The funeral grant of civil servant old-age or invalidity pensioner who dies while receiving a pension is paid, upon request, primarily to his/her spouse. If there is no spouse, to his/her children. If there is no spouse and children, to his/her parents. If there is no parents, to his/her siblings. If there are no siblings, to those who certify that they have incurred expenses up to the amount of the invoice, not exceeding the amount of funeral grant to be made.

In order to meet the needs of families with disabled children aged 3–17 who wish to use mainstream optional and extracurricular childcare facilities, the Family Branch in France has set up ad hoc funding support. This support offsets the extra costs incurred by different facilities (such as disability training/awareness-raising for activity teams, additional staff, adapting and purchasing equipment, preparation, and coordination time, etc.).

The “Complemento Solidário para Idosos” (CSI) is a social assistance programme in Portugal designed to provide financial support to elderly individuals who are in a situation of economic vulnerability. The programme offers a financial supplement to the pension with the goal to help low-income elderly citizens meet their basic needs and improve their quality of life.

The Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SGK) of Türkiye pays pensions to approximately 16 million people every month. There are different types of insurance within the scope of the current law in our country. Payments to retirees are made on different days of the month (1st group on 17-26 of each month, 2nd group on 26-28 of each month, 3rd group on 1-5 of each month). Inappropriate payments frequently occur due to death-related reasons. The aim of this project is to reduce inappropriate payments and increase efficiency in payments.

In 2020, the Government of Azerbaijan approved a regulation for the Individual Rehabilitation Programme (IRP) for persons with disabilities. The individual programme includes a set of measures related to the medical, vocational, psychological-pedagogical rehabilitation and the development of social skills of persons with disabilities.

The National Office of Social Insurance (NOSI) of the Republic of Moldova is an innovative and modern authority, which enjoys high level of public trust and guarantees quality public services in the event of certain social risks, the application of technologies based on the interoperability of systems is one of the key elements for the development and provision of services to beneficiaries.

The German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund – DRV Bund) has created an online German Pension Portal so users can access key administrative services (e.g., pensions, rehabilitation, insurance, and subsidized private pension plans) on any digital device. Users can log in and use the online services anywhere, at any time. Using a smartphone, tablet or computer, citizens can quickly, easily and securely file applications and find information on topics including pensions, electronic communication services and more.

As part of the agreement on objectives and management signed with the State for the period 2023–2027 (COG), the French National Family Allowances Fund (Caisse nationale des allocations familiales – CNAF) wishes to bolster its innovations and progress in the area of community listening. The decision was therefore made to set up a “LabParentalité” (parenting lab) based on an initiative launched in the French Department of Isère.

The challenge addressed by the Federal Pensions Service (Service fédéral des Pensions – SFP) and its partners was the outdated pension application tool, prompting the integration of an online pension demand system into mypension.be, Belgium’s official online pension portal.

To help parents and future parents find their way around the different services and support available to them in parenthood, an interactive tool on having children has been set up on the caf.fr website, which can be accessed from the “I’m expecting a child” (“J’attends un enfant”) page.

The National Registry of Social Security Organizations (Registro Nacional de Obras Sociales – RNOS) and the National Registry of Health Insurance Funds (Registro Nacional de Entidades de Medicina Prepaga – RNEMP) of Argentina’s Superintendency of Health Services (Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud – SSSalud) are responsible for receiving, analysing and ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements in force for the registration, modification and update of social security organizations and health insurance funds in Argentina, and for keeping the

Spain’s General Treasury of the Social Security (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social – TGSS) remains committed to improving citizen services. It has therefore defined a new service model based on user experiences and the implementation of new technologies. Creating this model required an in-depth analysis of the service provided to citizens. We needed to establish a system to measure how often each channel is used, which are the most common requests, and assess which groups interact with the TGSS.

The Single Reimbursement System (Sistema Único de Reintegros – SUR) was created in 2012 with the introduction of Resolution 1200/201. It aimed to handle requests from health-related social security organizations efficiently and in a timely manner, partially compensating the payment of benefits with high economic impact or that cover chronic diseases.

In 2014 the National Institute for Insurance against Accident at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – Inail) of Italy, was assigned new specific tasks regarding work reintegration of people with job related disabilities. The resulting regulatory framework allows it to finance up to a maximum of 150,000 euros (EUR) for each worker, aimed at supporting work reintegration projects in three areas:

The Happy Daycare App aims to allow you to search for daycare centers that have free places available.

