September Milestones: Advancing Digital Transformation in Social Policy in Ukraine

The past week has been intense, and I’ve finally had a moment to reflect on the achievements of September.

The practice of moving projects and tasks between "To Do," "Doing," and "Done" is not only essential for measuring results, but also for resource planning and engaging partners. In today's environment, progress would be impossible without their support.

One of the most interesting aspects for me is working with the "Backlog," where we handle both highly complex projects and those that, upon reflection, are better set aside if they don’t align with the organization's core goals or digitize something unnecessary.

Now, let’s talk about the key outcomes for September:

✅ Launched the social services portal soc.gov.ua at the Global Digital Social Forum 2024. Citizens can now access social services online, and this is just the beginning. The system will continuously expand, automatically matching and recommending types of support that may be available for each individual. Additionally, we launched an electronic case management system, which provides a personalized approach and better coordination of resources for delivering social services. For social workers, a chatbot was introduced to answer frequently asked questions. The project made it to the shortlist of Europe's best digital-social solutions at the European Social Network Awards — voting is ongoing here: https://shorturl.at/uasda

✅ This year’s Digital Social Forum became international. We not only shared our progress and experiences with partners but also welcomed best practices from Belgium, the UK, and Canada. We announced our continued digital development strategy in collaboration with Deloitte, joined the European Social Network, and integrated AI avatars with Synthesia. Forbes (https://shorturl.at/n2gSr) and Euronews (https://shorturl.at/4IfEd) have already covered these developments. We are grateful for the support of our international partners, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF, and for everyone contributing to our progress.

✅ In collaboration with UNDP, and with funding from the Japanese government, 400 tablets were delivered to social workers in key regions to support their work.

Looking ahead, several important projects are in progress:

We are developing a new website for the Ministry of Social Policy — the design is complete, and the beta version will launch in December, with the full release scheduled for March 2025. A pilot program for basic social assistance is set to launch in early 2025. Instead of multiple forms of assistance, there will be one substantial payment for vulnerable families, and the process will be fully automated. Through our collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, applications can be made via the Diia app. In partnership with the Ukrainian-Swiss EGAP Program, we are digitizing social benefits and rights — a transparent and automated process that will simplify service delivery.

We are also working on online notifications, allowing citizens to track the progress of their social service applications through push notifications, messaging apps, or SMS. Additionally, we are enhancing data exchanges with other institutions, integrating with the State Border Guard Service, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, and others to streamline processes. A tender for this project can be found here: https://riigihanked.riik.ee/rhr-web/#/procurement/7864864/general-info

Finally, the ePotential project will play a key role in the rehabilitation of citizens who have temporarily lost their ability to work. This is a joint effort with several ministries and stakeholders.

This is just a part of what we accomplished in September. If I’ve missed anything important, feel free to comment. Thanks to our partners for their support, and to the team for delivering great results!