Due to the war, millions of Ukrainians lost their homes and were forced to flee their cities. Almost three million citizens of Ukraine have forcibly become internally displaced persons. Many people lost their jobs and livelihoods. Of course, since the beginning of the war, the state began to develop a plan of measures to help its citizens in this difficult period. The result was the creation of the eDopomoga platform, thanks to which Ukrainians in need of help can quickly apply, and thousands of volunteers throughout Ukraine help those in need.
Kostiantyn Koshelenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy on digital development, digital transformations and digitization, told "Apostrophe" in more detail about the success of the platform, as well as how the state helps Ukrainians during the war.
- Let's talk about the results of the eDopomoga platform. How many benefactors are registered, how many people applied for assistance, how many received and what is the total amount of assistance at this time?
- With the beginning of the war, the number of Ukrainians in need of social support and humanitarian assistance increased instantly. For its part, the digital team of the Ministry of Social Policy did everything to ensure that Ukrainians received social benefits continuously and in full, but we understood that it was important to increase the amount of assistance. That is why we started working on providing additional support to those who need it.
This was the beginning of the history of the eDopomoga platform, the second function of which, after information about payments and assistance from the state, was the possibility of providing and receiving volunteer assistance. Thanks to this function, every Ukrainian in need of help was given the opportunity to submit an application, leave contact information and specify what exactly he needs: food, medicine, clothing, and more. And, on the other hand, those who are able to help were given the opportunity to register on the platform as volunteers and charitable organizations.
So, on the platform, people began to ask for help, and volunteers - to provide the necessary things that are available, passing them from hand to hand or by mail.
Subsequently, we expanded the availability of "eDopomoga", providing the opportunity to support Ukrainians online. This became possible thanks to cooperation with large retail and pharmacy chains.
- How does it work?
- It is similar to a gift certificate - people, even from abroad, can pay for some products or medicine to those who need it. Next, the applicant receives an SMS message with a code and the specified amount, which he can spend in a store or pharmacy that participates in the partner program. You just need to show this code at the checkout and you don't have to pay anything. In this way, people from all over the world were able to help Ukrainians.
So far, citizens of 26 countries have joined our platform, and we will continue to work on its development. Our initiative was also supported by the Mastercard payment system, which increases the amount of assistance when paying with their cards.
More than 970 volunteers are already registered on the platform. But I want to clarify that volunteer organizations, in which many people work, are also registered. That is, those who help through the eDopomoga platform are much more than the number of registrations.
- And what are the amounts of assistance?
- Currently, we have more than 20,000 active applications from people from different regions of Ukraine. In turn, assistance was provided for more than 2,800 applications. And it is important to note that behind the applications are not people, but entire households, that is, about six thousand people have already received more than 20 thousand items of various products thanks to our platform.
It is impossible to measure in money what volunteers personally bring to people from hand to hand, but thanks to "online help" more than 850 thousand hryvnias ($29,055) for food and medicine have already been transferred. (Перерахувати в долари)
- Is it possible to simply transfer funds so that a person can spend them anywhere?
- No, we do not organize money transfers. In principle, people themselves can find those in need and help with money. This is targeted help with food and medicine.
- Will there be an expansion of the list of products that can be purchased through the "online help" function?
- Yes, in addition to products and medicines, we are working on adding the possibility to buy fuel.
– What other functions are there on the platform eDopomoga?
- On this platform, you can also find all the information about state aid for war victims. That is, information about all possible benefits, payments, and compensations. Here is information on targeted assistance to internally displaced persons to cover living expenses or how to apply for property damage and everything that the state has now prepared for people in this difficult period. And this information is regularly updated.
- The Ministry of Social Policy has also launched the possibility of receiving financial aid from international organizations through the eDopomoga platform. How many organizations are participating, how many applications have been received, have payments already started?
