Global crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, have demonstrated the relevance of States being able to be closer to their citizens, to provide comprehensive, timely, and efficient responses to the growing demand for social services and benefits.
Chile realized this need in time and in 2018, the Ministry of Social Development and Family, supported by the World Bank through reimbursable technical assistance, started developing Local Social Management (GSL), a new methodology for the integrated delivery of social services and benefits in municipalities and this was subsequently extended to regional and provincial presidential representation offices.
Through a “one-stop shop,” civil servants have access to the various programs and subsidies available and accessible to a beneficiary, thus enabling the delivery of better social care, as well as making public spending more efficient.
People-centric social protection
The integrated social protection system has allowed Chile to make significant strides in poverty reduction. Municipalities across the country are responsible for delivering benefits. To this end, by 2017, 3,305 agreements had been executed, valued at more than US$81 million.
“We realized that social policy had been implemented based on ultra-fragmentation. We had to do the reverse action of generating systemic care again,” says Marcia Pardo, head of the Local Social Management unit at Chile's Ministry of Social Development and Family.
Santiago De la Cadena, a Human Development Economist at the World Bank, explains that the system, whose core is the municipal social assistance unit, has a flexible modular structure that allows for the incorporation of new programs and inter-sectoral services. “By integrating the different services offered by the State to an individual or family, the efficiency and effectiveness of social policy is increased. This also improves its comprehensiveness and integration, through better coordination with child care, primary health care, employment support, and care for the elderly and persons with disabilities, thus allowing the Chilean social protection system to present a more human face,” he emphasizes.
Support for the work of civil servants
More than 6,000 civil servants across Chile are already using this new management model, which has revolutionized the way they work, helping them to be more proactive and provide better service and care.
“The GSL system allows us to manage information that we didn't have before. We can change lives and that gives us great satisfaction,” emphasizes Hilda Fuentes, a municipal employee in the Municipality of Renca.
By using GSL, civil servants can save time, since they have all the information they need to provide good service to citizens and refer them in a more timely manner. This makes their work easier so that they can serve more people better.
Daniela Fuentes, a municipal employee in the Municipality of Independencia, adds that “working with GSL makes me feel reassured that I am doing my job well, that I am giving a practical response to a person in need.”
