Basic Info

Please review before submit

Nominee Information

Institutional Information

Member State Brazil
Institution Name Empresa de Tecnologia e Informações da Previdência
Institution Type Public Enterprise
Administrative Level National
Name of initiative Meu INSS
Projects Operational Years 3
Website of Institution www.dataprev.gov.br

Question 1: About the Initiative

Is this a public sector initiative? Yes

Question 2: Categories

Is the initiative relevant to one of the UNPSA categories? Promoting digital transformation in the public sector
UNPSACriteria
NoItems

Question 3: Sustainable Development Goals

Is the initiative relevant to any of the 17 SDG(s)? Yes
If you answered yes above, please specify which SDG is the most relevant to the initiative. (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Goal 1: No Poverty
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Goal 14: Life Below Water
Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Which target(s) within the SDGs specified above is the initiative relevant to? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
1.5 By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
14.4 By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics
16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, publicprivate and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
17.18 By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts

Question 4: Implementation Date

Has the initiative been implemented for two or more years Yes
Please provide date of implemenation (dd/MM/yyyy) 11 Nov 2016

Question 5: Partners

Has the United Nations or any UN agencies been involved in this initiative? No
Which UN agency was involved? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Other (Please specify below)
Other UN agency
Please provide details

Question 6: Previous Participation

1. Has the initiative submitted an application for consideration in the past 3 years (2017-2019)? No

Question 7: UNPSA Awards

Has the initiative already won a UNPS Award? No

Question 8: Other Awards

Has the initiative won other Public Service Awards? Yes
If yes, please specify name, organisation and year. DCD Awards Latin America 2019, DCD, 2019. Concurso de Inovação no Setor Público - ENAP - 2019...

Question 9: How did you learn about UNPSA?

How did you learn about UNPSA? UN

Question 10: Validation Consent

I give consent to contact relevant persons and entities to inquire about the initiative for validation purpose. Yes

Question 1: About the Initiative

Is this a public sector initiative? Yes

Question 2: Categories

Is the initiative relevant to one of the UNPSA categories? Promoting digital transformation in the public sector
UNPSACriteria
NoItems

Question 3: Sustainable Development Goals

Is the initiative relevant to any of the 17 SDG(s)? Yes
If you answered yes above, please specify which SDG is the most relevant to the initiative. (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Goal 1: No Poverty
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Goal 14: Life Below Water
Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Which target(s) within the SDGs specified above is the initiative relevant to? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
1.5 By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
14.4 By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics
16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, publicprivate and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
17.18 By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts

Question 4: Implementation Date

Has the initiative been implemented for two or more years Yes
Please provide date of implemenation (dd/MM/yyyy) 11 Nov 2016

Question 5: Partners

Has the United Nations or any UN agencies been involved in this initiative? No
Which UN agency was involved? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Other (Please specify below)
Other UN agency
Please provide details

Question 6: Previous Participation

1. Has the initiative submitted an application for consideration in the past 3 years (2017-2019)? No

Question 7: UNPSA Awards

Has the initiative already won a UNPS Award? No

Question 8: Other Awards

Has the initiative won other Public Service Awards? Yes
If yes, please specify name, organisation and year. DCD Awards Latin America 2019, DCD, 2019. Concurso de Inovação no Setor Público - ENAP - 2019...

Question 9: How did you learn about UNPSA?

How did you learn about UNPSA? UN

Question 10: Validation Consent

I give consent to contact relevant persons and entities to inquire about the initiative for validation purpose. Yes

Question 1: About the Initiative

Is this a public sector initiative? Yes

Question 2: Categories

Is the initiative relevant to one of the UNPSA categories? Promoting digital transformation in the public sector
UNPSACriteria
NoItems

Question 3: Sustainable Development Goals

Is the initiative relevant to any of the 17 SDG(s)? Yes
If you answered yes above, please specify which SDG is the most relevant to the initiative. (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Goal 1: No Poverty
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Goal 14: Life Below Water
Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Which target(s) within the SDGs specified above is the initiative relevant to? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
1.5 By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
14.4 By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics
16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, publicprivate and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
17.18 By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts

