Given the constraints and difficulties encountered by applicants of disability aids, the National Social Insurance Fund for Employees (Caisse nationale des assurances sociales des travailleurs salariés – CNAS) is concerned to facilitate and streamline procedures and to modernize its services, and as such developed an Integrated Equipment Management System (SIGAP) with the following objectives:

The National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) was created by an Act of Parliament “The NPS Act” No. 40 of 1996 to provide social security cover to all eligible employees in Zambia in case of retirement, invalidity or death. Since commencement of operations in February 2000, NAPSA has largely focused on the formal sector. However, this sector constitutes only 16 percent (950,000 people) of the total employed population of 5.8 million people (Zambia Labour Force Survey Report, 2014). The remaining 84 percent is made up of employees from the informal sector. 

The nationwide extension of the use of the “CHIFA” electronic card for insured persons and its online updating is the most recent step in the modernization and improvement of the general conditions for the provision of service to insured persons and their dependants.

The one-stop service centre project is in line with the initiative of Algerian authorities to rethink basic public services from the citizen’s point of view. Instead of functioning in an isolated fashion, our services need to be grouped into units that make benefits accessible under optimal conditions, preferably via a common interface: the “one-stop service centre”.

As part of the extension of the third-party payment system, a new system was launched in 2012 and is gradually being introduced nationwide to enable a category of insured persons with medical and income-related conditions to benefit from the coverage of the cost of eyeglasses without advance payments. 

The most common complaint made by those insured by the National Social Insurance Fund (Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale – CNaPS) relates to the amount of social benefits granted: the amount of several benefits has been set as a standard amount such that any changes require the legal texts to be amended. Moreover, the conditions for obtaining old age insurance benefits no longer reflect today’s context, given the state of the labour market following the successive crises experienced by the country.

Medical check-ups must form part of the improved health care system with its mission of providing advice, analysis and monitoring.

We passed through several stages of development, including the measures to expand the coverage, which can be summarized as follows:

The services of the National Social Security Fund (Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale – CNSS) interact with each other and with other institutions, contributors and insured persons. They exchange data, which are either provided or used by the CNSS information system. These exchanges create standardization and security problems. In light of this, the CNSS has created a computer-based tool that generates automatically and on demand generic, standard and secure Web services in the implementation of its various roles in these exchanges.

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) (T), the major health insurance organization in the country took the initiative to accredit pharmacies and drug dispensing outlets so as to enable the Fund's members to get medicines once a health facility does not have such medicines in its stock. This practice created loop-holes for fraudulent practices whereby some people benefited from the Fund by creating ghost patients in pharmacies and from patients visiting more than one facility, hence getting multiple prescriptions as a result costing the Fund millions.

The mining sector is naturally hazardous and as such it poses significant danger to the health of workers through mineral dust exposure causing occupational lung conditions in extreme circumstances and excessive noise exposure predisposing workers to irreversible hearing impairment. To address this challenge the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) of Zimbabwe through its Occupational Safety and Health Division procured mobile clinic in September 2016.

The Community Health Fund (CHF) in Tanzania was established in 2001. Due to the dual role of “Provider” and “Purchaser” of health service played by the Council Health Boards (CHBs) such a design setup has faced challenges of poor management of funds, persistent shortage of services and unreliable membership data. CHF members access services from dispensary level up to district hospital within the Council. As such, unsatisfactory performance of the CHF in most of the councils continue to discourage people to enrol with CHFs subsequently sharply dropout rate of members each year.

Among several other social security benefits, the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) of Zimbabwe pays a funeral grant of USD 300 under the Pension and Other Benefits Scheme. The benefit is paid to provide assistance towards the burial of a member who would have contributed to the scheme for a minimum period of 12 months. The USD 300 payout is insufficient to cover basic funeral expenses. In an endeavour to accord every retirement pensioner a decent burial, NSSA contracted Econet Life to provide funeral services to NSSA retirement pensioners.

