Playbook on Digital Social Protection Delivery Systems: Towards Dynamic Inclusion and Interoperability

The Playbook on Digital Social Protection Delivery Systems (DSPDS) offers a modular DSPDS framework for a holistic approach to data management, analytics, and decision support to scale-up the delivery of social protection to people in a time of expanding crises. The Playbook comprises a Guidance Note and an Assessment Tool designed. for social protection policy makers and practitioners working in low- and middle-income countries. On the one hand, the Guidance Note sets up a forward-looking framework to address the core characteristics of DSPDS cascading down to data, processes, technologies, institutions, and performance criteria involved in designing, implementing, and governing such systems. On the other hand, the Assessment Tool is meant to be used to take stock of existing systems plotting out from the Guidance Note. While certain component systems receive greater attention and constitute the focus of the Playbook, it does not dive deep into other key components, such as unique identification and payments, as there are existing ISPA tools for such systems (ISPA 2017, 2020). In line with the Social Protection Inter-Agency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B), social protection is defined as “the set of policies and programs aimed at preventing or protecting all people against poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion throughout their life cycles, placing a particular emphasis on vulnerable groups. The Playbook is mostly focused on non-contributory social protection programs, but core tenets of this report can be extrapolated to contributory schemes. As countries transition toward universal social protection, it is crucial to prioritize support to the poorest and vulnerable, with social assistance playing a central role.