The BRICS South–South Knowledge Series highlighted a shared priority: ensuring that digital transformation and productivity growth translate into tangible improvements in people’s working lives.
South–South cooperation can help countries bridge digital gaps through technology transfer, joint learning, institutional partnerships and capacity-building tailored to national needs. But sharing knowledge is only the starting point. The real challenge is turning good practices into practical solutions, institutional reforms and measurable results.
The BRICS Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work Knowledge Platform can play an important role in this process by connecting policy knowledge with technical assistance, country-led pilot initiatives and peer-to-peer cooperation.
Social protection is an essential part of this agenda. Accessible and reliable social security can serve not only as a right for workers, but also as an incentive for enterprise formalization. Cooperation among social security institutions, supported by digital innovation and shared approaches to measuring progress, can help extend coverage to informal workers while strengthening the sustainability and inclusiveness of social protection systems.
Ultimately, productivity gains should be assessed not only by economic growth or technology adoption, but also by the quality of jobs, access to social security, sustainable enterprise development and the fair distribution of benefits.
The goal is clear: to make South–South cooperation a practical driver of decent work, inclusive digital transformation and more resilient economies.
With contributions from Anita Amorim (ILO), Moderator; Guillaume Mercier (ITCILO), Co-moderator/Learning Facilitator; Jens Schremmer (International Social Security Association – ISSA); Shea McClanahan (ISSA); Christina Behrendt (ILO); Alexio Musindo (ILO South Africa); Divya Verma (ILO Delhi); Clair Ruppert (ACTRAV); Luis Frota (ILO Social Protection Department); Louanna Herrera; and Frank Hagemann (PARTNERSHIPS/ITCILO), who delivered the closing remarks.
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