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Digital Transformation Winner: Automating Social Protection for Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy has a pressing challenge to provide social protection and benefits to many internally displaced persons. To tackle this problem, a new platform was developed which centralises appointments and payment processes, supporting almost 2.5 million internally displaced people, enabling the government to monitor their social protection efforts.

Discover the transformative journey of the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy and Ministry of Digital Transformation & Medirent, as they share their remarkable story of innovation and community impact through their award-winning project, Automating Social Protection for Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine.

What does winning an European Social Services Award mean for your organisation? How do you feel about this recognition and experience?

Winning the European Social Services Award is a significant recognition of our collective efforts and dedication towards providing person-centred care. It provides us with validation that our innovative and strategic approach to integrating technology and digitization in social services is effective. This distinction not only bolsters our drive to continue improving our services but also highlights the international acknowledgment of our contribution to assisting internally displaced persons, which is crucial for our mission.

Why did you choose to apply for the 2022 European Social Services Awards?

Our decision to apply for the 2023 European Social Services Awards is motivated by the opportunity it provides. This not only allows us to demonstrate the success of our initiatives but also positions us to play a significant role in shaping and improving social services across Europe.

What is the added value of being part of a European Network for your organisation? Why is it important to share practice and projects with other actors across Europe?

It fosters collaboration and the exchange of ideas, enabling us to learn from diverse practices and projects across Europe. This sharing of experiences enhances our own strategies and approaches, ensuring a more comprehensive understanding of effective social services. The collaborative environment within the network promotes innovation, allows us to stay informed about best practices, and ultimately strengthens our ability to address the complex challenges faced by individuals and communities.

How does your winning project support person-centred care?

Our project, by automating social protection for internally displaced persons, has been instrumental in delivering person-centred care. By centralizing appointments, accrual, and payment processes using the Unified Information System of the Social Sphere (UISSS), we have been able to ensure that the needs of each individual are met efficiently and effectively. The automation has not only reduced the workload of social workers but also enabled us to personalize our care to suit each individual’s unique circumstances. We have been able to reach and assist nearly 2.5 million internally displaced persons, empowering them and enhancing their independence within their communities. Furthermore, the use of digital tools has allowed us to closely monitor and analyze our efforts, which helps us continuously improve our services.

What were the key reasons for the success of your project?

The project “Automation of Social Protection for Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine” is a vivid confirmation of how effective collaboration between different structures and public-private partnerships enables addressing complex social issues in extreme conditions. It underscores the importance of digital technologies in efficient management of social processes.

Why should an organisation enter the Awards in 2024?

Organisations should participate in the 2024 awards because it provides a platform to showcase their initiatives, exchange knowledge, and learn from other innovative practices. The awards highlight the remarkable work being done in the field of social services, which can inspire and motivate others to strive for excellence. Furthermore, it’s a valuable opportunity for organizations to gain recognition for their hard work and commitment to improving their services and making a tangible difference in their communities.

By Delphine Chilese-Lemarinier, Head of EU Affairs, Edenred

 ESN and Edenred have a long-lasting partnership. We notably appreciate exchanges with ESN members and team, to create dialogue with pioneers in the social services sector. For us, it is essential to discuss with delegates in charge of social services/policies and with beneficiaries of services to better assess their objectives, willingness and needs, and outcomes of the programmes we develop. Consequently, we can efficiently adapt our solutions to make them as efficient and near to the needs as possible.

In that perspective, the Awards 2023 theme is particularly accurate. Edenred notably implement and deploy solutions to support personal and household services sector (PHS). PHS includes a broad range of activities mainly carried out in households and related to personal assistance (early childhood and education care, childcare, long-term care in situations of dependence, disability, invalidity, etc.), broadly identified as “care-related services”, and to activities of daily living (cleaning, ironing, gardening, small DIY, maintenance, remedial classes, etc.) united under the term of “household support services” or “indirect care services”.

