This ISSA Workshop on business continuity and resilience in social security systems during crisis will take place 27–29 September 2023 in Port Louis, Mauritius. It is organized in collaboration with the ISSA Liaison Office for Southern Africa, and hosted by the Ministry of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity (Social Security and National Solidarity Division) of Mauritius.
ISSA Workshops offer members concrete collaborative problem-solving opportunities focussed on a specific challenge in social security administration. The methodology builds on three pillars: ISSA Guidelines, experiences and good practices of member institutions, and one or several accredited experts that add to the discussions. The agenda and the actual contents are built on input provided by participants in advance and their contributions during the workshop.
ISSA Guidelines: Continuity and Resilience of Social Security Services and Systems; Information and Communication Technology (Section A), Human Resource Management in Social Security Administration (Sections A and B2)
Region: Open primarily to ISSA member organizations in Southern Africa
Language: English
Who can participate?
Senior managers, programme/project managers and senior experts from ISSA member organizations with responsibilities on ensuring continuity of services, human resource teams, information and communication technology (ICT) related functions, strategic planning role, risk analysis functions and crisis management/response teams.
Once confirmed, participating institutions will be asked to fill out the form “Issues to be addressed” in order to identify the challenges the organization is facing related to business continuity and resilience during a crisis. The content of the workshop will be shaped by the issues provided by the institution.
View an example of “Issues to be addressed”
What are the goals of the workshop?
The aim is to identify approaches to increase the capacity of social security institutions to cope with incidents and crisis situations, ensure continuity of services and be better able to respond. The workshop will support social security institutions to build their own approaches and general strategies to:
- continue delivering critical services during crises or incidents that lead to disruptions;
- minimize the effects of incidents and crises on the institution, its services, assets, staff and reputation;
- restore normality in all functions and processes quickly and smoothly;
- quickly deploy social security responses to support customers and the wider population;
- improve institutional readiness to address crises and incidents through adequate information systems, human resources and contingency measures, among others; and
- improve institutional resilience and protect key digital resources, in particular social security data.
What is the role of the ISSA Guidelines?
The workshop will discuss issues addressed in the ISSA Guidelines on Continuity and Resilience of Social Security Services and Systems, including experiences and solutions on key aspects such as: Planning, incident and crisis management, information sharing, human resource strategies to improve capacity, contingency plans and processes, ICT capacity needs (cybersecurity and risk frameworks), continuity plans and the deployment of responses. These are addressed in the following sections:
- Governance and Strategy; Section A;
- Institutional Capacity and Resilience to address Crises and Incidents; Section B;
- Continuity of Existing Services; Section C
- Deployment of Responses; Section D
What will be the outcomes?
Participants will prepare key takeaway messages and a collection of approaches of relevance to their institutions. This will enable participants, upon their return home, to develop strategies, plans and measures to respond to the challenges outlined in the “issues to be addressed”.
How can you participate?
The workshop is open to member institutions in Southern Africa without a registration fee. The workshop can accommodate up to four participants per institution and no more than 50 participants in total. Travel, accommodation and meals of participants are to be covered by their respective institutions.