The ISSA Good Practice Awards will be given out on a regional basis over a three-year cycle at each ISSA Regional Social Security Forum. One Award will be given at each Forum as well as certificates of merit as decided by the Jury. The four winning good practices will also be featured at the World Social Security Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010.

The fourth of four Good Practice Awards will be given at the Regional Social Security Forum for Europe, 3-5 March 2010, in Warsaw, Poland.

Good Practice Awards priorities

The ISSA Good Practice Awards will be attributed according the following ISSA Programme and Budget 2008-2010 priority areas:

• Governance and social security;
• Risk management and change management;
• Information and Communication Technology as a strategic management tool;
• Compliance and contribution collection;
• Extension of social security coverage;
• Responding to demographic changes.

Who can participate?

• ISSA member organizations in the region of competition.
• An ISSA member organization can submit one or more entries.
• ISSA Good Practice Awards are given to organizations and not to individuals.

Good Practice Award deadline 2009

• ISSA members in Europe can enter a good practice for consideration up to: 18 December 2009.
• The ISSA will acknowledge receipt of all submissions.

How to enter a good practice?

• The electronic entry form and guidelines are available at www-issanet.issa.int.
• Member organizations can submit one or more entries, using the electronic entry form, to the ISSA Good Practice Awards by e-mail to issa-goodpracticeaward@ilo.org  or by post to the ISSA Secretariat.
• All entries must be endorsed by senior management in the applying organization.
• Submissions which are transnational must be joint submissions or be validated by the other institutions concerned.
• There is no charge to submit an entry.

How is the winning good practice selected?

• The submissions will be reviewed for completeness and recorded by the ISSA Secretariat. All of the qualified submissions will be provided to the Jury.
• The Jury will be composed of the Chairperson of the Editorial Board of the International Social Security Review, a former ISSA President and a representative of the International Labour Office.
• The Jury will identify one winner of the Good Practice Award, as well as certificates of merit for outstanding good practices in the region.

Good Practice Awards selection criteria

The following criteria will be used to attribute the Good Practice Awards and the certificates of merit. A good practice should:

Be current: The practice must still be in place.

Have clear objectives: The targets, the expected outcomes, the context surrounding the good practice and the issue to be addressed are easily identifiable.

Demonstrate an innovative approach: A creative/forward-looking solution has been developed to address a specific issue/challenge, with the ultimate goal of reaching excellence. It could be a completely new solution or an existing practice involving qualitative changes (e.g. use of a specific performance management tool, substantial changes in organizational structure, introduction of a new method of risk management, new technology infrastructure).

Be efficient: The resources/inputs applied to implementing the practice have been used in an optimal way (e.g. finance and human resources, time, technical and organizational inputs).

Be effective: The practice has met the objectives set or is in process to achieve the expected outcomes.
The impact as much as possible is measurable or verifiable. This means that an evaluation has been undertaken or some kind of evidence is provided to demonstrate the impact and effect.

Provide learning experiences:  Useful lessons can be drawn from the good practice. (e.g. strengths and weaknesses of the practice, the constraints and difficulties met and the solutions to overcome them).

Have a potential of replication: The practice has a potential to serve as inspiration or model for other social security administrations facing the similar issue/challenge. The practice is transferable with adaptation to the context.

Further information:

ISSA member organizations can access the electronic entry form and guidelines on the member Extranet: www-issanet.issa.int .