For instance, in France, as of 2006, the Chèque Emploi Service (CESU) préfinancé programme enables a third party to prefund the purchase of PHS. It is used either by companies to ease their employees’ work-life balance or, under the name of Social CESU, by local authorities and social agencies to distribute social allowances. Each beneficiary receives named vouchers worth a predefined amount which can be used to access personal and household services.

Social CESU can notably be considered as a tool to increase the efficiency of the distribution of allowances to targeted citizens. It is issued on behalf of local authorities, in order to distribute subsidies or allowances for senior citizens, person in need of nursing care or disabled people. Such allocations are essentially aimed at supporting senior and disabled citizens to stay independent at home. Beneficiaries of social CESU have the possibility to choose among various services providers. Empowering them with this role is essential to ensure trust with the provider of services and to support better working conditions for professional workers.

Furthermore, by using Social CESU voucher, local authorities benefit from a traceability of social allowances as well as the possibility to adapt the allowance depending on beneficiaries’ needs and to get reimbursed of vouchers that have not been used (in 2020, €72,8 million out of the amounts distributed in 2019).

“All over Europe, PHS social vouchers have proven their effectiveness in promoting care solutions focused on people’s needs and desire enabling them to age well in their own home according to their own preferences” highlights Aurélie Decker, Director of the European Federation for Services to Individuals. The CESU voucher is one innovative solution, among many, which can be used by public authorities to better answer citizens needs while, at the same time, creating decent working conditions for workers in the social care sector.

Macrosad, an Andalusian cooperative providing education and care for people in their childhood and old age, is piloting technology at its Benalmádena centre to promote the autonomy of elderly people.

Thanks to collaboration with the University of Malaga (UMA), users of the Macrosad Arroyo de la Miel Residence are testing a prototype of an intelligent walker which prevents falls.

This is not the first time that the co-operative has taken part in this type of innovative initiative, as it has already developed other pioneering projects in the field of ageing through its Innovation ecosystem.

Macrosad continues to work on initiatives and projects to improve the quality of life of the elderly in all its centres and services, a commitment which is materialised through its Social R&D ecosystem, which also includes the Ageing Lab Foundation, the Macrosad Chair in Intergenerational Studies, the Macrosad Chair of Green Social Work and the R&D&I Chair for the prevention of Dependency, through which innovative actions will be developed, with the aim of promoting new spaces for research and technological and social innovation, around the prevention of dependency and the promotion of personal autonomy.

In this sense, the Macrosad Arroyo de la Miel Residence, the first centre under the Senior Premium model, which proposes a new approach to personalised, exclusive and flexible care, has become the chosen scenario for the development of a pilot project, which began last July, The University of Malaga’s electronic technology research group has designed the first open-source, customisable robotic walker called Walkit, which consists of a modular kit that converts the traditional walker into an intelligent assistant, monitors steps, compensates for motor difficulties and prevents falls. Thanks to this innovative device, users will have greater autonomy and improved locomotor skills.

Training is one of the lines of research of the R&D&I Chair for the Prevention of Dependency. Recently, with the aim of generating research interest in professionals and students, the Chair has created the Dependency Prevention Classroom, whose central axes are prevention and intergenerationality, one of Macrosad’s hallmarks, an approach it has been working on for more than 15 years, and the Dependency questionnaire, which is currently in the process of validation, which will measure the risk of suffering dependency through the answers obtained.

The research teaching team of the Chair, the students of the UMA’s degree in Social Work and the social intervention professionals of the Macrosad cooperative will participate in this innovative research initiative, focused on preventive aspects in the field of Dependency, as well as on training for professionals in the sector with the aim of acquiring competencies and skills that will contribute to improving care and intervention.

By Fundación ONCE

Radia is the first national programme aimed at university women students with disabilities who will  be trained and employed in digital economy companies, with an innovative and successful methodology, as it is individualized and focused on the characteristics of each person. It combines theory, practice, mentoring and tutoring and has key allies for the professional inclusion  process: companies (only in 2020 –our first edition—15 companies joined).

The aim of this programme is to offer specific training in digital technology and to employ women with disabilities who are university graduates in digital work environments using an innovative methodology that combines:

1) Classroom and virtual training

2) Mentoring

3) Training internships in technical areas of some leading companies in their sector with the option of subsequent employment in those companies.

