Care economy

The care economy refers to all forms of paid and unpaid care provided within a society, including childcare, early-childhood education, disability and long-term care, elderly care and other types of care. The EBRD’s Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality and Equality of Opportunity Strategy have a specific focus on the care economy, as unpaid forms of care work fall disproportionately on women, limiting their time and ability to access employment and upskilling opportunities.

As part of our inclusive investments, we aim to alleviate women’s unpaid care burden and increase their employability by helping our private-sector clients enhance their corporate HR policies (such as by improving flexible working or parental leave policies, providing on-site or near-site childcare, or reserving spaces in private elderly care). We also support municipalities delivering care infrastructure and services (such as care centres). At a broader level, we support the countries where we operate in strengthening their care economy regulatory framework, to provide an improved enabling environment for our clients offering care solutions across sectors. When care provision is in place, employees are more motivated and committed and businesses are more productive. Investing in the care economy therefore benefits economies by increasing their GDP and creating more inclusive and sustainable growth.     

Government subsidies for care investments are vital in making care services accessible and affordable for all. The shrinking budgets of many governments coupled with a global economic slowdown have not allowed subsidies to be channelled towards care provision. Demand for care services for children, the elderly and people with disabilities is rising across all regions. Approximately 350 million children lack access to quality childcare, which can have adverse effects on the development of human capital, economic security for families and overall societal well-being. At the same time, ageing populations create a need for significant investments in elderly care, while the growing elderly dependency ratio is expected to transform societal norms, especially in urban areas, for elderly care solutions. Globally, women spend nearly three times as much time on unpaid care work as men. Across the EBRD regions, women spend on average five hours per day on unpaid domestic and care work.   

To address these challenges, the EBRD continues to work on policy dialogue to create an enhanced enabling environment for care economy investments in the regions where we operate. The Bank also plans to pilot a digital care economy tool that can provide targeted guidance to its clients that are introducing enhanced work-life balance policies and care solutions. The external dissemination of the Bank's care investor guidelines is intended to help increase investments in public-private partnerships by shifting care work from unpaid to paid sectors. 

The objective of this project is to develop investor guidelines for care investments in Türkiye, offering prospective investors a roadmap outlining the legal, operational and financial requirements when setting up care solutions, including childcare, elderly care and care for people with disabilities. By doing so, it aims to contribute to scaling up accessible, affordable and quality care schemes, and to promoting women’s labour force participation in Türkiye.