To use this service, people should have had to gather dozens of documents - the Press Secretary of Agency DOST

15:44 - 16.12.2019


Bakutel 2019 exhibition has been held in Baku recently. The current exhibition differed from the previous ones in some aspects. So, this time, governmental agencies which introduced the latest versions of innovations in their services participated actively in the exhibition along with private companies. Despite the fact that one of the event participant governmental agencies was Agency DOST (Center for Sustainable & Operational Social Security), which has just started functioning, it has already done a lot of work and won the sympathy of the population. During the exhibition Agency’s Press Secretary Shahin Aliyev gave an interview for ABC.AZ about the work done and upcoming plans. We bring this interview to your attention.

- What is your main goal of participation in the exhibition as DOST?

- As you know, this exhibition relates mainly to technologies, and we believe that as DOST Agency we should definitely participate here, since the very creation of DOST Agency in this area is an innovation.  So far Azerbaijan has not rendered social services using such high technologies and innovative methods in the sphere of social services. With appearance of DOST Agency, citizens can use these services under comfortable and transparent conditions, with the help of one stop shop system, without bureaucratic situations. As you know, every citizen coming to our center can use any service and solve any matter within 10 minutes after applying. Whereas before, sometimes this took days to use the same service, and in many cases citizens had to collect dozens of documents. But here you can use all kinds of social services available in one place, through one stop shop, with the presentation of a minimum number of documents, under one roof, so to speak.

This includes employment, social security, protection, pension, benefits, etc. All these services can be rendered only in the same center. Here is a small model of the building of the DOST Center (he shows the devices installed on the exhibition stands), and it is not just a visual analogy - the services provided at the DOST Center are offered to our visitors in this small space. Visitors arriving here can take advantage of numerous services. For this purpose it is necessary to approach simply our social agents and to use services by presenting IDs.

- How many types of services does Agency DOST render currently? And is it possible the addition of other types of services in the near future?

- You know, our first center was opened on 9 May, and then we rendered 126 social services, and now the number of services has increased and reached 132. And our plans certainly include expansion of this sphere and increase of the number of those services. And our most important goal is, of course, to increase the number of centers. So far, we have only one center, which serves the residents of the Yasamal and Sabayil districts. We expect to open soon our second center in Khazar district - until the end of 2019. But that's not all. Over the next 5 years (until 2025) there will be 31 centers in Azerbaijan to cover the entire country. This means that a citizen of any district who wants to use social services, with minimal loss of time, with minimal expectations, a minimum of documents will be able to use any service. Currently, citizens can apply for benefits, employment, pensions.

As you know, a pension is a practical service. This means that people don’t need to go anywhere and collect documents - SMS is sent to the cell phones of persons of retirement age, where it is reported about the appointment of a pension and the amount of the pension is indicated. By applying to a branch of a certain bank, you can get a pension card, and it is gratifying that we are increasing the number of practical services every day, and after that a number of social benefits are provided in a practical order. Our big, ultimate goal is that people can easily use these social services, so that there is no need to go somewhere and people, sitting at home, would receive notifications on the phone about benefits, pensions, how they can be obtained, what amount or what jobs can be offered to them. This is our ultimate goal.

- Lately, many organizations that include innovative applications, thanks to the feedback and wishes of the people who apply to them, are improving and introducing even more innovations. In what form does your organization take into account the wishes of the population?

- Of course, we take them into account, and I’d even say that this is one of the main features of the principle of work of Agency DOST. That is, we conduct a survey of opinions of citizens coming to the center.  First, approaching the social agent serving him, a citizen votes through the device in the window in front of the social agent.  That is, he speaks about his opinion, about how satisfied he is with the service. At the same time, when a citizen leaves the center, our volunteers approach him and ask how he was satisfied with the services provided. Summarizing all this information, I note that we have a special department, special staff who are engaged in the analysis of this information. If there are any shortcomings after analyzing the data, then you are immediately given instructions to correct them. Work begins to eliminate these shortcomings, and, of course, every day we try to improve the level of services and improve our service.

- If to compare the period from the opening of the center to the present day, in connection with which spheres Agency DOST had most of all appeals?

Currently, the number of people who applied to us is about 55,000. This is the number of appeals to only one center. Only one of our centers has been contacted by 55,000 citizens, and soon we intend to open the second center. With the opening of other centers, of course, the number of these appeals will grow rapidly. We are pleased that the applicants' opinion shows that this is a very high figure. But we certainly are not going to stop there. We are concerned about the opinion of the people I mentioned above, 4.5% of whom remain dissatisfied with the services.  We aspire to address the causes of this discontent, and naturally our ultimate goal is to achieve 100% citizen satisfaction, and I hope we’ll achieve that goal.

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