This annual programme involves 50 female university students with disabilities from all over Spain. It is divided into three phases: Brain Storm (26 masterclasses with high profile technological experts); Mentor Women (20 mentoring sessions with leading professionals in the field of technology) and Real Work (internships in leading companies in the field of technology). The three phases focus on the latest topics in digital transformation:AI, Cybersecurity and big data.

The intended impact is to increase the number of women in technology careers and specially to guarantee that women with disabilities have the opportunity to work in these highly skilled jobs. In addition, we involve companies in the training, recruitment and employment of people with disabilities, challenging role assumptions and breaking down stereotypes about the work capabilities of women with disabilities.

Visit here for more information

The OHLA Group reinforces its growth and diversification strategy and is committed to the digital transformation of its Services division. Ingesan, the parent subsidiary of this line of business, which has a portfolio of more than 500 contracts and a workforce of more than 12,000 people, presents VERA, a Virtual Social Centre for its healthcare activity.

With more than ten years of experience in the healthcare sector, Ingesan will be able to offer this virtual social centre in Spain, Mexico and Chile to a potential of more than 6,000 users. The company frames this project in the development of new digital care services based on its commitment to innovation and digital transformation.

The objective of the VERA digital platform is to transfer the activity of a traditional social centre to the user’s home thanks to technology. In this way, physical and distance barriers that prevent travel are eliminated and a complete range of services is made available to all citizens: psychological care, physical and sensory rehabilitation and entertainment to facilitate the individual and collective integration of the elderly and promote their maximum degree of autonomy.

Thanks to this virtual platform, users are provided with a quality, comprehensive and individualized service in their own social and family environment, while personal interrelationships are promoted through the creation of virtual groups of service users.

VERA’s challenge is to keep elderly people active and connected with Society as a whole and attend to all their needs, to prevent their physical and cognitive deterioration through a wide range of services: virtual day centre, control of lifestyle , fall sensor, communication system with family and friends or recreational activities, among others.

VERA has been awarded in the 2022 edition of TECNOSOCIAL (Málaga) as a Social Innovation project for a new service delivery model focused on people.

For its part, the progress made in digital transformation by Ingesan has allowed it to obtain the award from FORÉTICA, a benchmark business organization in terms of sustainability in Spain, within the framework of the JOBS 2030-Future of Work project. It is an initiative aimed at supporting and making visible business action towards more sustainable and ethical work, delving into the most relevant elements to achieve a fairer transition in adaptation and development in digitalization.

Simon Guérin-Sanz, European Project Manager, & Delphine Chilese-Lemarinier, Head of EU Affairs, Edenred

The war in Ukraine and the subsequent economic and energetic crisis are affecting all levels of society, bringing special harm to low-income households. Regardless of the country, inflation is rising, hitting over 40% last August, with prices breaking historical records. This is exacerbated by the price rise of several basic food products. Wheat and sunflower oil, food products at the core of our diet, were massively imported from Ukraine and Russia before the war. As the incomprehensible expenses are skyrocketing (energy bills, rent, credits), thus households’ purchasing power is threatened.

In this context, citizens, and especially the most vulnerable, see their food budget worryingly decreasing. Among them, low-income workers and pensioners, students, young adults, multi-child families and single parents, as well as disadvantaged groups, including persons with disabilities, older persons and migrants. Therefore, policy responses must secure access to meals and avoid negative social and economic consequences that food insecurity and the shift towards cheaper and less healthy alternatives could bring.

Several EU actors are already calling for concrete and quick action. “Member States must ensure that the most vulnerable are not left without support. Direct financial support and social policies should be in place to mitigate the negative effects of price increases on the most vulnerable groups. Direct assistance to those in need must be targeted,”  warned the European Economic and Social Committee in a recent opinion and call to action.

