a single threshold approach that establishes a boundary along which a person is defined as “rejected” or “prone to the risk of rejection” according to their condition (this approach understands social exclusion primarily as a set of wanderings or troubles; social distribution in society, a particular threshold of wandering can be determined without regard to the relative state of social exclusion as part of a broader division);
2) the multiple threshold approach, which defines a greater or lesser degree of social integration or social exclusion, and can include different thresholds for states of social integration or exclusion (in this approach, social exclusion is understood in the range of full social distribution in society, where a person's state ran ges from “high social integration” to “strong social exclusion”);
3) an approach in which no thresholds are explicitly set or considered for assessing social exclusion or social integration (this approach focuses measurement on other concepts, such as well-being, and social cohesion, using indicators of social exclusion, but without a clearly defined threshold for this state).
The global practice of applying these approaches and their measurement systems varies from country to country (Table 2).
Table 2
Characteristic approaches to defining and quantifying social exclusion/social integration
|
An approach to conceptualizing social exclusion |
Threshold of social exclusion / social integration |
National systems of instruments corresponding to the adopted approach |
|
|
Exclusion based on the idea of accumulated wandering |
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