The Unified Labour and Employment Subsystem (EMAS) implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan, DOST Digital Innovations Centre, State Employment Agency and the State Labour Inspection Service, is an electronic platform that serves as a central hub for employers, employees, job seekers, and the unemployed in the regulation of labour relations and the provision of employment opportunities.

Implementation of a 360º Vision in direct social security, which allows a single view of all relationship interactions and all individual processes of people and companies with social security.

This new relationship model streamlines and integrates, on a single platform, the various channels of interaction between citizens and companies with social security.

Due to the increasing number of pensioners, the rising cost of individual contacts and in order to benefit from automation, the Federal Pensions Service (Service fédéral des Pensions – SFP) and its partners are promoting online self-service.

People with disabilities are one of society’s most excluded groups and usually have the most difficulties in accessing health, education, employment, and social security. Current policies are either not inclusive, or are still in the initial stages, and thus do not protect the rights of this group. We need rules and regulations that support us in taking action to better protect their rights. Even more importantly, we need to properly understand their needs in order to provide quality care.

To expand the income opportunities of the population and reduce the number of low-income families, Azerbaijan introduced the so-called Targeted State Social Assistance (TSSA) in 2006. TSSA is allotted to low-income families with monthly earnings falling below a specific threshold due to uncontrollable circumstances.

Due to the armed conflict in Ukraine, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych ‒ ZUS) of Poland has been obliged to provide financial support to refugees from Ukraine. This support is provided within the framework of government programmes: Good Start 300+; Family 500+; Family Care Capital; Co-financing of Nursery Fees.

The expected large number of benefit claims, the heavy burden of social responsibility, as well as the tight timetable to prepare for the processing of new claims, forced ZUS to take quick and efficient measures.

Until June 2023, it has only been possible to access in Iceland the Disability Card on the My pages of the Social Security Administration (Tryggingastofnun ríkisins – TR) and order a plastic card on TR’s website, but from June the card has also been accessible digitally on Ísland.is.

Lack of protection leaves workers vulnerable to the vagaries of the labour market, undermines their rights and dignity, exacerbates poverty and inequality, and jeopardizes the implicit social contract of modern societies (ISO, 2019). As the world of work is evolving, shaped by global trends such as digitalization, automation and globalization, as well as socio-demographic changes, social protection systems need to adapt to changing contexts and demands (ISO, 2017).

Since 2022, medical reports for temporary disability at work, maternity, childcare, accidents at work and occupational diseases that are paid by social insurance, are no longer received over papers but are delivered through the electronic system E-Reports (e-RM), which interacts with the e-Albania government portal, offering a fast and secure way to exchange information.

Safe and healthy work environments (Entornos laborales seguros y saludables – ELSSA) is a free, voluntary and non-punitive programme from the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) that aims to foster three-way coordination and participation between companies, workers and the IMSS. It looks to implement strategies and actions to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of workers in workplaces, while at the same time promoting productivity and quality.

The URSSAF National Fund of France, in partnership with the health, family and retirement branches, organizes the detection of self-employed workers in fragile situations. In fact, the analysis of individual situations shows that the identification of vulnerability in one particular area can lead to the identification of other weaknesses or needs, which require an overall approach on a medical, economic and social level.

The Greek social security institutions that were integrated into the Electronic National Social Security Fund (e-EFKA), bequeathed it, among other problems, with a plethora of issues related to “pending pensions”.

More specifically, the time required to examine the cases was too long, thus a large number of pending cases had been accumulated, and citizens’ communication with the competent services was quite difficult, while the Administration of e-EFKA faced difficulties in gathering the data for the optimum use of available resources.

Uruguay’s Social Insurance Bank (Banco de Previsión Social – BPS) manages the National System of Labour Certification, (Sistema Nacional de Certificación Laboral – SNCL), which centralizes the register of medical leave certificates for active workers for social security purposes.

In times of increasing digitalization and dependence on IT, we see a war for talent in tech, while budgets are simultaneously facing ever-increasing pressure. Because of this, the efficient use of money and resources becomes increasingly important to allow for further growth in the realm of digitalization.

