DIGITALIZATION OF SOCIAL AND CHILD PROTECTION BUSINESS SECTORS IN MONTENEGRO – SOCIAL CARD (SWIS)

Abstract

Social Welfare Information System (SWIS) – Social Card is digital transformation in the service of the social and child protection system reform in Montenegro, with the aim of providing the highest quality of social protection for the poor and socially endangered, in the area of material benefits and social and child protection services. This capital project of the Montenegrin Government has significantly improved the way social work centers’ work, because it has supported all business processes and enabled the creation of a single “social card” of the citizens involved in the system of social welfare and child protection services. This paper presents the information system in social work centers and public institutions for accommodation of beneficiaries (which include direct practice, decision-making and case management, information flow management, storage of historical and up-to-date data on beneficiaries and their families), as well as the benefits of this system for beneficiaries, social and child welfare employees and policy makers. SWIS is an important instrument for targeted funding, provision, monitoring and control of material benefits and services provided to families and individuals, and it has improved the capacity of the Government of Montenegro to plan, monitor and manage social and child protection services. The development and introduction of this software required intensive cooperation of experts, employees in the field of social and child protection, software company S&T (Serbia and Montenegro), UNDP and the Directorate for Informatics and Analytical and Statistical Affairs of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.