SPORTELLO MOBILE INPS ESTENSIONE TERRITORIALE
ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DELLA PREVIDENZA SOCIALE

A. Problem Analysis

 1. What was the problem before the implementation of the initiative?
All citizens turn to INPS social services offices for solutions to some, though not all, administrative procedures. In the past two years, the situation has changed, in that most INPS procedures are completed by using (with personal computer) either an active PIN number or by turning to an agency that can transmit documents for free and can act as an intermediary between citizens and INPS offices. A citizen’s active PIN is a strictly personal code that can be requested online from the www.inps.it website or from the 803164 contact centre and is upgraded from an INFORMATIVE PIN (which only allows users to check their administrative status) to an ACTIVE PIN (which allows users to send in requests such as pension applications, disability applications, changes in payment offices etc as well) through an online activation procedure. However, there are several categories considered to be vulnerable users, such as the elderly and people with disabilities over 85 years of age, who generally find it difficult to use desktop computers and have trouble going out to visit public offices or agencies when seeking to complete INPS administrative procedures. The second significant problem that needed tackling was the need to support citizens when sending CUD income statements (an essential document for compiling tax returns, which needs to be sent in by May/June every year). Following new regulations introduced by the Italian government, aimed at identifying measures that can reduce public spending, CUD forms can no longer be sent out to all citizens. Instead, all citizens must take it upon themselves to procure one, using one of three different methods: by using the INPS active PIN number, by visiting an agency or by contacting the post office. Thanks to the Sportello Mobile help desk, these users can phone in and receive their CUD by post and send in their tax return by the legal deadline. A third significant problem tackled by the Sportello Mobile help desk was the need to increase the career opportunities open to its telephone operators (almost all of whom are either partially sighted or blind), who became active members of the project and who have found a new employment identity and new job satisfaction thanks to this project. The national Sportello Mobile help desk sought to solve the three problems mentioned above for all elderly people over 85 with disabilities, who – identified as ‘vulnerable’ users – require more assistance and help even when simply making a phone call. The 803164 contact centre set up by the INPS requires a certain level of skill when understanding the terms and the different menu choices offered before reaching the voice of an operator who, in any case, provides general information and, apart from a few particular queries, generally refers users to an office that can solve the problem raised. In contrast, with Sportello Mobile, users get instant, direct access to operators and are given an answer to their problem by qualified and trained personnel, without having to go out or use a desktop computer.

B. Strategic Approach

 2. What was the solution?
The decision to apply the Sportello Mobile nationwide help desk project to the three problems listed above was taken by the Central Management Organisation department (DCO) after having ascertained the benefits that the Sportello Mobile project had delivered in the city of Rome with specific characteristics typical of the metropolitan area. The national roll-out of the Sportello Mobile project had to be modified in order to make it a standard service throughout the country, irrespective of the size of a city, the number of users, the accessibility of its offices or the level of cooperation with local council services. The nationwide version of the Sportello Mobile help desk was designed to be a way of accessing INPS social services (along the same lines as social services department help desks or the freephone service) and as such all the parameters for making them accessible throughout Italy’s provinces, irrespective of the specific characteristics of a particular area, had to be rendered entirely uniform. Hence, many parameters were changed and simplified and, above all, immediate and concrete answers were given to solve three significant problems: 1) an instant service provided for more vulnerable users 2) the CUD income statement problem and 3) the problem of training telephone operators. ASSISTING USERS OVER 85 YEARS OF AGE WITH SERIOUS DISABILITIES. Thanks to the nationwide Sportello Mobile help desk, we managed to achieve our aim of allowing all elderly citizens over 85 years of age with serious disabilities – on home care benefit (classified as ‘particularly needy users’) and resident in Italy (both users living in big cities and those living in out-of-the-way villages)¬ – to have access to INPS services in an extremely simplified way with the support of INPS personnel who are highly qualified both in professional and in human and communicative terms. Access to the service was made possible thanks to a simple phone call and the result was often obtained in real time. TRAINING TELEPHONE OPERATORS To date, over 99% of people working as Sportello Mobile telephone operators are partially sighted members of staff who initially only worked on the switchboard and subsequently, thanks to the nationwide Sportello Mobile help desk, were given a chance for career advancement and a significant increase in responsibilities, thus making up for the reduction in workload caused by the innovations made to the national central switchboard and the integrated INPS-INAIL (national institute for work-related injury insurance) 803164 contact centre. Telephone operators were sent on a special training course that taught them how to use the Sportello Mobile IT procedure specially set up to allow partially sighted members of staff to operate it using speech synthesis software or screen magnifiers for people with impaired vision. Approximately 280 operators from all over Italy were involved, but this number is set to increase following the recent merger of the former INPDAP (National Insurance Institute for Civil Servants) with the INPS. These telephone operators are assisted by non-disabled personnel who were sent on a training course that taught them the procedure as well as a course on communication and the best way to interact with disabled personnel and users in order to develop an attentive attitude towards listening and to simplify the way they communicate. Apart from INPS telephone operators, operators from the INPDAP civil service administration office were also involved, as they were merged by a new INPS national law. THE CUD INCOME STATEMENT: a parameter with a link directly connecting CUD form requests to other integrated INPS procedures was added to the Sportello Mobile’s procedure, allowing the automatic posting of this form to a user’s home.