The Statute of the Cultural Professional was introduced through a legal diploma in order to provide a new social security regime to a particular group of professionals in Portugal. The diploma stipulated a completely different approach in terms of calculating social security contributions, introduced a new typology of persons interacting with social security, defined a new approach to calculating benefits and created a new fund in order to provide the social security protection to the Cultural Professional.

The JUPEMA Entrepreneurship (JUPEMA Emprende) programme is a service provided by Costa Rica’s Pension and Retirement Board of the National Teachers’ Union (Junta de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Magisterio Nacional – JUPEMA). It was started at the end of 2022, with the philosophy of providing resources for entrepreneurship training and consultation to our members. Its aim is to improve the intellectual, emotional and material skills of participants, positively impacting their quality of life on the basis of the principles and values of the social and solidarity economy.

In Argentina, joint trade union–employer agreements (Convenios de Corresponsabilidad Gremial – CCG) encourage the formalization of employment relationships, primarily in rural areas. They are agreements between workers’ representative bodies with trade union status and employers, which aim to facilitate social security access for workers and their families.

In 2022, Morocco’s CDG Prévoyance signed an agreement with the State to manage the Tayssir Programme, one of the country’s most important welfare programmes, dedicated to reducing the rate of school drop-outs among the most vulnerable segments of the population.

Ireland’s Budget 2022 included an announcement that those suffering from alopecia and cancer could avail of a 500 euros (EUR) grant towards the cost of a hair replacement product subject to meeting certain Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) criteria. Other changes to treatment benefit qualification were also announced with an implementation date of May 2022.

Crèches are the preferred form of childcare for young parents in France, but there is currently a shortage of places for young children, with a shortfall of around 200,000.

In the interaction with citizens, the National Office of Social Insurance (NOSI) of the Republic of Moldova, aiming to provide qualitative, innovative and modern public services, has implemented the governmental electronic payment service (MPay) – an efficient, reliable and modern software solution for the distribution of social benefit payments.

The MPay government e-payment service is used as a unique mechanism for the payment of social benefits and allows citizens to receive payments by any legally available payment method.

After a legislative change, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) took over from 1 July 2021 a government programme for families in Poland called Dobry start (Good start) 300plus, aimed at parents of children attending school.

The DOST-Index of the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Provision (DOST) of Azerbaijan is a comprehensive tool for assessing and benchmarking social services delivery performance across different factors by analyzing collected information from several sources and drawing out insights using time-tested analytic methods. Being an evaluation system, the DOST-Index is a model aimed at analyzing activities of back offices at the macro level and DOST centres at the micro level.

With the e-prescription in the Austrian Federation of Social Insurances (Dachverband der Österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger – DSV), health insurance prescriptions for all insured persons are issued, filled and billed electronically. Because all the necessary information is available electronically in the pharmacy, paper is no longer necessary. This reduces the administrative workload for everyone involved.

By virtue of the amended legislation and new legislation enacted, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych ‒ ZUS) has been obliged to handle a number of programmes to support families. These are the government programmes: Good Start 300+; Family 500+; Family Care Capital; Co-financing of Nursery Fees.

The huge, multi-million number of benefit claims, the heavy burden of social responsibility, as well as the tight timetable to prepare for the processing of new claims, forced ZUS to take quick and efficient measures.

The good practice “Instant Pension” is part of the information system supporting the pensions business, being a solution that aims to reduce the average time it takes to grant requests for old-age pensions, presented by citizens to Portuguese social security. This solution automatically approves pension requests, validating access conditions and carrying out a provisional calculation of the old-age pension, based on the information available in the social security information system.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was an abrupt disruption that caused loss of lives, fear, uncertainty, and anxiety on how to manage the health, social and economic effects. Several of our members ended up needing specialised treatment from private medical facilities. Being unprecedented, insurance companies had limitations on coverage since this was a pandemic. This meant that members had to resort to out-of-pocket payment to cover the enormous medical bills.

Creating “user pathways” is central to strengthening access to rights for Family Branch users. It allows us to provide comprehensive support at specific key moments in users’ lives, such as having children and during a separation.

Since 2020, Costa Rica’s economy has been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the resultant drop in household income generating other financial needs. For this reason, the Pension and Retirement Board of the National Teachers’ Union (Junta de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Magisterio Nacional – JUPEMA) has developed a credit line to purchase debts at very favourable conditions.

