New online social and pension services, developed with support from UNDP in Ukraine, were presented at the Online Summit

Kyiv, 29 November 2021 – The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine presented seven new online services during today’s online presentation of electronic social and pension services at the Online Summit. The services were developed as part of the “Digital, Inclusive, Accessible: Support to Digitalisation of Public Services in Ukraine Project” (DIA Support Project), which is implemented by UNDP in Ukraine with financial support from the government of Sweden.

From now on, people can apply for housing subsidies, pensions, or pension recalculations, obtain ОК-5 and ОК-7 certificates of registered persons, a pensioner income certificate and an excerpt from the Register of Registered Persons of the State Register of Mandatory State Social Insurance on the Diia portal.

Presenting the new services, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov noted that these services are one of the most popular services in the country. Housing subsidy services alone were used by 2.7 million Ukrainians this year.

“Millions of people had to queue up and collect piles of documents to apply for a subsidy or a pension,” Fedorov said. “They no longer need to do this. From now on, millions of Ukrainians will no longer have to go to TSNAPs or social welfare departments, putting themselves at risk during the pandemic. Rather, they’ll be able to obtain these services online.”

The digital services were developed in correspondence with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), an internationally recognised benchmark for creating accessible websites. Their objective is to ensure the convenience of using online resources for all people, as UNDP Resident Representative to Ukraine Dafina Gercheva said during the presentation. The WCAG guidelines contain key recommendations for developing accessible and inclusive websites.

“Today we are happy to present new digital services, enabling people from various social groups, including the most vulnerable, to get quick and barrier-free access to administrative services and the corresponding social benefits,” Gercheva said. “As the country is shifting towards comprehensive digitalization, it is necessary to ensure that this transformation is inclusive and leave no one behind.”

Counsellor at the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, Head of Development Cooperation Cecilia Chroona added that Sweden was proud to support Ukraine on the path to ensuring the inclusivity and accessibility of digital services.

“We are glad that digitalization considers the interests of different categories of the Ukrainian population,” Chroona said. “Convenient, simple, and human-centric services, as declared by the Diia slogan, fully echo our vision and the human rights-based approach in the delivery of public services.”

Presenting the new online social services, Social Policy Minister Maryna Lazebna said that while being developed the services were also re-engineered. For example, in order to apply for a pension or pension recalculation, it is sufficient now just to fill out a questionnaire, upload all of the required documents, sign your application with your electronic signature and send it off, she said.

“This simplification is very important, especially during a pandemic,” Lazebna said. “These innovations will prevent the elderly and people of pre-retirement age from running extra risks of getting infected while queueing up, and will thus help save lives. People will no longer have to collect various certificates, go to government institutions, and queue up. Instead, they can use the Diia portal to fill out an application in 15 minutes. All the other documents will be loaded automatically.

The online presentation of digital social and pension services, entitled Online Summit, was organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation as part of the DIA Support Project, which is implemented by UNDP in Ukraine with financial support from the government of Sweden.

Background

The Digital, Inclusive, Accessible: Support to Digitalisation of Public Services in Ukraine Project (DIA Support Project), launched in 2021, aims to bridge the digital divide between generations and different social groups. Its main goal is to increase the accessibility of new digital solutions so that every man and woman in the country can use public electronic services and no one is left behind.

Media inquiries:

Yuliia Samus, Communications Team Leader, UNDP in Ukraine, Yuliia.Samus@undp.org or +38 097 139 1475