Question 4: Implementation Date

Has the initiative been implemented for two or more years Yes
Please provide date of implemenation (dd/MM/yyyy) 11 Nov 2016

Question 5: Partners

Has the United Nations or any UN agencies been involved in this initiative? No
Which UN agency was involved? (hold Ctrl to select multiple)
Other (Please specify below)
Other UN agency
Please provide details

Question 6: Previous Participation

1. Has the initiative submitted an application for consideration in the past 3 years (2017-2019)? No

Question 7: UNPSA Awards

Has the initiative already won a UNPS Award? No

Question 8: Other Awards

Has the initiative won other Public Service Awards? Yes
If yes, please specify name, organisation and year. DCD Awards Latin America 2019, DCD, 2019. Concurso de Inovação no Setor Público - ENAP - 2019...

Question 9: How did you learn about UNPSA?

How did you learn about UNPSA? UN

Question 10: Validation Consent

I give consent to contact relevant persons and entities to inquire about the initiative for validation purpose. Yes

Nomination form

Questions/Answers

Question 1

Please briefly describe the initiative, what issue or challenge it aims to address and specify its objectives. (300 words maximum)
Meu INSS is a technological solution that provides digital social security services for the Brazilian population. Services that once required in-person displacement to one of the agencies, can now be requested from the internet. Due to the great number of users, the Institute had to deal with extremely long queues and croweded agencies, making the provision of those services very slow and susceptible to errors and frauds. Moreover, the number of employees is reducing substantially with the actual policy of state downsizing, so it will be even more necessary to increase virtual attendence. Some of the main services offered by the solution are: 1- retirement requests; 2- maternity leave salary; 3- pension payment monitoring; 4- retirement simulator (calculates if the person has the right to retire, how long will it take and how much the pension will be); among many others. The biggest challenge to overcome is organizational culture change from all the parties (Dataprev and INSS): At first, they were used to papers, stamps, time consuming processes and large bureaucracy that also weaken security issues. The main goals of this solution are: 1- Allow the population access to INSS services from internet in a safe way; 2- Simplify internal processes from the institute; 3- To give greater transparency to requirement and granting procedures, as well as the appeal; 4- Perform data crossovers between different databases.

Question 2

Please explain how the initiative is linked to the selected category. (100 words maximum)
The solution transformed the way citizens have access to offered services, reducing substantially the need of physical displacement towards the agencies that provide those services. One of the most important mechanism is the automatic benefit granting, which takes only a few seconds, with no need for human intervention. The profile of the public served by the initiative includes especially the elderly, injured people, pregnant women and low-income citizens. This public has a more vulnerable livelihood and usually encounters enourmous mobility difficuties with the precarious Brazilian transportation system.

Question 3

a. Please specify which SDGs and target(s) the initiative supports and describe concretely how the initiative has contributed to their implementation. (200 words maximum)
1) 1.1: Reduces transportation costs, which allows significant savings for those in vulnerable situations and increases their visibility for public governance. 1.4: It brings people closer to welfare assistance, providing the same access conditions and convenience as urban people. 1.5: When people in precarious situations receive welfare benefits, they become less susceptible to external impacts in terms of public health, environmental disasters, etc. 8) 8.8: Allows the worker to track his history of financial transactions in a fund used in cases of unemployment or other emergencies. 10) 10.2: It allows people with no previous access to services (due to geographical, physical, economical or any other limitations) to have their rights recognized and granted. 14) 14.4: Provides benefit to fishermen, during fish breeding season, associated to a registry that checks for any irregularities, and reduces predatory and illegal fishing. 16) 16.6: It allows citizens to monitor the progress of service requests and gives the institution a transparent and effective image. 16.10: Facilitates, via mobile or desktop, access to information and welfare benefits. 17) 17.17: The initiative was possible because of the partnership between Dataprev + INSS + SDG. 17.18: It promotes social inclusion for people who live in remote regions in Brazil.
b. Please describe what makes the initiative sustainable in social, economic and environmental terms. (100 words maximum)
The initiative reduces physical service points, resulting in less consumption of water, energy and paper. It also reduces personnel expenses, increasing the efficiency of the state apparatus. Reduces citizens' costs to access care and social security services. The savings generated by the solution far outweighs its development and maintenance cost.