Since unregistered employment among women in Türkiye is very high compared to developed European countries, the EU-supported “Operation on supporting registered women employment (Women-Up)” has been started by the Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SGK) in 2021.

The Cordoba Retirement and Pension Fund (Caja de Jubilaciones, Pensiones y Retiros de Córdoba – CJPRC), run by Argentina’s Federal Social Insurance Council (Consejo Federal de Previsión Social – COFEPRES), underwent a management process that enabled its transformation from an institution with certain digitalized processes to a fully-fledged digital organization. This document sets out the good practices that facilitated this transformation.

The German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the energy, textile, electrical and media products sectors (Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse – BG ETEM) is one of Germany’s social accident insurance institutions. As such, it has a duty to support the treatment and rehabilitation of victims of occupational accidents through all appropriate means (para. 1, No. 2 of Book VII of the German social security code (Sozialgesetztbuch – SGB)).

The poorest citizens are mostly single recipients of old-age and invalidity pensions. The government wants to reduce their risk of poverty. The State Social Insurance Fund Board of the Republic of Lithuania under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour (Sodra) wants to help in particular those who are often not even aware that they are entitled to the new benefit, or those who are unable to come to claim and unable to use the electronic claim form.

The Social services portal (the Portal) was developed as part of the implementation of the National of the State Social Insurance Fund (SSIF) of Kazakhstan plan to ensure the rights and improve the quality of life of disabled people.

The Portal is a part of the unified information system of the social and labor sphere and is an automated system that provides persons with disabilities with the opportunity to independently choose and purchase technical rehabilitation means (TMR) and services directly from suppliers.

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to people who had to remove themselves from work due to restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19. The scheme was designed over a weekend and available within days to support a large portion of the Irish labour force. Within weeks some 600,000 people representing around 25 per cent of the workforce were in receipt of the payment.

International students are eligible for universal health insurance if they request it within three months of their first registration with the school.

These requests, which were previously made by submitting three different documents to Turkish Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SGK) units, are now made online without any documents.

Since the crisis started at the beginning of 2020, businesses have been experiencing lower activity levels. The hope of a quick recovery leads them to try, as much as they can, to keep on their employees, favouring part-time work and temporary lay-offs over letting people go entirely.

Inadequate minimum old-age pensions and insufficient social security contributions were the challenges that the Social Security Fund (SSF, hereafter the Fund) of Libya had to overcome by consulting the Libyan Centre for Research and Actuarial Studies, which resulted in an increase in the contributions rate from 15 per cent to 20.5 per cent, thus enabling the Fund to raise the minimum old-age pension by 100 per cent.

The pace of development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on social and economic life took everyone by surprise. Lockdown of entire sectors of the economy and restrictions in everyday functions caused serious disruptions of economic processes and had a significant impact on the condition of many enterprises and the labour market situation. To minimise the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy, the government introduced the aid programme known as the Anti-Crisis Shield (ACS).

The labour market has been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. In 2020, Belgium’s National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM) compensated some 2.3 million people, that is, one in every three workers. It also provided support to two in every three employers, some 70 per cent more than usual. Many workers found themselves temporarily unemployed for the first time and needing to make recourse to unemployment benefits.

To enhance support, the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen ‒ PES) of Sweden has developed a model to automatically estimate and purpose a search strategy on top of its traditional working streams, taking in consideration the job seeker’s educational background and vocational history to match them with the demands on the labour market. The model estimates a plan regarding the profession the jobseeker should primarily focus on, and the number of jobs one should preferably apply for optimizing his/her efforts for resolving his/her unemployment.

During the pandemic, the Government of Brunei Darussalam introduced measures to address the impact of COVID-19 in the country. This was carried out with a “Whole of Nation Approach” – United in addressing the impact and challenges arising from the spread of COVID-19 in Brunei Darussalam. The steps undertaken are focused on three main components, namely, maintaining the well-being of the public, protecting jobs, and providing support for individuals as well as supporting and assisting businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on South Africa’s economy and the livelihood of its citizens. Many South Africans lost their incomes as a result of the pandemic and subsequent lock-down regulations. In an effort to provide relief, South Africa introduced a special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant (cSRD) to address income support gap and food insecurity.