- Indeed, there is such a function. On the platform, you can quickly fill out an application for financial assistance from international organizations. It is then verified by the Ministry of Social Policy. That is, the applicant's data is checked using state information registers and databases, which allows us to obtain verified information about the person and confirm his social statuses, which he indicated in the application. If a person indicates that he is a pensioner, but he is not, we will check it and show it.
Such information is stored and consolidated in order to provide it to international organizations upon request. We currently cooperate with six such organizations, for example, the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, the Red Cross Society, the Red Rose company, which promotes cash payments with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF, the United Nations World Food Program and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Thanks to this cooperation, people who applied will be able to receive money directly to their card, or in the form of an international transfer via Western Union or MoneyGram. But, importantly, this happens at the discretion of the international organization.
- They themselves decide how much and to whom they can transfer funds?
- Yes, given their priorities. Thanks to the signed memorandums of cooperation, about 1.8 million Ukrainians will be able to receive support. But if we talk about priorities, the organizations first of all have in mind the most vulnerable sections of the population. At the same time, each organization has its own priority direction, for example, UNICEF primarily takes care of families with children.
There is an understanding that now the majority of Ukrainians can be called socially vulnerable. But international organizations, of course, also look at the situation in the regions where hostilities took place, which are temporarily occupied, and whether a person is an internally displaced person or remains at home. That is, it is already analytical work on the part of international organizations, after which they make a decision about who is given assistance.
Currently, more than 2.5 million people who wish to receive such assistance are already registered on the platform. In recent weeks, we have transferred 40,000 applications to the Red Rose organization. These are people with disabilities, pensioners and IDPs. They chose such a segment of citizens for their support. More than 62,000 applications for the payment of monetary aid were also submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The list includes elderly people who are not displaced persons and have submitted applications for assistance through the social platform eDopomoga.
- How much time elapses from the moment of application to the possible payment?
- It cannot be said that there is a certain deadline for each application. After all, it is international organizations that determine the categories of the population whom they are ready to help, turn to us and we hand over the register with verified applications in accordance with the request within the framework of the concluded memorandum. So the payment can be in a month, two or more. For our part, we are making maximum efforts to increase the number of international organizations that can provide financial assistance to Ukrainians affected by the war.
- That is, if the application is submitted, checked by the Ministry of Social Policy and transferred to an international organization, does this not mean that the payments will be 100%?
- Of course, organizations try to satisfy all requests, but everyone has limited budgets. And it is also worth noting that international organizations carry out checks on payments that they made before, deduplication of payment applications.
- I would like to talk about state assistance to internally displaced persons. I know that there are complaints from citizens about delays in payments. Many write that those who applied back in April have still not received help. What is the reason for the delay and when will the funds be paid?
- Most people were registered as IDPs in March-April, which caused significant queues in the regions. But thanks to the optimization of processes, providing the opportunity to submit an application through the "Diia" application, this issue with queues has been resolved. Today, we have more than 2.9 million people registered as IDPs since February 24 of this year. The total number of IDPs is over 4.4 million.
I want to emphasize that we make calculations, then transfer the registers, and already after financing, direct payments are made by the social security administration.
The accrual itself happens on time, but there are several factors. First, the documents may still be in the process of processing, as they are sent to the social security offices and processed. Sometimes mistakes are made in documents when they are filled out, and social workers deal with this, correct these mistakes, and contact people.
Secondly, it is the prioritization of expenses, there are cases when we have to prioritize those funds that we can afford to finance on a specific day, and here, of course, priority is given to financing the security and defense sector first.
But in any case, social expenses are definitely a priority for the state and they will be financed in full. It must be understood that the Ministry of Social Policy only makes calculations, then the registers are transferred, and then, after funding, payments are made by the social security administrations to the addresses of people's residences. And this is also a burden on regional social security administrations.
But the work continues, and those who have not yet received payments will definitely receive them. More than 22 billion hryvnias ($752 millions) have already been paid out.
- It is understandable with those who issued assistance offline and could make mistakes. But does "Diia" pull all the data automatically? This data also goes to social security offices, isn't the processing automatic?
