New mechanisms developed for targeted social assistance

The Azerbaijani Labour and Social Protection Ministry has begun to adopt alternative mechanisms to apply for targeted social assistance in Baku and 14 more cities and regions of the country, Deputy Minister Ilgar Rahimov said during a seminar.

"The main goal today is to expand the geography of these mechanisms. We use them in 11 districts of Baku and 14 regions of the country since the beginning of 2012 and there's a plan to cover whole the country to the end of 2012," Rahimov said.

Rahimov noted that the testing of new mechanisms began in pilot regions of Balakan and Jalilabad, in August 2011. he aim of introducing these mechanisms is to improve program performance of TSA, minimizing contacts between officials and citizens on the appointment of social assistance and removal of subjective factors in the decision making process.

According to Rahimov, the positive experience gained from pilot projects, provides a basis for further work in this area and other regions of the country. The main feature of new mechanisms is to apply for TSA both online and through post offices. Information about the process of application review will be sent by e-mail to the citizens after the documents are received.

The work on introducing of SMS warning, which notify not only about the consideration of the application, but each time when calculating the TSA is being implemented. The Ministry is already in talks with mobile operators in the country.

"As not all the population has the possibility to contact us online, we also began to accept application by usual mail. Pilot projects have shown that this practice produces positive results," Rahimov said.

A seminar on the use of alternative mechanisms for the treatment of TSA with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Ltd Azerpocht was held on Wednesday.


/Trend/