Aura Sevilla

Focal Point for Southeast Asia and Older Workers

Globally, levels of informal employment are higher amongst older workers. However, little attention is given to older informal workers’ patterns of inclusion and exclusion, as well as the contributions they are making and have made to the community and economy.

WIEGO recognizes the significant contributions of older men and women in informal employment and their challenges in fulfilling their right to work and access the labour market.

Expertise

ageing policies, social pension, social protection for workers in the informal economy in Southeast Asia, advocacy development in ASEAN, social protection capacity development, strategic planning

Aura began working in WIEGO in 2019 as a key contractor for a background paper on “Informal Workers Getting Older”, highlighting the trends and issues of older informal workers and the recommended interventions. The paper guided the new pillar of work on Income Security for Older Workers under the WIEGO Social Protection Programme (SPP). She became an SPP team member in 2022 where she now leads the said pillar of work, including the development of the strategic plan and research agenda.

Aside from being the focal point of the Older Workers Pillar, Aura supports membership-based organizations such as the HomeNet Southeast Asia, in improving social protection policies, gathering evidence, providing technical advice to the government, networking, and building the capacity of workers in the informal economy to affect institutional change both at the national and regional levels. Particularly, she works with Homenet Cambodia and Laos for the implementation of the project: Improving Access to Social Protection for Home-Based Workers in Southeast Asia.

Aura holds a Master’s Degree in Community Development from the University of the Philippines. She has worked with non-government organization, the parliament, and the national human rights institute in the Philippines, international NGOs, and UN agencies as a Gender, Ageing, and Social Protection Specialist before joining WIEGO.