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has been experiencing a number of operational challenges including some attempts by non-contributing members to access health care services by using invalid membership cards.

According to the rules and procedures, members who are not contributing to the Fund for past three consecutive months, are not eligible to access medical services provided by the Fund. However, since around 95 per cent of contributing members of the NHIF are drawn out of the public sector, enforcement of this requirement has been a big challenge.

Among its peers, the Pension Fund of Morocco (Caisse marocaine des retraites – CMR) is innovating with the implementation of this good practice. In this respect, it is the only social security institution amongst the Moroccan Pension Funds and Insurance Companies to undergo certification, for the long term, of its internal process for social security fund investment to ensure maximum transparency and commitment in the exercise of this activity, with the aim of obtaining a label of excellence accredited by independent certifying offices.

Since the reorganization of the Pension Fund of Morocco (Caisse marocaine des retraites – CMR) in 2011, which placed the client at the forefront of its concerns, the Fund’s “client relationship” has changed considerably, in particular owing to the introduction and use of a marketing and multichannel approach.

In 2016, the CMR witnessed:

Among several other social security benefits, the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) of Zimbabwe pays   a funeral grant of US$300 in terms of the Pension and Other Benefits Scheme. The benefit is paid to provide assistance towards the burial of a member who would have contributed to the scheme for a minimum period of 12 months. The US$300 pay out is insufficient to cover basic funeral services. In an endeavour to accord every retirement pensioner a decent burial, NSSA contracted Econet Life to provide funeral services to NSSA retirement pensioners.

Prior to the introduction of the Collective Scheme for Retirement Allowances (Régime collectif d’allocation de retraite – RCAR) in 1978 and in the absence of a statutory retirement scheme to cover them, several public establishments in Morocco managed their own retirement funds (special schemes, railway workers, mining personnel, water and electricity managers). This however suffered from the following limitations and drawbacks:

The pension management system for officials and civil servants managed by the Social Insurance Institute – State Employees’ General Retirement Fund (Institut de prévoyance sociale – Caisse générale de retraite des agents de l’Etat – IPS-CGRAE) experienced serious difficulties for a long time, leading to a cumulative deficit of more than francs CFA 288 billion as at 31 December 2012. This was largely due to the non-payment or partial payment of contributions by affiliated government agencies over a number of years.

The Pension Fund of Morocco (Caisse marocaine des retraites – CMR) is managed by a tripartite Board of Directors. In 2001, a Permanent Committee was put in place to prepare Board sessions and monitor the implementation of decisions and resolutions of the Board. In addition, the Board created two support committees in 2011 to strengthen the governance of the Fund: the Asset Allocation Committee and the Audit Committee.

The Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention No.102 adopted by the International Labour Conference of the ILO on 28 June 1952 establishes worldwide-agreed minimum standards for all nine branches of social security to encourage the widest development of social security schemes. These branches are; medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit; and survivors benefits.

Acts of corruption were perceived in various ways by individuals. It was difficult to make it clear to staff that a particular act constituted corruption and as such was forbidden by law. Corruption was perceived by many solely as taking money from a user for a service that was due to him or her by law. Acts of corruption were not recorded in any form with a view to controlling it, regardless of their impact on results or on the organization's resources or public image.

Internal staff training courses organized by the National Social Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale de prévoyance sociale – CNPS) were centralized in Yaoundé, with some deployment at the level of the four regional headquarters. This compelled staff from external services to travel long distances and stay away from their duty stations and homes for several days or even weeks to attend these training courses. This model generated enormous costs for the organization in terms of travel, accommodation and subsistence.

It is a given that any activity in an organisation is exposed to certain risks that may negatively impact day-to-say operations, results being achieved, value being created or even seriously damage the organisation’s image. Since fraud is one of the main risks identified, the consequences of which can be extremely detrimental, it has been the subject of an in-depth study resulting in preventive and warning measures grouped under an anti-fraud system.