- The fact is that there were technical problems with the processing of document packages. These difficulties occurred in the first two weeks of submitting an application for IDP assistance online, but currently all these issues have been resolved, and the errors that were sent with some document packages are being processed.
- If a person received IDP status, but after some time returned home, should he close this status?
- Yes, a person who has ceased to be an IDP must contact the social security authority and report this. And we are currently working on bringing this capability online.
- And if a person did not refuse and continues to receive payments, is there any punishment for this?
- The law does not provide for direct punishment. But it is clearly written that "in the case of detection of knowingly false information submitted by an internally displaced person to obtain a certificate of registration, to reimburse the actual costs incurred at the expense of the state and local budgets as a result of the exercise of the rights provided for by this law."
- What is happening now with social benefits in the occupied territories, can people receive them?
- Those people who received these payments on a bank card and now receive them without problems. It happens automatically, and I know that people use these payments in the temporarily occupied territories as well.
People who received through the mail, but left the occupied territories, can continue to receive payments by transfer at any branch of Oschadbank.
And for those who remained in the occupied territories and cannot receive through the post office or in bank branches, we and PrivatBank are implementing a model that will allow people to receive payments directly to their card of this bank. That is, everything is done so that people receive help.
Unfortunately, there are no other payment mechanisms yet, because all changes involve applying to social security offices that do not work in the occupied territories. Of course, we are trying our best to bring all social services online and are working in this direction. But while only some functions are available and without a person's physical presence, we cannot transfer payments to a relative's card or some other bank.
- You talk about digitalization of social services, but we have many people, in particular, pensioners, who do not have smartphones or computers. We remember the initiative of the president to distribute smartphones to pensioners, the so-called “eGrandma”, but with the beginning of the war, this project was suspended. Are any steps being taken in this direction?
- Digitization in Ukraine is much deeper than it seems. We know that 17 million people are already registered in "Diia".
But if we are talking about online services, this does not mean that it will replace the work of front offices. This is just an additional opportunity for people who already know and know how to get help online instead of going somewhere. But for people who cannot or do not want to use online services, the social security administration remains for them.
In addition, we are building into the system the ability to outsource services to citizens in the future, if we can say so. For example, to banks or postal operators. Sometimes such institutions are much closer than the nearest Сenters for the provision of administrative services. And it will be enough to come to your post office or bank, submit an application and not go anywhere else. We are working on the maximum centralization of systems, so that it is transparent and efficient, and vice versa, on the decentralization of the fronts, so that people can apply both through a smartphone, and in person at the Centers for the provision of administrative services, and even at the post office or bank.
- And if people increasingly switch to receiving services online, won't this lead to the need to reduce the number of employees in social security offices? Will they have enough work?
- Social security agencies have different tasks. This is not only the filing of applications, but also the provision of social services, in particular, at home, humanitarian assistance, etc.
On the contrary, the staff of people who will cease to be involved in translating papers will be able to work in directions more useful to people, and they will be able to provide some more useful social service.
- What are the current plans for further digitization of services? What new things can we see in the near future?
- We continue the implementation of the Unified Information System of the Social Sphere (UISSS) even during the war. It is already in pilot operation in the pilot regions of Zhytomyr and Rivne regions. This system is actively used in some services, in particular, it is partially involved in the registration of IDPs, it is fully involved in issuing certificates to people with disabilities for crossing the border, and we are developing this system.
Its main goal is to make all social services convenient, fast and available online and offline. The basis of the EISSS is the Unified Social Register (USR), which contains information about everyone who is entitled to, receives or once received any type of state social support.
You probably already know that from June 1, the "Diia" portal has an opportunity to submit an application for an initial adoption consultation. This is only the first step. In the near future, it will be possible to become a candidate for adoption in "Diia". This is also our joint work on the digitalization of social services.
We also plan to implement assistance for single mothers and fathers through "Diia" and a number of other online services. By the end of 2022, it will be possible to see a lot of changes and many new services.