Social vouchers are targeted instruments that can be used by public authorities to distribute welfare to their citizens as an alternative to allowances in cash or in kind. In the context of the implementation of the European Fund for the most Deprived (FEAD), social vouchers can be deployed as a tool to support poor populations and notably facilitate their access to food. It has been the case in Romania within three FEAD programmes since 2021. Firstly, social vouchers under the form of cards have been distributed to 300,000 elderly people living in rural areas to access hot meals. Romanian public authorities again chose social vouchers to help disadvantaged children and deprived populations for the implementation of new FEAD projects in 2022. More than 2,5 million Romanian citizens in a situation of precarity have received social vouchers in this context. 

The Romanian experience proves that social vouchers are efficient and adaptable tools to distribute FEAD to multiple citizens with diverse needs.

Moreover, social vouchers have the advantages of cash, in that they are flexible and ensure beneficiaries’ dignity, whilst also providing the transparency and traceability of in-kind benefits that public authorities require. Employing a voucher solution for social programmes ensures significant gains for beneficiaries, governments and public authorities, distributing agencies, and also for local suppliers.

On the one hand, social vouchers can efficiently achieve their main objective and provide immediate targeted support to the most deprived. On the other hand, social vouchers bring long-term benefits and provide an economic boost to targeted economic sectors. Benefiting from their efficiency, adaptability and ability to ensure choice and dignity of the end-user, social vouchers remain an essential solution to governments’ pressing concern – keeping their most vulnerable citizens fed.

Watch this film to know more about the FEAD programme – Hot meals for the most deprived – implemented in Romania in 2021.

By Rainer Binder, Global Managing Director, Health & Public Service, Accenture

Social services agencies, always under pressure, have faced relentlessly increasing demands over the past few years. The social services workforce has been at the forefront of supporting citizens. They are a vital lifeline for many, from coping with the pandemic to addressing the ongoing impacts of the energy crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

Agencies need to address longer-term trends, too. There’s the need to provide personalised and tailored ‘cradle to grave’ services built around significant life events, for one. More collaboration with other agencies is also critical, as is sharing and using data to drive insights that support proactive approaches to social support. And all this is in a context where many social services employees, like their counterparts in other sectors, are re-evaluating their career choices.

Innovation to the fore

Innovation has a crucial role to play in the design and delivery of social services. But it’s also crucial for supporting workers with the tools and information they need to be as effective as possible and provide them with the satisfying careers they want and deserve. AI and automation, for example, can relieve much of the burden of routine administration that prevents social workers from focusing on what gives them the greatest satisfaction: helping people.

Finding hidden workers, and helping employees belong

Changing employee expectations and the scarcity of suitable talent are both key issues for social services agencies right now. Two recent pieces of Accenture research shed some light on both the problems and their potential solutions.

The first, Better to Belong, looks at the ways in which employee expectations are changing and what organisations should focus on in response. People want greater autonomy and flexibility at work, with a democratised experience through which they’re empowered to manage their careers. They want personalised opportunities for growth and learning and an emphasis on their mental, physical and financial well-being. They want to work in a purpose-led organisation where they can live out the values that matter to them. And they want inspiring, empathetic leadership and collaborative team-based approaches.

The second piece of research highlights the potential of a large group of people that organisations’ standard recruitment practices often exclude. These ‘hidden workers’ are keen to join employment and often, when given the opportunity, exceed the performance of those recruited via conventional approaches. To make the most of them, organisations need to make sure that as they look for talent they are prioritising potential, filtering candidates ‘in’ rather than setting attributes that exclude the majority and third, transforming their culture.

Real challenges, virtual solutions

Emerging technologies are also helping to effect positive change. The metaverse is one. While it may appear to be some way from mainstream adoption, it is in fact already being put to use in social services. For example, the Accenture Virtual Experience Solution (AVEnueS) uses virtual reality to train social service caseworkers. It places them in realistic scenarios which enable them to gain skills and know-how that would otherwise take years to develop.

Social services have never been more important, or more challenging. The workforce is at the heart of making the changes and adaptations that supporting all citizens in the 21st century requires. During the cross-sector panel discussion we’ll be focusing on these issues (and more) in-depth. It promises to be a fascinating discussion.