Question 4

a. Please explain how the initiative has addressed a significant shortfall in governance, public administration or public service within the context of a given country or region. (200 words maximum)
One of the biggest challenges that Brazil faces today concerns the magnitude of its dimensions: about 210 million people and more than 8 million squared kilometers of territory. In addition, the country has one of the highest rates regarding social inequality, with significant gaps between regions. Some regions use only paper to store data, while others work with digital documents in totality. There is a lack of standardization of data storage and processing, making it very difficult to track and update personal information. The solution allows every citizen to easely access their own data and also identify (and digitally correct) divergences. This contributes to the quality of the stored information in governmental databases. Morever, due to a greater transparency and proximity between users and the organization, the citizen can oversee and demand more improvements from the state.
b. Please describe how your initiative addresses gender inequality in the country context. (100 words maximum)
The solution ensures that, regardless of the gender, everyone has equal access to public services, so that their rights are acknowlegded and guaranteed. It specially better, faster and more convenient service for the most vulnerable people in society. Particularly for pregnant women, this system provides a much more efficient application of the Law 8.213/1991, which states that every women should receive a maternity leave salary, regardless of her situation. Now the woman can automatically (instead of days or weeks) receive the benefit through the app, thus even reducing costs with transportation and saving time spent in queues or offices.
c. Please describe who the target group(s) were, and explain how the initiative improved outcomes for these target groups. (200 words maximum)
The public of this initiative is the poorest and most vulnerable population, living in precarious conditions and far from urban centers. Pregnant women, elderly or injured people, and even small-scale fishermen are also part of this group. As a result of the solution, there is a greater dissemination of social security and assistance services offered by the government. The citizen becomes aware, not only of available services, but also of their rights, having therefore more ease and transparency in requesting these rights. In some cases, due to geographical distance from urban centers and high prices of the transportation system, people simply give up requesting the benefit. Or, in other cases, they have to wait a few months, so that the cost of travelling is offset by going only once within a longer period. There are also people who simply do not know about their rights or even about the existence of these benefits. For all these cases, the solution improves, or totally solves, such obstacles.

Question 5

a. Please describe how the initiative was implemented including key developments and steps, monitoring and evaluation activities, and the chronology. (300 words)
Firstly, since the need to digitally transform social security services, a working group was set up to verify which services were most used and which could be totally or partially required in a digital way. Secondly, a development system project was created to build the application's backend and frontend, which made it possible for citizens to access these services remotely. Finally, the service was put into production on november 11th of 2016 and, thereafter, a new version is released every 6 months to meet new requirements and demands. Assessment of the system in made jointly by the Dataprev and the Institute (INSS). This joint venture considers criteria based in "User Experience" (UX Design) and “Interface Design” (UI Design), such as citizen surveys, focal group interviews and user review or comments. In addition, there is another evaluation method implemented by the Secretariat of Digital Government (SDG), which questions the citizen directly about their satisfaction towards the Meu INSS iniciative.
b. Please clearly explain the obstacles encountered and how they were overcome. (100 words)
One of the major challenges faced was how to overcome the need to integrate current systems (many of them from legacy technologies) and adapt them so that they are best suited to provide Meu INSS services simply and securely. From this, Dataprev implemented a service layer specific to Meu INSS, able to translate the various technologies from the systems used by INSS, so that this data could be transmitted to citizens. We also created a layer of services that allowed Meu INSS to deliver official documents with guaranteed authenticity, regardless of the source or technology on which the information was generated.