 3. How did the initiative solve the problem and improve people’s lives?
- THE REAL TIME POSTAGE OF THE CUD INCOME STATEMENT FORM AND THE COMPLETION OF OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES. A special telephone number manned by members of staff with disabilities who have been specially trained to answer their queries - A SPECIALLY CREATED I.T. PROCEDURE to be used by members of staff with disabilities. This procedure boasts all aspects of accessibility (ease of use, graphic design, choice of colour, size of font…) . - ACQUISITION OF SPEECH SYNTHESIS SOFTWARE The INPS is now finalising the roll-out of speech synthesis software for the desktop computers of partially sighted members of staff, hence creating equal opportunities, in that it allows them to handle other procedures that operate through the Intranet, above and beyond the Sportello Mobile procedure itself, hence allowing personnel to develop greater professional expertise and to handle their own personal administrative position independently (allowing them to view their payslip, holiday requests…). - THE NATIONWIDE PROJECT: The nationwide Sportello Mobile is not a territorial solution entrusted to the proactive efforts of a single office manager; it is an innovative project of national importance, in order to ensure that the specific characteristics of the players involved in the project are safeguarded and respected.

C. Execution and Implementation

 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
IN THE YEAR 2012– CREATION OF THE SPORTELLO MOBILE PROCEDURE A special procedure was developed that would be totally accessible in all aspects (including graphic design, colour and font size appropriate for the partially sighted). In order to set up a special archive, the details of all users assisted by the INPS social services department in Italy and belonging to the specific user categories envisaged were fed into the procedure i.e. elderly people over 85 years of age with disabilities and on benefits: home care benefit, special benefit (for the blind) or communication benefit (for the deaf). The personal details in the archive are updated every 20 days. The procedure was set up to constantly evolve, so as to allow partially sighted members of staff an increasing level of operational independence. FEBRUARY 2013 - NATIONALLY DISTRIBUTED CIRCULAR . A Circular signed by the INPS’s Director General was sent out nationwide, a letter that established the opening of at least one Sportello Mobile help desk in every province of Italy, identifying – with the aid of a special template listing the employee’s full name and staff number – switchboard staff (almost entirely partially sighted employees) as operators and other employees (usually those responsible for customer relations) as system administrators, responsible for supporting members of staff with disabilities when solving the problems raised by users in more complex queries and those that involve a need for independence. It should be stressed that the Circular launching the national roll-out was preceded by a period which lasted approximately two years, when the Sportello Mobile project for people with disabilities (already operational in the city of Rome, even if with different parameters) was rolled out on an entirely voluntary basis; this voluntary roll-out had offices in Savona, Sassari, L’Aquila, the Calabria region and Venice. MARCH 2013 - THE TRAINING OF OPERATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS Training was organised in two modules, one for operators and one for administrators, and took place at the same time in two classrooms: a specific module for operators, training them to use the procedure (user identification, the opening of a closure request fee procedure) and to use speech synthesis software and a specially designed module for administrators, which envisaged both training in the procedure and the development of useful skills when dealing with the type of users envisaged, both those working in-house and those among the general public, such as attentive listening skills, effective communication, interaction, how to handle the relationship between frustration and aggressive behaviour etc. using – among other things – psychometric self-evaluation tools FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 -HELP DESK LAUNCH. The INPS’s Central Management Organisation department, working in partnership with its IT Systems and Technology Central Management Dept, began monitoring how the project was rolled out, constantly assisting the offices involved in the work necessary to launch the project on a local level (sending out service activation letters, activity supervision etc). Users were immediately able to enjoy the service’s benefits, especially as regards urgent CUD forms and other particularly urgent administrative procedures, such as the ICRICC statement (an annual statement that declares whether a person has been admitted to a public hospital at such and such a time, or not) which every INPS user on home care benefit must send in every year by April/May for the previous year or risk losing their home care benefit. This process is based on the principle that one person cannot enjoy two different kinds of financial support provided by the Italian state during the same period and, more specifically, either free admission to a public health centre or home care benefit (approximately €490 per month).

