Talking interoperability is a dialogue series being convened by the Digital Convergence Initiative (DCI) to facilitate in-depth technical conversations around designing for interoperability in the social protection sector. By bringing together digital social protection and technology experts from government agencies, software vendors, system integrators, and international organizations, it aims to promote peer-based learning and problem solving through:

• sharing the technical nitty-gritty of how agencies have designed their social protection information systems for interoperability 

• understanding how agencies have tackled the major challenges to interoperability

• brainstorming potential solutions to remaining bottlenecks

So far, we have had sessions on Karnataka State (India), Belgium, Turkey, Chile, Cambodia, and France.

The seventh session of the Talking interoperability webinar series discussed the experience of the Zambian Ministry of Community Development and Social Services with the implementation of Zambia Integrated Social Protection Information System (ZISPIS). The ZISPIS operationalises a unified National register of beneficiaries for key Social Protection Interventions and serves as a backbone of an integrated digital ecosystem for management of Social Protection programmes in Zambia. The solution also enforces workflow controls, applies accountability mechanisms, and is integrated in real-time to banks/Payment-Service-Providers which significantly improves cost-effectiveness, efficiency, convenience of disbursing and receiving Social Support entitlements as well as standardising management of Social Cash Transfers and other social support interventions.

As expected, this implementation has been affected by several challenges relating to interoperability and data protection issues and we have had to make several interventions, compromises and delayed some integrations in order to get the process moving. The presentation highlighted how implementation of the ZIPSIS has addressed interoperability challenges, leveraged opportunities, and the overall impact of an integrated approach to management of Social Protection Support Programmes.

Presenters:

Dr David Phiri, Director ICT, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services

Craig Kilfoil, Senior Payment Systems Specialist, World Bank

Lubasi Musambo, Principal Officer in Charge of SCT MIS, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services

Discussants: 

Christabel E. Dadzie, Senior Social Protection Specialist, World Bank

Alejandro Grinspun, Senior Economist in the Social Protection Team, FAO

Moderator: Richard Chirchir, Principal Management Information System Specialist, Development Pathways

This is the seventh meeting of the "Talking interoperability" dialogue series organised by the Digital Convergence Initiative (DCI). These meetings aim to facilitate in-depth technical conversations around designing for interoperability in the social protection sector. By bringing together digital social protection and technology experts from government agencies, software vendors, system integrators, and international organisations, they aim to promote peer-based learning and problem-solving.