Question 6

a. Please explain in what ways the initiative is innovative in the context of your country or region. (100 words maximum)
This solution is innovative, because Digital Transformation in Brazil is still incipient and, prior to “Meu INSS”, the government did not have a robust product to showcase its potential to include different groups of people distant from technology in a process that is consolidating the path to digital revolution. Considering that Brazil is a country with an excess of bureaucracy, large geographical distances and often lacks transportation in regions far from urban centers, the challenge is to make public services available to anyone regardless of region. The solution provides digital documents that are accepted at other agencies without the need for a stamped paper, so citizens don’t have to commute to get a document.
b. Please describe, if relevant, how the initiative drew inspiration from successful initiative in other regions, countries and localities. (100 words maximum)
It didn’t actually draw inspiration from any external initiative. Instead, a look inside the agency itself – which is present over more than a thousand places – showed that access to social security services were completly uneven aroud the country, distinctively among regions. The real inspiration was the variety of cultures, needs, life styles and levels of education that should comprise the process of Digital Transformation.

Question 7

a. Has the initiative been transferred and/or adapted to other contexts (e.g. other cities, countries or regions) to your organization’s knowledge? If yes, please explain where and how. (200 words maximum)
Yes. In the context of the Digital Transformation the Brazilian government is currently engaged, the “Meu INSS” project has influenced some other government initiatives. For example, the Department of Labour created their own digital portfolio that shows all the labor links of the employed population in Brazil. In addition, we mention the launch of the unique access portal GOV.BR, designed to join all of the Brazilian government’s portals and services in one access place. These are just a few of several initiatives that the Federal Government's Secretary of Digital Government of the Ministry of Economy (SGD/ME) is overviewing. It's official aim is “to define guidelines, standardize and coordinate projects for simplification of services and public policies, digital transformation of public services, governance and sharing of data and the use of digital channels”.
b. If not yet transferred/adapted to other contexts, please describe the potential for transferability. (200 words maximum)
Despite the fact that this iniciative has been adapted to some other contexts, as described in the question above, this project has a great potential for transferability, not only in the context of many other public institutions in Brazil, but also in other countries. Under the South-South Cooperation project "Modernization of Social Security of Mozambique", Brazil's Social Security Institute (INSS) developed a partnership with Mozambique to improve the latter's administrative and operational capacities. Mozambique's delegation first came to Brazil in 2007,when the representatives met Dataprev and expressed interest for developing a project to digitalize Mozambican social security system. Since then, several exchanges of experiences were made and the project was signed in 2010, with the main objective of sharing Brazilian knowledge.

Question 8

a. What specific resources (i.e. financial, human or others) were used to implement the initiative? (100 words maximum)
Dataprev is a public IT company that was procured by the National Institute for Social Security (INSS), through a preexisting contract to deliver IT services. The development of this project involved both INSS and Dataprev personnel working together for a couple of years, and the development teams included social security analysts and technicians, business analysts, IT managers, software architectures and engineers, among others. The whole development cost was about US$ 470,000.00 and its maintenance is about US$ 40,000.00 monthly.
b. Please explain what makes the initiative sustainable over time, in financial and institutional terms. (100 words maximum)
Brazil is a country with a lot of bureaucracy in the public service, which consumes an excess of financial and human resources. Some of the costs involved are: paper, staff, building rental to store copies of citizen documentation, etc. Considering the capillarity of the agency, INSS has approximately 1500 service agencies throughout the country. Only the cost involved to maintain all this infrastructure already compensates the development and maintenance of this solution. Besides, in institutional terms, we have full suport and encouragement of the highest level of the governmental structure, the presidency, which established the digital transformation as national goal.

