The SHD works on growth strategies, improving the quality of work through better wages, labour rights and entitlements, skilling, occupational safety and health, and discrimination-free work environments.
This work focuses on:
Domestic and home-based work, waste work, construction, gig and platform work, and nano-and-small enterprises.
The future of work and workers on digital platforms and the informal urban economy.
Inclusive, employment-intensive urban development pathways.
Improving the quality of informal work through site-based and sector-focused infrastructure upgradation, while building associational strength of workers.
Featured Projects
Digital platforms and women’s work in Sri Lanka and India (2020-2022)The study explored the emerging ecosystem of digital work for women in India and Sri Lanka. It analysed how platforms shape engagement opportunities and whether women can leverage them for economic and social advancement. Using an ecosystem approach, it examined how apps attract women as users or providers and assessed the broader impact on women’s livelihoods. It was conducted with the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), World Resources Institute (WRI), and LIRNEAsia, and funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Examining paid and unpaid domestic work in urban homes (2019-2022)This project examined paid and unpaid domestic work through a 10,000-household survey in Bengaluru and Chennai. It focused on employers’ perspectives on work quality, wages, labour rights, and social protection. Three reports presented findings on household reproduction, deficits in decent work, and employer attitudes. The project was conducted in partnership with Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), and was part of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Work in Freedom programme.
Spatial reading of work–homes (2016-2018)IIHS undertook a literature and design review of spatial characteristics of work–homes across the Global South. The study examined the work–home boundary across scales, focusing on the complex agency exerted by users in engaging with and maneuvering this boundary. It also forefronted conceptual bases in planning as are central to work–homes. This study was supported by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) under its Urban Policies Programme.
State of occupational safety and health practices at workplace for domestic workers in COVID-19 and possibilities for action (2020)This rapid study, conducted during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, identified immediate and incremental occupational safety and health (OSH) practices for live-out domestic workers in India to address pandemic conditions. It also proposed medium-term changes to rethink OSH in the sector post-pandemic. It was funded by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Chief Minister’s Rajasthan Economic Transformation Advisory Council (CMRETAC): Towards a different future of work: A framework for informal work and workers in urban RajasthanIIHS was commissioned to offer a long-term policy imagination for the future of informal work, informal housing and social protection in the state. The study estimated the size and distribution of the urban informal economy in Rajasthan and then offered a multi-dimensional and multi-scalar framework for improvement of the quality of work in the informal economy as well as the ease of living and access to social protection for informal workers.
Understanding and improving women’s work on digital labour platforms (2021-2023)This research examined the conditions of women workers in India’s platform economy, focusing on sectors like microtasking, freelancing, ed-tech, and BPOs in the AI supply chain. It compared women’s experiences with men’s amid rapid platformisation disrupting informal employment and the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on labour policy. It was conducted in partnership with Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), and funded by International Labour Organisation (ILO).
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