From right: Assistant Undersecretary for Ministry of Social Development and Family H E Sheikha bint Jassim Al Thani; and Deputy Director of the National Agency for Social Protection, Sharifkhodajaev Usman during the event.
Doha, Qatar: At the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD), a diverse coalition of governments and international organisations turned attention to a key message that stated “In social protection, delivery systems are as critical as the policies themselves.”
Under the banner ‘Last-Mile First: Innovations and Human-Centred Approach in Social Service Delivery,’ representatives from Uzbekistan, Belgium, Morocco, Qatar, and Türkiye, together with Unicef, the World Bank, and UNDP, unveiled a range of practical innovations aimed at ensuring that essential services reach those who need them most including children, people with disabilities, and vulnerable families.
“The main idea of this side event is to discuss social services, which are one of the very important parts of the World Summit for Social Development, Deputy Director of the National Agency for Social Protection, Sharifkhodajaev Usman, told The Peninsula. “Social services are very important because, on one side, they help to care for the family, but at the same time, they help to make the family active economically.”
As one of the leading organisers, Uzbekistan is demonstrating how integrated social service systems can work in practice, emphasising the need for customised, community-focused approaches to effectively reach the last mile. Usman said, “These services were organised in Uzbekistan after establishing a new agency in 2023. Before that, we used to collect hundreds of services, which were in different ministries, into one agency.
“We try to provide these services directly in the mahallas community, finding our clients, our main group, exactly near their houses and in their neighbourhoods. This helps families, people with disabilities, and other people who need social services,” the official noted.
The solution session emphasised that the true test of social protection lies in its foundations, such as governance, technology, workforce, and financing, which will ultimately determine whether it evolves into the backbone of resilient and inclusive development or remains merely a collection of fragmented projects.
Usman explained, “This is the idea of the event, and it is also important today because of evolving technologies like AI and the digitalisation of processes.
“It is important to find and recognise people in need, and we need to work on data and cooperate with other ministries to identify such people.”
The Deputy Director further said, “At the end of this side event, we aim to find best-case scenarios based on the experiences of various countries, as their representatives will share diverse perspectives, which will help us in many ways and vice versa.”
“The initiative highlights the growing consensus that effective social protection depends not only on strong commitments but also on the ability to deliver support efficiently and inclusively, even amid economic pressures, climate challenges, and the post-pandemic recovery period,” he added.