Question 9

a. Was the initiative formally evaluated either internally or externally?
Yes
b. Please describe how it was evaluated and by whom? (100 words maximum)
1. The first evaluation happened in 2018 by Brazilian Government Accountability Office (TCU). The focus was to test the accessibility of the web version aligned with e-MAG (Brazilian accessibility model based on W3C - World Wide Web Consortium). 2. Using the method of focus groups interview, INSS was able to collect information straight from the users. With these feedbacks it was possible to improve the product so the user experience would become more friendly.
c. Please describe the indicators and tools used. (100 words maximum)
1. The indicator recommended by e-MAG is at least 95%. This is the level of adherence that a web solution needs to meet in order to be considered accessible to someone with physical limitation. The tool used is called ASES available on: http://asesweb.governoeletronico.gov.br/ases/. 2. INSS invited two mobile user groups: one group being active workers and another retirees. A moderator briefly presented the product and asked the users to test certain features. The moderator then gathered user's impressions, difficulties and vocabulary suitability. This feedback brought substantial qualitative results to improve the user experience (UX) of the app.
d. What were the main findings of the evaluation (e.g. adequacy of resources mobilized for the initiative, quality of implementation and challenges faced, main outcomes, sustainability of the initiative, impacts) and how this information is being used to inform the initiative’s implementation. (200 words maximum)
1. Through ASES, it was found that the solution's adherence to the accessability level was between 75% and 83%. Since it was the first application developed by Dataprev and INSS for direct use by the Brazilian citizen some accessibility requirements were not observed at the time. Due to this result, a project focused on accessibility was created based on User Experience Design (UX) and User Interface Design (UI), resulting in product refactoring to meet the minimum accessibility requirements proposed by e-MAG. 2. As consequence it was possible to review words/terms, service names and even navigability. These inputs were used to improve accessibility and usability of the product during development.

Question 10

Please describe how the initiative strives to work in an integrated manner within its institutional landscape – for example, how does the initiative work horizontally and/or vertically across different levels of government? (200 words maximum)
The statements declared by Meu INSS solution are used as input for many public administration entities to provide benefits for the population. Public administration in Brazil can use data derived from benefit granting for studies related to public policies. The Brazilian government has a Digital Governance Strategy which “aims to make public policies more efficient and economical through the use of technologies”. To meet this demand, the Secretariat of Digital Government (SGD) provides logistical, administrative, political, human resources, as well as mediate negotiations between other entities of the public administration.

Question 11

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts emphasis on collaboration, engagement, partnerships, and inclusion. Please describe which stakeholders were engaged in designing, implementing and evaluating the initiative and how this engagement took place. (200 words maximum)
Since the core business of social security has happend for decades, the designing stage started with executives of the National Institute for Social Services (INSS) and development teams of Dataprev listening to the needs stated by the users of services offered by the INSS. Likewise, workers who dealt directly with the public had a important role in mapping the daily basis activities. Design Thinking and User Experience (UX) techniques were used in the process. The main government stakeholders envolved in this initiative were INSS, SDG (Secretariat of Digital Government) and Dataprev (Public IT Company). This engagement was reinforced by a Federal government project entitled “Tranformação Digital” (Digital Transformation), which gave a priority role to social security issues, which cover a major part of the population and uses large amounts of data to enable automatic benefit concession. Design, development, implemention and evaluation happened in cycles in a waterfall fashion: in short periods of time, a specific feature was developed, released to users and then evaluated by the population (the final users), agency executives and government accountability offices. Thus all stages are connected and envolves the stakeholders mentioned above in a continuous improvement process.

Question 12

Please describe the key lessons learned, and how your organization plans to improve the initiative. (200 words maximum)
Until 2016, most of the products developed by Dataprev were for INSS users. With the launch of My INSS, the company started delivering services directly to the citizen. The main lessons learned involved: - Necessity of knowing and mapping the new personas clients of Meu INSS (Brazilian citizens that seek INSS services who belong to different age groups, have distinct economic situation and interests); - Structuring a company to support citizens directly and no longer INSS users; - Defining an architecture and infrastructure that will keep up with product growth in a sustainable way, since it was not possible to precisely define the initial volume of accesses because the target audience involved the entire economically active Brazilian population. To continuously improve Dataprev has invested in: - UX writing workshops to adapt the application to a natural language for the citizen (eliminating technical terms from INSS users); - Design thinking workshops to improve product layout and user experience; - Training the support team at Playstore and Applestore;

Return to list

Please wait...