France’s Council for the Social Protection of Self-Employed Workers (Conseil de la protection sociale des travailleurs indépendants – CPSTI) was created in 2019.

The internal monitoring and control of its activities is entrusted to the general scheme social security bodies (the branches working on old age, sickness and social security collection) and is based on the organization, reference systems and control plans of each branch.

Since 2020, France’s Family Branch has been committed to simplifying and harmonizing its funding for children and young people. Comprehensive Territorial Agreements (Conventions territoriales globales – CTG) are being put in place across the board and, in parallel, it is rolling out a new funding model, the territorial bonus payment. Any facility located in an area covered by a CTG and supported by local authorities that have signed a CTG will receive this territorial bonus payment. The amount varies according to the wealth of the area and its population.

Singapore’s Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) is the Centre of Excellence for Citizen Disbursement (CD) in administering Government social transfer schemes to support Singaporeans in need with emphasis on customer centricity, operational efficiency and agility as core operating principles.

The project for the execution of the Auxílio Emergencial (Emergency aid), created by Law No. 13,982, of 2 April 2020, with the objective of guaranteeing minimum income to Brazilians in a vulnerable situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed more than 100 million people to be assisted by public policy in a timely manner.

In 2020, the Polish government introduced a new form of support for Polish families and the tourism industry due to the difficult economic situation caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. This was the Polish Tourist Voucher, a benefit of 500 złoty (PLN) for each child and an additional PLN 500 for a disabled child. The electronic voucher is intended to finance hotel services or tourist events in Poland.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Executive Office (Poder Ejecutivo Nacional – PEN) created, by Decree 310/2020, the Emergency Family Income (Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia − IFE), a non-contributory benefit of an exceptional nature. The recipients are households composed of casual workers, unemployed people, workers in private homes and those taxed under the regime for small taxpayers from the lowest categories.

France has set up a public service for the financial intermediation of maintenance allowances managed by the Agency for the Recovery of Unpaid Alimonies (Agence de recouvrement et d’intermédiation des pensions alimentaires – ARIPA), also referred to as the “Public Service for maintenance allowances” (Service public des pensions alimentaires), which includes Family benefits funds (Caisses d’allocations familiales – CAF) and Agricultural social mutual funds (Caisses de mutualité sociale agricole – MSA).

Malta has not been spared the health, economic and social effects and challenges posed by COVID-19 over most of 2020 and 2021.

The well-being of the population was understandably given top priority through restrictive and containment measures to control the spread of the virus. The programme was strongly supported by the population largely resulting in a relatively low number of infections and deaths.

The pandemic created significant social pressure in terms of access to pension and health services in Peru. Faced with this situation, 47 years after the creation of the National Pension System (Sistema Nacional de Pensiones – SNP), the Pension Standardization Office (Oficina de Normalización Previsional – ONP) has been pushing to change and improve regulations, in order to make the conditions more flexible and extend social security coverage.

Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgium’s federal crisis centre needed real-time information on its social and economic consequences for the population, particularly for vulnerable groups.

To this end, the Federal Public Service for Social Security (Service public fédéral Sécurité sociale – FPS), the FPS Employment, and the Public Planning Service (PPS) Social Integration, were requested to take an initiative to meet this monitoring need as soon as possible.

Expanding its services from assisting up to 1,200 jobseekers with employment injuries or illnesses annually in 2008, Social Security Organization (SOCSO) now delivers employment services to all categories of job seekers in Malaysia through the establishment of the MYFutureJobs National Employment Services, a framework similar to the Public Employment Services defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Social Insurance Institute (SII) of Albania, as part of the digital transformation, has started to offer electronic services since 2020, but since 1st May 2022, in accordance with
DCM no. 252/2022 on the procedures for providing online services by the service-offering institutions and for the methodology of monitoring and controlling the administrative activity of their provision, all services in the field of social insurance are performed, only through the online service, on the e-Albania government platform.(https://e-albania.al/)

COVID-19 caused a crisis with economic and employment shocks, which led to increased unemployment and the self-employed shutting down businesses. With prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the number of citizens (subscribers), who struggled to make payments on national pension premiums.

