From left: Computech NV Managing Partner Alain Roper, NRPB Director Claret Connor, VSA Minister Richard Panneflek and VSA Secretary General Joy Arnell.
PHILIPSBURG--The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA, through the assistance of the St. Maarten Trust Fund, has started the process of designing and developing an Integrated Social Registry System (ISRS).
Once completed, the system will be a primary resource in effectively providing social assistance to vulnerable residents in the country.
A contract was signed between Director of the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB) Claret Connor and Managing Partner of Computech NV Alain Roper on Wednesday, October 14. Computech will work hand-in-hand with VSA and government’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Department to deliver several capacities of the ISRS over a period of time while working towards the project completion date of May 2022.
NRPB, as the project implementing unit of the St. Maarten Trust Fund, will oversee the development of the ISRS by Computech. Once fully developed, the ISRS will be able to enhance government’s efficiency in providing social assistance following disasters or other shocks.
The ISRS comes as a request of the VSA Ministry, the ministry that coordinates a variety of social services and benefits. At present, individuals, oftentimes lacking proper information about certain social programmes, go to the government building more than once, wait in lines, and repeatedly have to provide the same documents.
The ministry also faces higher administrative cost, duplications in processes, and lack of coordination in determining eligibility for the various programmes.
The ISRS will improve the capacity to better coordinate these social programmes. “The system will enhance the delivery of existing services and programmes by regulating the help, support, direction and cooperation as effectively as possible. It will allow the ministry to know if people are potentially eligible for one or more services. It will also reduce the administrative burden when applying for services. The ministry will be able to respond more quickly and effectively in case of a disaster; it will allow the ministry to improve governmental policies and improve new services and programmes tailored to the needs of the people,” said Secretary General of the VSA Ministry Joy Arnell.
A second benefit of the system will be to support in the identification and registration of the island’s most vulnerable. Post-disaster the most vulnerable will be able to receive more immediate assistance as their location and status will have been registered previously. “We see that once again through the Trust Fund, we are able to build resilience into our recovery,” Connor said during the signing of the contract. “Having a system like this in place will save valuable time and effort in reaching those that need the assistance most after future disasters.”
Roper said, “Computech is determined to successfully accompany the government of St. Maarten on its quest to improve citizen engagement, empower employees and deliver data-driven services with this new Integrated Social Registry System. This system will provide the government with accurate, up-to-date data on households’ socio-economic needs and will allow the Ministry of VSA to be proactive and have foresight in delivering services to their clients.”
Computech has been providing IT consulting and services since 2000. “I am especially elated that we were able to procure a local company to embark on this project with,” Panneflek said. “We have talented individuals and companies right here on the island. I encourage everyone not to be intimidated by the process. Many of the contracts awarded through the Trust Fund have been to local entrepreneurs and companies. We need to all participate in the recovery of our beautiful island.”
ISRS is part of the second component of the Emergency Income Support Training Project (EISTP) under the St. Maarten Trust Fund. The first component, which consisted of the training of unemployed and underemployed persons in St. Maarten in the wake of Hurricane Irma, concluded in September 2020 after successfully completing its goal of training more than 1,800 participants. The project is financed by the government of the Netherlands, managed by the World Bank and implemented by NRPB.