 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
During the project start-up phase the INPS Central Organisation Department collaborated with the INPS Regional Directorate of Lazio. During the subsequent phase of national implementation, the Central Organisation Department involved other INPS departments, each having respective competencies in the various activities relating to the project:  The Central Information and Technology Systems Department was responsible for developing the Mobile Helpdesk Procedure and administered both its implementation and regular periodic updates. It set up a database of users by extracting it from the INPS central database and updating it regularly. It is also collaborating on the technical tests necessary to provide the speech synthesis software to be used when the system is fully operative by blind and partially-sighted operators.  The Central Communications Department was responsible for drawing up the letter sent to users and devising the logo used for every Mobile Helpdesk initiative; it also oversaw the production of an information video about the aims of the project.  The Regional Departments held the training sessions organised for staff involved in the project. The sessions were taught by executives of the Central Organisation Department both for administrative staff and operators;  The Unione Italiana Ciechi e Ipovedenti (Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted), an organisation which is external to INPS, regularly provided free advice with regard to issues of both a technical and organisational nature, offering helpful suggestions for the development of the Mobile Helpdesk Procedure and recommendations concerning the type of speech synthesis software to adopt as well as specific IT set-ups for blind and partially-sighted operators.
 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
In order to implement the project, INPS used exclusively internal resources, without external funding either from other bodies or associations or from other administrations. In addition to financial resources, INPS primarily mobilised human resources; these resources were chosen from a central group of the Central Organisation Department, which was responsible for coordination at the national level and teaching operators and administrators about the procedure. Other resources used included staff of the Central Information and Technology Systems Department and the Central Communications Department, which supported the initiative in their respective areas of competency. On the national scale, resources from the Regional and Provincial Departments, following the geographical extension of the initiative under Provision no. 2451 of 7 February 2013 signed by the General Director. The project’s impact in terms of costs connected with human resources is zero, as all personnel those involved are INPS employees, thus without entailing additional costs. Two IT tools are connected to the Mobile Helpdesk: • Firstly a dedicated software-based procedure was implemented. Its implementation was overseen by an external company, which is also responsible for updating and developing it. The program handles all phases of the Mobile Helpdesk project, i.e. the mailing of security codes, as well as receiving subsequently dealing with requests; • The other IT resource used regards speech synthesis, which is a tool for assisting blind and partially-sighted operators enabling them to work on the Mobile Helpdesk without difficulty, thanks to the versatility of the procedure. The provision of the speech synthesis programs is currently being finalised. Other costs relating to the initiative regard the mailing of security codes to users. The codes are sent using the Postel service (a mass mailing service provided by Poste Italiane), thus at a reduced postage rate. Costs are as follows: - Sending of security codes: €. 0,68 per user, less than the standard postage rate thanks to a special agreement between Poste Italiane and INPS - The purchase of the screen reader speech synthesis program which INPS would have had to purchase in any case for its blind and partially-sighted operators in order to permit equality of opportunity in consulting and managing their administrative position. Inps already owns 50 licenses, to which others will be added in volume licensing. - Development, updating and continuous improvement of the Mobile Helpdesk IT Procedure by DC SIT. - Training was provided internally by INPS staff, with costs already included in the Central Training Department’s budget. A total of 32 days of training were provided. On each day of training, 2 or in some cases 3 distinct courses were held for different groups of operators and administrative staff and for subjects considered. The training costs met by the Central Training Department were approximately €. 40.000. - The overall costs can be defined only when the project is fully implemented.