The National Pension Service (NPS) of the Republic of Korea made efforts to overcome the COVID-19 crisis by alleviating financial burden by temporarily waiving premium payments and payments of arrears.

The Family Benefit Funds (Caisses dallocations familiales – CAF) offer the possibility to carry out most of their procedures in digital format. Aware that the access to online administrative procedures is uneven depending on the audience, the CAF has implemented various actions to promote the digital inclusion of people.

The electronic personal loan allocation system is a programme designed to improve access, transparency and fairness in how this benefit is granted. It replaced the conventional system that was based on the delivery of supervised application forms to trade union organisations for distribution among workers.

In response to COVID-19 pandemic, the Social Security Corporation (SSC) of Jordan launched the Sustainability Programme (Istidama) in accordance with the Defence Law, issued by the government in 2020, represented by a package of procedures, aimed at securing workers in the activities and sectors most affected; providing temporary income that enables them to meet their living requirements because of the decrease in their wages.

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Israel.

What began as a health crisis soon turned into an economic crisis, which led many workers to go on forced unpaid leave and went to the National Insurance Institute (NII) for assistance. There was a need to find creative solutions within the limits of the law and the data available to the NII, and to find workable and quick solutions that would allow the payment of unemployment benefits to unpaid workers.

The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the largest threats to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The lockdown was about to force employers to terminate their employees because of the inability to pay their wages. The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) of Saudi Arabia was quick and agile in submitting to the legislators a recommendation by which employers are not required to pay wages of employees, employees can keep their jobs and the unemployment insurance (SANED) would compensate those employees.

The Yuyaq, Casa del Pensionista is a support programme that contributes to the healthy, productive and dignified ageing of older people at the national level; it is focused on pensioners and run by the Pension Standardization Office (Oficina de Normalización Previsional – ONP) of Peru. The programme is based on five strategies:

In 2019, the State Social Protection Fund of under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SSPF) introduced the unique artificial intelligence (AI) driven proactive assignment mechanism for the assignment of social benefits. This self-starting assignment system is a modern approach to delivering a social service that uses big data and technology to identify and reach out to eligible individuals and assign social benefits from a single center to families without them having to visit any institution.

Health is a fundamental right in Colombia. However, there are certain segments of the population that because they live in geographically remote regions, have difficulties accessing health services in areas such as prevention, treatment and sourcing quality medicines. In general, the country’s health and medicine-dispensation services are located in the municipal capitals, which can be hard for rural dwellers to reach.

Human rights and dignity stay at the top of the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST) of Azerbaijan values. Considering its mission to provide the population with operative and smooth access to labor and social protection services, the Agency developed and implemented social innovations that increased citizen satisfaction. The position of the front office for citizens and mid office for ministerial and third-party organizations allows DOST the best coordination between citizens and service providers.

Analysis of citizens’ appeals revealed that the definite groups of people due to their growing number and specific physical and mental conditions, required different approaches.

The Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST) Volunteer Programme in Azerbaijan is a crucial part of the DOST Agency’s activities and applies a new innovative approach to Government to Citizen (G2C) communication. DOST volunteers act as an intermediary within the Agency and beyond it. The programme is focused on the day-to-day operations at the DOST centres, such as guiding citizens, assisting people with disabilities and older persons, conducting satisfaction surveys, and participating in CSR projects of the Agency.

According to Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, “Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art”.

The Law on Social Services establishes that the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST), hereafter referred to as the Agency, provides home-based social services to elderly people living alone without close relatives and legal representatives. Through home-based social services, social caretakers help elderlies with household routines, cleaning, grocery and medicine shopping, payments etc.

To help refugee families integrate and facilitate their access to services while breaking down cultural barriers, a series of videos, including testimonials, have been produced on pre-school childcare facilities, out-of-school facilities for schoolchildren, socio-cultural centres and parental support.

For more than 18 years, the COLSUBSIDIO - Colombian Family Allowances Fund (COLSUBSIDIO - Caja Colombiana de Subsidio Familiar) has been running educational and cultural programmes to support the comprehensive development of children and young people in rural and urban areas, helping to close social gaps.

As part of its digitization strategy, the Pension Fund of Morocco (Caisse marocaine des retraites – CMR) has developed an IT platform called “e-retraite CMR” for the paperless management of pension files. This platform serves as a data exchange interface between the CMR and employers, enabling the latter to scan pension records and transfer them to the CMR as well as monitor, in real time, the status of these files. It also keeps stakeholders and clients abreast of developments in their files.

