The institution fully meets all statutory requirements with regard to reporting requirements, disclosure and access to information.

Internal communication is a powerful tool to create a shared understanding of the mission and objectives of the institution, and to improve cohesion, loyalty and engagement resulting in a collaborative environment across the institution.

The specific guidelines in this section are:

• Purpose of internal communication
• Change management and communication

The institution establishes organizational structures that promote the good governance of the overall system and foster effectiveness and efficiency in achieving contribution collection and compliance goals, in line with national social security regulations and administrative principles.

Social security institutions are concerned not only with collecting contributions but also with keeping information about contribution periods and other matters related to social security benefits.

The institution cooperates with other institutions in adopting a systematic, workflow-based approach to managing prosecutions.

This will enable the development of a common process among all institutions involved in a prosecution, in order to coordinate actions and make them more consistent.

Transparent systematization adds value to the system since it gives a predictable character to the institution’s behaviour.

The following guidelines are organized in two parts.

Part A, Good Governance Guidelines for the Board and Management, provides some guidelines for the board and the management of the social security institution. The guidelines are aligned with the five identified good governance principles, including suggestions on governance structures and mechanisms to enable the implementation of the guidelines.

The board establishes a policy on disclosure of information that clearly defines the grounds on which the board may choose to exercise discretion in providing information to stakeholders.

The powers and responsibilities of the Head of Management and senior officers are clearly defined. There are no areas of ambiguity, dilemma or conflict of interest.

Predictability refers to the consistent and uniform application of the law, including the rules and regulations to implement it. Stakeholders are generally averse to sudden or unannounced changes in contributions to and benefits from the programme. The methodical application of the programme will strengthen stakeholder confidence and support for it.

The effectiveness of the strategic plan to advance the institutional mandate is evaluated. There is an assessment of lessons learnt from achieved goals, delivered targets and proven strategies, as well as unsuccessful initiatives. The performance review serves as input to the next cycle of planning activities.

For social security institutions that have a mandate to manage the investment reserve funds of the programme, whether through internal and/or external fund managers, the board and the management are duty bound to ensure that the funds are invested in accordance with basic prudential rules such as profitability, safety, liquidity and diversification.

The raison d’être of a social security institution is to administer the rights and obligations of members and beneficiaries. Efficient administration and the provision of quality service strengthen the credibility of the institution and enhance member and beneficiary support for it.

These three guidelines will assist in providing service quality standards to programme members and beneficiaries.

The ISSA Guidelines for Social Security Administration were prepared by the ISSA General Secretariat with the ISSA technical commissions.

The institution establishes processes to implement and manage ICT investments, acquisitions and contracts, taking into account (institutional and ICT-related) strategic plans, technology roadmaps and good governance principles, aiming at optimizing ICT value realization.

The purpose is to optimize the performance of the overall portfolio of ICT resources and related activities in response to programme and service performance and changing priorities and demands.

This section of the guidelines provides a high-level reference point for social security institutions applying interoperability techniques. The six guidelines which follow form a starting point from which institutions can develop their own policies and plans, and will assist in addressing the challenges of interoperability through a consistent and standards-based approach. The guidelines canvass the five dimensions of interoperability: political, legal, organizational, semantic and technical. The specific guidelines in this section are:

This section of the guidelines covers the types of mobile services which social security institutions might offer, and their technological and organizational implications. These may vary according to the current level of deployment of mobile technologies in the country and institution concerned. The five guidelines which follow will assist those responsible for developing mobile services to focus on the technical decisions and choices to be made. They take account of success stories in both social security and other types of institutions, and of all existing technologies.

The specific guidelines in this section are:

• Architectures for master data systems
• Implementation of master data systems
• Management of master data system evolution
• Master data system interoperability
• Security and privacy of master data

The institution defines an institutional architecture specifying the mechanisms to perform an effective and secure interaction between the institution’s systems and those at the national and international levels.

The institution puts into practice the ICT operations to implement international agreements complying with the corresponding SLAs. This is carried out in the context of the institution’s ICT operations, starting with an evaluation of the implications and requirements generated by the systems implementing international agreements.

The investment process is framed by reference to a risk budget aligned to the investment.

The social security institution’s policy on disclosure of information (as outlined in the ISSA Guidelines on Good Governance adequately covers the disclosure of relevant investment information. The board and management abide by the policy, including the parameters as to when to exercise discretion in providing information to stakeholders. The policy covers the disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest.

These Guidelines focus on the prevention and administration of occupational accidents, diseases and other work-related health risks. They form part of a broader concept of prevention which includes proactive and preventive approaches to social security, addressing the prevention of occupational risks, health promotion and return to work.

This part of the Guidelines describes prevention programmes which can be conducted by social security institutions, provided that the legal and institutional frameworks are in place.

The institution undertakes measures to identify cases of occupational health issues and to intervene as early as possible. In order to facilitate the process of notification of occupational diseases, the institution cooperates with the medical profession, the social partners and inspection services.

Effective prevention is not possible without knowledge of hazards and how they can be addressed. This principle applies to all stakeholders in occupational safety and health: employers and managers; specialists such as safety engineers, safety representatives, occupational physicians and skilled workers such as blasting engineers; as well as the personnel of social security institutions.

As has been clearly defined by a study by Belgium’s Bureau fédéral du Plan (le coût budgétaire d’un chômeur de 1987 à 2002, Brussels, 2004) unemployment leads to human, social and economic costs, which can be broken down into three major categories: