Social protection is a human right and is anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in Goal 1.3 and Goal 10.4. It is key to the sustainable and inclusive economic and social development of individuals, communities, and nations.

Digital solutions to improve the delivery of social protection services (information management, registration, and delivery of benefits and social services) have gained increasing importance and prevalence in recent years. However, they are often improvised and fragmented due to the absence of a common strategy that includes, for example, digital standards at the national, regional, and global levels. This lack of harmonization and interoperability has negative consequences on social protection policy outcomes, such as reducing multidimensional poverty. It also creates administrative and time burdens for beneficiaries, who must visit multiple government offices to collect the necessary information and documentation. This, in turn, generates inefficiencies in public spending by hindering the systematic monitoring of social protection system performance.

This program focuses on addressing these challenges by specifically concentrating on the digitization and interoperability of social protection systems in partner countries, in line with international standards.

The program is implemented under a Team Europe approach by GIZ (the main implementing partner), in partnership with Expertise France and FIIAPP, along with the ILO and the World Bank.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the achievement of Universal Social Protection 2030 through the standardization and interoperability of digital social protection systems at the national, regional, and global levels.