The practice consists of reducing the time it takes to provide insured persons with information, at a lower cost. This involves notifying them of their entitlements and benefit payment dates with messages sent from a platform developed by the National Social Security Fund (Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale – CNSS) of the Central African Republic. This platform contains an updated list of insured persons.

The proper disposal of syringes and insulin needles is a matter that should be given thought in the field of public health. Among other reasons, it prevents the reuse of such materials, avoiding accidental pricks for family members and waste collection workers and helping to protect the environment.

Needles can cause injury. In addition, they carry bodily fluids.

Used needles can transmit infections and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as Hepatitis B and C.

Sharps must be collected in waterproof, rigid and puncture-proof containers.

The Colombian Pension Administrator (Administradora Colombiana de Pensiones – Colpensiones) created a well-being model as part of its “value-added services” macro-process value chain. This model promotes a range of actions aimed at pensioners and beneficiaries of the Periodic Financial Benefits (Beneficios Económicos Periódicos – BEPS) programme, with a view to improving their well-being and quality of life. The model launched in 2019 with a portfolio of 12 products and programmes to be implemented.

The Colombian Pension Administrator (Administradora Colombiana de

In December 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación – SCJN) of Mexico determined that it was unconstitutional for employers to not be required to register domestic workers (DWs) with the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS).

In recent years, Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), Ministry of Manpower, Singapore, has focused its efforts on redefining its relationship with citizens – from one where citizens see us as just a public service provider, to one where we are regarded as their Trusted Partner.

The effect of climate change is already a measurable reality posing significant social, economic, and environmental risks globally. For a developing country like South Africa, the risks associated with climate change are exacerbated by high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment. The World Bank’s Climate Risk Country Profile for South Africa (2021) states that climate change is expected to increase the risk and severity of water scarcity and drought across South Africa.

The Local Authorities Pension Trust (LAPT) actively seeks to create sustainable value through our business activities – for our customers, employees, shareholders and society. We have embraced sustainability as a value that motivates and inspires our business undertakings. It is owing to this reason that LAPT signed up to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact initiative, a call to companies to align strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and take actions that advance societal goals.

Myanmar’s Social Security Board (SSB) has been struggling with its capacity shortage and unsatisfactory service to clients for a long time. As a result, the rate of increase in the number of insured is small if compared to neighbouring countries. Tracking only in the old ways leaves no room for development. SSB itself realizes some reforms should be implemented promptly to have some progress. The streamlining of the process for the Employment Injury Insurance (EII) is one of SSB’s administrative reforms.

In 2018, the Department of Social Services Education at Argentina’s Mutual Association for the Protection of the Family (Asociación Mutual de Protección Familiar – AMPF) began to develop a series of workshop materials with a view to arming psychologists and social work professionals with resources to deal with the issue of gender and raise awareness in this area.

Training materials for use in the workshops have been circulated to the AMPF’s various branches across Argentina.

In 2020–2021, the State Social Protection Fund under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Azerbaijan (hereafter the Fund) initiated the optimization policy of the corporate governance framework pertaining to social security in Azerbaijan, which represents a pivotal undertaking aimed at refining and streamlining the operational dynamics of the social security apparatus. This initiative involves a comprehensive optimization strategy designed to elevate the efficiency, effectiveness and overall performance of the existing social security governance.

The key objectives of the portal are to provide comprehensive information about social protection entitlements and benefits, enable continuous monitoring of labour, employment, and social protection rights, and offer efficient and proactive services to users. To achieve these objectives, the “e-sosial” portal adopts a user-friendly approach based on the “one-stop shop” principle.

In 2008, the French authorities created the legal status of “auto-entrepreneur” (small-scale sole trader) with a view to simplifying and promoting free enterprise within an ultra-streamlined fiscal and social security framework.

In Colombia, 47.9 per cent of workers are employed informally and almost half of them earn less than the minimum wage, which is an obstacle to them making social security contributions. The national government has focussed on the Orange Economy, in which workers in the creative industries generate income based on intellectual property. Incomes, however, are predominantly low and employment is occasional, making this a vulnerable sector.