Explore how Tntra tackles global social protection challenges by designing interoperability standards. Discover their role in advancing welfare initiatives through seamless data exchange, empowering efficient, transparent, and inclusive social protection systems worldwide. With expertise in digital public goods, they lead in setting global standards like the Social Protection Domain API, ensuring smooth information sharing. Tntra’s success in addressing interoperability gaps reflects its commitment to improving social welfare and empowering vulnerable populations globally.

The lack of consistency and interoperability in the data within the Social Protection Information System makes it difficult to implement social protection services globally. Support programs frequently function independently of one another rather than cohesively, which limits their potential.  The convergence of these schemes requires harmonizing and interlinking data from various sources such as Civil Registration, vital statistics, Identification databases, Social Registries, and Integrated Beneficiary Registries.

The absence of convergence leads to difficulties in optimizing spending and service provision, necessitating involvement from political decision-makers, technical specialists, and software developers to address interoperability’s legal, organizational, semantic, and technical aspects.

Key challenges faced in implementing social protection schemes globally include:

  • Fragmentation and lack of communication among social protection programs hinder their full utilization and effectiveness.
  • The absence of harmonization and interoperability in social protection systems leads to inefficiencies in the utilization of public funds.
  • Unlike the healthcare sector, which has established interoperability architecture and standards such as OpenHIE 5 and FHIR standards 6, no such standards exist for the social protection sector.
  • The lack of standardized digital solutions in social protection programs prevents countries from fully realizing technology’s benefits in this domain.

As establishing a public transportation system necessitates connecting every stop, so does creating a fully integrated social safety net considering all four interoperability levels. The lengthy and hard process of achieving such convergence persists despite efforts made to set the groundwork in different contexts. This emphasizes the necessity of coordinated efforts to overcome obstacles and reap the rewards of interconnected social protection programs.

Source: Digital Convergence USP 2030 and Tntra

Global Landscape of Social Protection: Coverage and  Disparities

Presently, just 47% of the world’s population enjoys effective coverage from at least one social protection benefit. A staggering 4.1 billion individuals, comprising 53% of the global populace, receive no income security from their respective national social protection systems.

As per a study by ILO, significant geographical differences in social protection are also present. With 84% of the population covered by at least one benefit, Europe and Central Asia have the greatest coverage rates. At 64.3%, the Americas likewise rank higher than the world average. There are notable coverage gaps in Africa (17.4%), the Arab States (40%), and Asia and the Pacific (44%).

In March 2023, the World Bank pledged $26 billion, including $16 billion via IDA, enhancing social protection for 267 million individuals worldwide. Its initiatives span 70 nations, with ongoing efforts to develop digital delivery systems for more efficient service delivery and better adaptation to beneficiaries’ requirements.

Social safety nets have a significant effect, helping about 36% of the very poor escape extreme poverty. These initiatives make a major contribution to global efforts to reduce poverty. Safety net programs serve 2.5 billion people in emerging and transitioning countries, proving their critical role in promoting social cohesion and economic resilience.

“We must recognize that effective and comprehensive social protection is not just essential for social justice and decent work but for creating a sustainable and resilient future too.”

– Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General (now Under-Secretary-General for Policy at the United Nations)

Addressing Interoperability Challenges in Social Protection Systems

Ensuring effective social protection systems globally is crucial for alleviating poverty and promoting social welfare. However, one major obstacle hindering the efficiency of these systems is the lack of interoperability standards. Without standardized protocols for data exchange, social protection programs often operate in silos, leading to fragmented services and inefficient resource allocation. This inconsistency in data exchange and interoperability poses significant challenges in reaching the most vulnerable populations and maximizing the impact of social protection initiatives.

To address the issue with the social protection information systems, Tntra, as a partner specializing in the world of technology solutions, stepped in to address the interoperability gap. Through meticulous technical analysis, Tntra identified key challenges and discrepancies in data exchange among various social protection systems.   

Leveraging our expertise, they designed interoperability standards tailored to the needs of different social protection domains across nations. This involved developing protocols for seamless data exchange between systems, ensuring compatibility with existing platforms, and enhancing data security and privacy measures.

Moreover, Tntra, a software product engineering company, offered indispensable technical support throughout the project, working closely with stakeholders to fine-tune the standards and tackle use cases within the social protection domain API. Their endeavors resulted in creating pragmatic solutions and proof-of-concepts for social protection systems with seamless interoperability.

By bridging the gap in interoperability, Tntra played a pivotal role in advancing the objectives of the USP 2030 initiative, ultimately contributing to more efficient, transparent, and inclusive social protection systems worldwide.

  • Strengthened skills in Digital Public Good, vital for improving how different social protection programs connect and work together.
  • Took a lead role in setting up global standards for how platforms like the Social Protection Domain API can share info smoothly.
  • Developed a deeper understanding of how these standards work, making sure systems in different countries can talk to each other better.
  • Became experts in dealing with the tricky parts of social protection, ensuring that our solutions fit each program’s unique needs.
  • Equipped to tackle tough problems and make social protection programs work smarter, thanks to our detailed knowledge and hands-on experience.

Specialty that Tntra Achieved under the Social Protection Domain with the Success of the Project

Due to the project’s successful completion, Tntra has gained specialized recognition in the Social Protection Sector. Tntra’s software product engineering services have become a major force in developing interoperability standards and improving social protection systems across the globe because of its coordinated efforts and expertise.

  • Strengthened skills in Digital Public Good, vital for improving how different social protection programs connect and work together.
  • Took a lead role in setting up global standards for how platforms like the Social Protection Domain API can share info smoothly.
  • Developed a deeper understanding of how these standards work, making sure systems in different countries can talk to each other better.
  • Became experts in dealing with the tricky parts of social protection, ensuring that our solutions fit each program’s unique needs.
  • Thanks to our detailed knowledge and hands-on experience, we can tackle tough problems and make social protection programs work smarter.

Conclusion

Tntra’s dedication to tackling interoperability issues in social protection systems has resulted in noteworthy progressions in worldwide welfare endeavors. Tntra has significantly contributed to the development of norms and the implementation of solutions that improve the effectiveness, openness, and inclusivity of social protection programs around the globe through strategic cooperation and technological know-how. 

Tntra is ready to keep promoting change and improving social protection programs to benefit vulnerable people everywhere with its enhanced abilities and specialized knowledge.

Reach out to Tntra and leverage our experience in social protection programs.