Playbook on Digital Social Protection Delivery Systems: Towards Dynamic Inclusion and Interoperability

This document provides a comprehensive framework for designing and implementing effective Digital Social Protection Delivery Systems (DSPDS). It offers guidance on key characteristics, data management, technology architecture, governance, and performance metrics for building dynamic and interoperable social protection systems. The playbook provides practical resources for policymakers and practitioners to leverage digital technologies for improved social assistance in low- and middle-income countries.

Key Insights

Core Characteristics of DSPDS

Digital social protection delivery systems (DSPDS) personify a digital public infrastructure (DPI) approach for social programs with intertwined investments in multiple public service platforms. These include unique identification systems, dynamic social registries (dSR), beneficiary operations management systems (BOMS), multi-program multi-provider payments, and integrated beneficiary registries (IBR), all designed to be interoperable. DSPDS embody the notion of “invisible engines” that empower programs to deliver results from governments to people, impacting households in multiple ways. DSPDS help governments to answer fundamental questions: who is who, who is in need, where are they, how will they be paid or reached, and who has received some form of assistance? (p. ix)

Data Management in DSPDS

Data are the core input and output of DSPDS, supporting all stages of the social protection delivery chain. DSPDS enable the interoperability of data from different sources into biographic, socioeconomic, and benefit management data sets to reduce redundancies and exploit complementarities between them. Due to the ever-changing circumstances of poverty and vulnerability, the socioeconomic data used to represent and capture such phenomena have a latent half-life. As such, to keep dSR data up to date, the system can harness self-reported data directly collected from households through questionnaires purposefully designed for social registries, and indirectly collected data such as administrative records generated by other entities and made interoperable with the dSR. (p. xiii)

Delivery Chain and Technology

Outreach is the process by which people are informed about social protection programs through varying strategies, according to the local context and characteristics of the intended population. Intake and registration is the process by which data and documentation are collected and stored to register intended populations for consideration of potential eligibility. This stage is the first “touchpoint” where data are collected and updated through different sources, in many instances (but not always) through social registries. Direct approaches for data intake comprise in-person and remote modalities relying on digitally enabled means or, sometimes, on paper. Social protection delivery systems perform different functions along the implementation phases of a delivery chain. These phases are common to most social protection programs and include assessment, enrollment, provision, and management. Key actors interact all along that delivery chain, including people and institutions. These interactions are facilitated by communications, technology, and data infrastructure.

DSPDS are envisaged as interoperable service platforms that support the efficient delivery of various social protection programs by facilitating seamless data sharing.

Governance and Institutional Frameworks

Robust legal and institutional frameworks provide the guardrails for sound governance and management of DSPDS. National social protection policies have been adopted by an increasing number of governments to set the strategic, medium-, and long-term goals of social protection programs. Digital delivery systems are enabling instruments to reach those policy objectives. Investments in DSPDS must be firmly anchored in robust legal and policy frameworks that inform their design and provide the necessary guardrails to ensure they are used effectively for their intended purposes and subject to overall good governance arrangements, including data protection and cybersecurity provisions.

The process of institutionalization-in many ways, the heart of governance-is needed to realize effective DSPDS, with the administrative or “back-office” elements forming a key part therein. Institutions are needed for strategic planning, rule- and standard-setting, compliance and enforcement, and evidence-based learning; they undertake much of the “back-office” work that makes systems function. Good governance of DSPDS requires creating localized points of interaction for people, thereby facilitating access to social protection benefits and services. What is known as the “front-office”-that is, the interface between delivery systems, wider government structures, and people-is a point of contact for individuals and households.

Performance Measurement

Data analytics leveraged by DSPDS can be used to measure the effectiveness of the broader set of social protection systems, identify areas where policies are falling short, and track the progress of social protection policy implementation over time. For instance, inclusion and exclusion errors are commonly used metrics that the analytical platforms of DSPDS can shed light on to determine whether programs are well targeted and to improve their accountability.

Key Statistics & Data

• Staggering 670 million individuals continue to endure extreme poverty (in 2023).
• 4 billion people still lack any form of social protection (in 2023).
• The COVID-19 crisis is estimated to have cast about 97 million people into poverty in 2020.
• More than 220 countries deployed over 3,300 social protection measures (in response to COVID-19).
• 58 percent of COVID-19 response measures were social assistance (in 2020-2021).

Methodology

This document presents a comprehensive framework for designing and assessing digital social protection delivery systems, grounded in a review of existing literature, case studies, and inter-agency consultations. It employs a conceptual model encompassing data, delivery chain, technology, governance, and performance dimensions. An assessment tool is included to enable practical evaluation of existing systems against the framework.

Implications and Conclusions

The Playbook on Digital Social Protection Delivery Systems offers a valuable resource for countries seeking to modernize their social protection systems through digital technologies. By emphasizing interoperability, data governance, and a people-centric approach, it aims to guide the development of effective and equitable systems that can respond dynamically to the needs of vulnerable populations. The guidance provided is particularly relevant in the context of expanding crises and increasing reliance on digital service delivery.