 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
- Mailing of CUD form: several hundred citizens benefiting from the specific initiative were able to benefit from the mailing of the CUD form in real time without leaving their home and at absolutely no charge. Many local INPS managers also assigned telephone operators to work on the desks issuing CUD forms to general users, using various computerised INPS procedures. No specific data is available for these services; however, certainly no fewer than 30 users were served per day by each member of staff. The operators at the INPS Central Department were used on a rotation basis, after an appropriate, specific training course, to mail the CUD forms to pensioners residing abroad, who were notified through embassies of 3 telephone numbers specifically dedicated for the purpose. - Professional development for operators: 200 operators were given the opportunity to undergo training for the Mobile Helpdesk and begin to put what they learned into practice, making their own personal contribution to the activities of their local office. It should also be stressed that a cordial, relaxed group spirit was created among operators attending the same training course, which certainly fosters work motivation, personal well-being, work identity and the feeling of belonging to an important welfare institution with a decisive role in the life of the nation such as INPS. This series of factors, naturally, are closely tied to the welfare of the organisation, with a reduction in the number of working days lost through absence and the creation of a positive climate of relations which inevitably has a major impact on the service provided to users. - Users served: the user type identified as beneficiaries of the project initially regarded approximately 650,000 elderly users aged over eighty-five with severe disabilities and entitled to mobility allowance, allowance for special needs and communication allowance (for hearing-impaired users. These users’ profiles were activated through the mailing of an information letter containing their personal security code, enabling them to access the INPS services provided by their local office by calling the Mobile Helpdesk. The codes were mailed in a gradual manner in order to prevent operators from being overloaded and to allow the project to develop in a harmonised, controlled way throughout the nation. To date: • a total of approximately 270,000 security codes have been sent; • approximately 3,000 requests have been received, 99% of which have been dealt with and filed.

 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
The monitoring system is computerised and managed by the same procedure as the Mobile Helpdesk. Indeed, the programme management software, for personnel with System Administrator privileges (granted only to the central group of the Central Organisation Department), enables verification of all activities connected with the project. The following activities are constantly monitored: - mailing of letters: the number of security codes is monitored as they are sent both using the automated postal service (Postel) and manually. The automatic system uses mass mailing (up to 100 letters for each batch), while the manual procedure can handle a single letter if the need arises, following which the letter is mailed by hand. These activities can be quantified during the process using a specific command; - requests received: for each Mobile Helpdesk module it is possible to monitor all requests received, both those currently being processed and those which have already been dealt with and filed; - Requests received can also be monitored according to their specific type; - The procedure makes it possible to monitor active users and users whose profiles are not yet active; - the set-ups for the various modules of the Mobile Helpdesk on INPS premises. The central administrator, as much as the local one, monitors Mobile Helpdesk activities at weekly intervals, and if incongruities are found, contacts the relevant regional personnel and works with them in order to solve any problems that may be encountered. The monitoring performed by the central administrator makes it possible to evaluate the activity in terms of quality as well as quantity. Specifically, an opinion survey has been scheduled to be conducted at least once a year by contacting Mobile Helpdesk users selected at random by telephone in order to assess their degree of satisfaction with the service and to collect feedback on how it could be improved. Another type of monitoring concerned the letter sent to users’ homes containing information about the service and the security code, and was conducted by a local INPS office. Users were asked at random while queuing to read the contents of the letter, repeat its meaning and to evaluate it for clarity, simplicity and effectiveness. Over 100 users were contacted and the letter was revised five times before the final version was produced. The letter also contained a QR CODE, enabling its contents to be read optically with the aid of smartphones and tablet computers.

 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
The most critical aspect concerned making all operators equally familiar with the Mobile Helpdesk procedure, in consideration of the fact that they have different levels of expertise in using speech synthesis. This obstacle was overcome by implementing various strategies: 1) classes of similar skill levels were formed with regard to PCs with the use of speech synthesis; 2) a sighted operator was provided to shadow the operator concerned in order to enable her/him to achieve complete independence; 3) operators were given information about attending free courses organised by the association in Italia Onlus e Unione Italiana Ciechi e Ipovedenti (UICII, Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted) for visually-impaired individuals wishing to learn how to use computers and speech synthesis programs. A telephone number was set up with an expert trainer providing appropriate technical support. Another major obstacle regarded extending the project to the whole of Italy. This required painstaking work, consisting of analyses, planning and dialogue with the various Central Departments concerned and with local offices in order to lay down solid foundations for the project. We wish to stress that the Mobile Helpdesk initiative involved over 200 operators, most of them disabled, in around 140 local offices characterised by different organisational structures (in terms of staff numbers, type, place of competence, etc.) and a particularly fragile group of target beneficiaries. All personnel received adequate training across the whole of Italy, and can count on the daily support of the central staff of the Central Organisation Department. These synergies have made it possible to overcome the difficulties encountered and to achieve a good level of operational effectiveness.

