Expert Pool for Technical Advisory Services on Digital Transformation for Social Protection

In times of multiple and overlapping crises, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) attributes high importance to the development of inclusive and adaptive social protection systems. The global programme "Global Alliances for Social Protection" (GASP) of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supports this endeavour through the (i) joint provision of a digital public good (openIMIS), (ii) work on standard setting for interoperability in digital social protection (Digital Convergence Initiative), (iii) support to finance mobilisation for social protection (Global Shield and domestic resources), (iv) enhancement of bi-multilateral cooperation and (v) support to leadership development for social protection. The importance of digital social protection systems and their role in the broader development agenda is gaining increasing attention around the world. Yet, there are few systematic reviews of civil records, population demographics and the socioeconomic status of people and when they do exist, they are often incomplete. This makes identifying potential beneficiary households of different programmes a major challenge. In addition, individual social protection programmes are highly fragmented and tend to operate in silos, which leads to a lack of data sharing among programmes and negatively impacts the ability to plan resources and interventions. Digitisation and data sharing among information systems holds great potential and can make risk protection and poverty reduction more efficient. However, a lack of global standards in the sector prevents the interoperability of information systems within a country and makes it difficult to transfer good solutions from one country to another. To advance the discussion on international technical standards for integrated approaches to social protection systems, the Digital Convergence Initiative (DCI) was launched in 2021 under the umbrella of the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (USP2030). DCI aims to build global consensus on technical standards and guidelines for digital systems to enable the smooth exchange of data between programmes and institutions. The new Multi-Donor Action "Supporting the Digital Transformation of Social Protection Systems to Achieve the Goal of Universal Social Protection 2030", funded by the European Union (EU), is co-financing the DCI alongside BMZ. The DCI is implemented by GIZ GASP as the coordinating organisation, in partnership with Expertise France (EF), the Spanish International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Bank. The overall objective of the DCI is to contribute to the achievement of USP2030 through the digital transformation (including standardisation and interoperability) of inclusive social protection systems at partner country, regional and global levels. To this end, the action aims to: - Enhance the knowledge base on interoperability of global digital social protection systems - Develop global digital standards for social protection - Support partner countries in implementing digital transformation and interoperability of social protection systems To realise these objectives, GIZ is looking for support from a consortium or company to: - Develop and support the dissemination of knowledge products and best practices for achieving digital transformation - Support in-country assessment and provide technical guidance to selected countries for digital transformation of social protection systems - Support the monitoring and assessment of impact, effectiveness, and satisfaction with the programme implementation - Provide support for the development and adoption of global digital standards for social protection - Provide general advisory services on social protection and its digital transformation to support global programme activities