Urban Renewal Centres to Assist Social Services Digital Service Delivery

Thu, Jul 16th 2020, 03:28 PM

The digitization and technological transformation underway at the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development is a journey that will never have a final destination due to the fact that social services officials will continually seek to provide social assistance at a more effective, efficient and speedy pace, Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell, told Parliament Wednesday (July 8).

Minister Campbell said the measures are all in effort to bring greater efficiency to service delivery. He said while there may be some “bumps in the road” initially due to the introductory nature of the measures undertaken and the fact that clients will have to make adjustments in having to seek social assistance online, the end result will be greater efficiency, effectiveness and speed of service delivery.

“You keep hearing (that) people don’t want to go online, but the truth of the matter is that the opportunity to do so is the very thing that will give them the speed of service they are asking for,” Minister Campbell said. “There will be bumps in the road initially, because we are trying some new things, but those bumps aren’t because we don’t care, they are because we are trying to change some things and there is sometimes resistance to change. (But) What we are attempting in the Department of Social Services is to add efficiency and effectiveness and speed to the services that we provide.” 

Minister Campbell said as part of the plan for greater efficiency, the 23 Urban Renewal Centres across the Commonwealth of The Bahamas will be made ‘hot spots’: this will ensure that clients who need assistance, and may not have access to devices or Wi-Fi at home, can gain the social services support they need, through online means -- by visiting the Urban Renewal Centres. This, he said, will help to facilitate the digital transformation underway at the Ministry and the Department of Social Services.

“We are aware that there are some persons who just won’t be able to do it now and so we will be providing assistance for those persons by providing Wi-Fi service at all of the Urban Renewal Centres. Team members from the Urban Renewal Centres already help to comprise our IT Team and so those clients who do not have the requisite devices or Wi-Fi service at home, will be able to visit our Centres and receive assistance,” Minister Campbell said.

“To further facilitate this initiative, we are also putting individuals in place who will serve as hosts and hostesses so that persons who do show up to a social services centre seeking assistance can be guided through the online process in a matter of minutes,” Minister Campbell added.

By Matt Maura

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