7 September 2021 - New research out today addresses what family-friendly policies look like in the South Asian context, where female labor force participation is very low and more than 90 per cent of workers are in the informal sector or under informal employment. Done in support and collaboration with UNICEF’s regional office in South Asia, UNICEF Innocenti’s new working paper considers how family-friendly policies can be responsive to the particular characteristics and circumstances of countries in the region – including multi-generation families, family units built around adolescent mothers (and sometimes fathers), and migration for work both within and outside countries. The research also tackles the question of how family-friendly policies might need to evolve in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. The associated advocacy brief: Reaching more families, benefiting more children and package of country reports identifies gaps and opportunities for family friendly policies in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.