D. Impact and Sustainability

 10. What were the key benefits resulting from this initiative?
The provision of services for elderly disabled people aged over 85 through the Mobile Helpdesk has certainly been optimised. The initiative has made it easier for its elderly beneficiaries to access the various INPS services, without their needing to leave their homes, as they can make requests simply by making a telephone call. The aspect which users particularly appreciate is the opportunity to speak directly with an INPS employee who is not only knowledgeable but also sensitive to the issues concerned, as they are difficulties which the operator him/herself has experienced at first hand. This is particularly true in light of the fact that Italy is experiencing a period of severe economic crisis, which has also affected disability pensions, which are granted extremely frugally and with detailed administrative checks and on which strict controls are performed to prevent fraud. The Mobile Helpdesk's positive impact is measured in real time using a function incorporated in the computerised procedure which enables statistics of various kinds to be collected and actual numerical data in real time on how many requests each INPS Mobile Helpdesk receives throughout Italy. EXAMPLE 1: elderly individuals often have their mobility allowance withdrawn because they have not signed the so-called ICRICC statement demonstrating that they were not admitted to a National Health Service hospital during the previous year. Mobile Helpdesk operators have also been involved in providing information about this procedure in order to notify users and raise their awareness of the importance of sending this essential documentation in order to prevent cases in which failure to submit the statement may result in users themselves losing their income support benefit. This information provided for users is recorded in the Mobile Helpdesk procedure as generic requests, and can therefore be monitored. EXAMPLE 2: Another extremely important benefit for users is that they can request and receive their CUD form (CUD = Certificato Unico Dipendente, which certifies income earned by employees during the previous year) free of charge, without which they cannot submit their annual income return form to the Revenue Agency. Simply by telephoning, users can request the form from the operator, who immediately sends it by the Postel service, and receive it at home within a few days. Like the information concerning the mailing of the ICRICC statement, statistics on the mailing of CUD forms can be gathered during the process by a specific command. EXAMPLE 3: Mobile Helpdesk operators attended training courses during which they met and socialised with other colleagues, and above all learned another way of working. For some of them who had never used a computer or speech synthesis (particularly the more senior participants) it was a real discovery which provided them with renewed stimuli, both in their work and daily life. Many of them have begun to use Internet and email and have offered suggestions about how to improve the Mobile Helpdesk service, as happened, for instance, with a number of operators of the Lombardy Region who prepared a brief operating manual for speech synthesis for colleagues using a computer for the first time. EXAMPLE 4: From the training courses emerges the need for Mobile Helpdesk operators to work as a team and in synergy with each other, enabling them to provide reciprocal help as well as dialogue and exchange views about the most effective means of managing work. This is an indication of renewed work motivation, sensitivity to the type of user being dealt with and a desire for continuous improvement. The solution that has been found to satisfy this need is to create an online community through the “Agorà” platform located on the institute’s Intranet and which enables such information to be exchanged through a forum. EXAMPLE 5: The Mobile Helpdesk project has created considerable motivation in most of the operators involved. Indeed, statistics show that in many Mobile Helpdesk units, letter mailing is complete and active users are managed without any particular critical issues arising. The aforementioned factors lay the ground for an analysis of further extending the target user base. With a view to doing so, the Central Organisation Department is evaluating the possibility of lowering the age threshold of the current target beneficiaries.

 11. Did the initiative improve integrity and/or accountability in public service? (If applicable)
The initiative is potentially transferable to and sustainable in all government administration. The sustainability of the initiative lies in the fact that, given the initial investment in training (in any case internal and therefore low-cost) and software provision, management and assistance are in any case guaranteed by INPS personnel. In addition, some tens of software licences for the screen reader are already available to INPS, being held by INPDAP, a recently incorporated public welfare institution, while other demo licences downloaded free of charge from Internet are used. It should be borne in mind that many administrations have already purchased these software packages for their operators, both because it is a social duty to provide employees with equal opportunities and to render them independent in managing their ordinary workloads. Mobile Helpdesks have been extended throughout the whole of the country, to around 140 local offices, and occupy over 200 operators as well as local office administrators. On becoming fully operational, Mobile Helpdesks have effectively become a front-end desk for the organisation which provide information and services dedicated to elderly people with problems related to disability; the initiative has therefore produced positive effects both in terms of proximity to target users and a smaller number of users of the institute’s physical helpdesks. It should be mentioned that the Mobile Helpdesk initiative has provided an effective spur for visually-impaired operators – whom every public administration must have on its staff by law – to reskill. The costs of training and preparing staff for the new activity have had a low impact thanks to the internal training activities provided by civil servants within INPS. In economic terms it is an investment that enables better use of the human resources deployed on the project (operators), while constituting a saving for INPS, as it reduces the number of requests made by Patronati (Pension Advisory Services) and other consultants on behalf of Mobile Helpdesk users, for which a payment is usually made. Presently there is no record of the initiative having been replicated in other public administrations at the national level. However, there are certainly the foundations for this to happen. It should be pointed out that last October INPS, as formally requested by the Dipartimento Funzione Pubblica (Ministry for Civil Service Reform), a number of brief factfiles about the Mobile Helpdesk project, which will probably be published by the OECD shortly, thus providing appropriate exposure and visibility; this certainly represents an international showcase on which other national and international public administrations can draw in order to learn about, evaluate and disseminate the project. Finally, a high-ranking Indian civil servant RajKiuman Prasad, has enquired about learning more about the Mobile Helpdesk’s activities. India has also submitted a project for the UNPSA AWARD and has requested a meeting in order to evaluate the possibility of duplicating the project in India. Contacts are underway in order to follow up the proposal.

 12. Were special measures put in place to ensure that the initiative benefits women and girls and improves the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable? (If applicable)
The most important lesson learned is that it is necessary to place trust in the abilities – including at work – of disabled people. Through the Mobile Helpdesk, for the first time their disability has been seen not as a problem (as something lacking) but as “added value”, which they bring with them and which a non-disabled worker does not always possess. This added value stems from their direct knowledge of the problem, which necessarily develops awareness and a sense of humanity, from the need to deal with it in all of its specific uniqueness and from the ability to deal with it in each and every one of its aspects, without neglecting a single one of them, in particular those aspects which for a so-called “able-bodied” person might be considered marginal or even non-existent. Thus during the training courses a lot of space was given to administrators (who are “able-bodied”) to develop the psychological and relational factors (such as an ability to listen actively, understanding the other, interaction, communication, sensitivity, etc.) that are considered essential for working with internal and external disabled users. Advice: TURN A PROBLEM INTO AN OPPORTUNITY:not to see challenges that arise necessarily as insurmountable, but rather to be mentally flexible in one’s way of dealing with the situation and to try to see, first and foremost, the “problem as an opportunity”; this motivates, improves and helps the institution in which one works and the staff who comprise it to grow. PLACE VALUE ON INTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCES AND MENTAL FLEXIBILITY: to never be frightened of a lack of resources but to approach various situations with flexibility and confidence in one’s ability to solve them. Often, by using resources already possessed and/or with small investments, the solution to major problems can be found. Prospects Sharing of the project with institutes, associations and local voluntary groups; a high degree of sharing might even make it possible to develop the project further in the direction of a virtually complete system for managing the needs of vulnerable users The three years of experience gained by the Helpdesk in fact have convinced us of the fact that the elderly almost always need not just economic protection, allowing them to meet their everyday expenses, but above all to feel listened to and understood: Often the phone at the helpdesk were a time of social occasions for sharing in which the elderly person had the opportunity to talk more broadly about her/his life problems with her/his INPS “friends”, certain, reliable, and capable of interpreting and dealing with her/his all-round needs. Thus, in conclusion, the Mobile Helpdesk represents not just an advanced, modern example of welfare which is close to the needs of the most vulnerable users but also an extraordinary life experience, which enables operators (in the true sense of the term “civil servant”) to play their role in the broadest, most existential sense, from the perspective of “service”, which must constitute the true added value characterising the work of every public employee.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DELLA PREVIDENZA SOCIALE
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   MENA PAOLA CIARMELA
Title:   DR  
Telephone/ Fax:   +39 0659055417
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   mena.ciarmela@inps.it  
Address:   VIA CIRO IL GRANDE, N.21
Postal Code:   00144
City:   ROMA
State/Province:   ROMA
Country:  

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