Risk management is the process of identifying, analysing, accepting, mitigating or transferring uncertainty in investment decisions. Fund managers apply risk management by analysing and attempting to quantify the potential loss of an investment and then acting accordingly.

This project is an initiative of the health benefits division, with a view to ensuring the comprehensive health care of Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) employees.

The project aims to remove the stigma surrounding mental health and to address the main psychosocial risks among IGSS employees through the provision of ongoing training on topics related to mental health and psychosocial stress factors. It provides spaces for reflection and analysis on experiences and interpersonal relationships in the workplace.

Due to administrative and legal security requirements, official documents have always had to be signed physically by hand by the public officials authorising them. Until a few years ago it was unthinkable for a document to be certified, finalized and enforceable if this process was not done physically.

Members of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) who are entitled to benefits under the Sickness, Maternity and Accident Programme (Programa de Enfermedad, Maternidad y Accidentes) and on leave from work due to COVID-19 receive a subsidy payment to substitute the salary they would otherwise receive, proportional to the measures outlined in the corresponding regulations.

There is a growing expectation from members and beneficiaries for social security processes to be delivered in a standardized and timely way, both in normal circumstances and during disruptive and extreme situations, as shown by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Institutions are being transformed thanks to the integration of new technologies. This vision represents a corporate change with a social impact, reducing costs, simplifying processes and procedures, and raising awareness of the importance and benefits of this transformation.

Publishing open data is an important practice to strengthen citizens’ trust in their institutions. It facilitates access to information and creates the necessary conditions to improve the quality of public services. In this context, social security institutions must ensure the reliability of data and provide accessible spaces to generate value for the public while also guaranteeing the confidentiality of personal data.

Article 12 of Law No. 5508 on the Promotion, Protection of Maternity and Support for Breastfeeding establishes that maternity allowance should be paid to employed women by the social security scheme of Paraguay’s Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS). This amount is equivalent to 100 per cent of her salary at the time of delivery, and is paid for the prescribed months of rest. This used to be given to women in a single payment.

Crises and extreme events may strain the capacity to communicate records of medical leave to subsidiary cash benefit units. The pandemic has demonstrated the need to systematize procedures that have traditionally been carried out manually, which would provide significant benefits by making processes faster and more efficient, avoid the need for users to visit administrative offices, thereby avoiding expenditure, risks and outbreaks, and reduce spending on institutional resources.

The issue of population growth and social security planning is one of the biggest challenges facing governments today, and is a key part of a good social security system that instils confidence in its members.

The Retirement and Pension Fund for Employees of Banks and Related Institutions (Caja de Jubilaciones y Pensiones de Empleados de Bancos y Afines) (Bank Fund, hereinafter) is in constant communication with its members. It therefore continuously updates its databases, in order to have a better understanding of members’ current realities, experiences and needs.

Digital transformation is happening in institutions through the integration of new technologies. This vision represents an institutional and social change, optimizing available resources, reducing costs, shortening processes and procedures, and raising awareness of the importance and benefits of this transformation.

Good practice in health – service quality.

As health-care systems have evolved to become more complex and due to the resultant increase in patients coming to harm in health care settings, patient safety has emerged as a health-care discipline.

As part of the efforts to modernize processes, measures must be put in place to analyse and respond to the needs of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS), supported by objective procedures. In order to update the Institutional Medicines Register, health technology assessments have been used as a methodology to ensure informed decision-making. These assessments bring together demographic, scientific and financial variables that together are used to make objective decisions around health care coverage.

The Actuarial Advisory Office (Asesoría Actuarial) of the Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS) carried out an actuarial valuation of the Common Retirement and Pension Fund (Fondo Común de Jubilaciones y Pensiones). The valuation looks to comply with international best practices and observe the guidelines and standards of the International Standards of Actuarial Practice 2 (ISAP 2), and the ISSA-ILO Guidelines on Actuarial Work for Social Security, with technical support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) presents the good practice of automating the Annual Operational Planning (Planificación Operativa Anual – POA) through the implementation of the Annual Operational Planning Tool (Herramienta de Planificación Operativa Anual – HPOA).

Like most of the world’s countries, Paraguay has adopted lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These steps taken by the government have impacted the productive sector, leading to mass suspensions of employment contracts for persons insured with the Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS) of Paraguay.

Paraguay’s Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión de Social – IPS) used to make sick leave payments at its administrative offices, which had associated administrative costs and meant beneficiaries had to visit the IPS service counter in person.

The pandemic, which began in 2019 with the spread of the infectious disease caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) has proved a challenge for all the social security institutions in the world. The pandemic has required the establishment of social protection mechanisms for the whole population, particularly the most vulnerable groups – older adults, people with chronic diseases, etc.

The Department of Invalidity, Old-Age and Bereaved Families (Departamento de Invalidez, Vejez y Sobrevivencia − IVS) is the technical and administrative body of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) set up to grant pensions for Invalidity, Old-Age and Bereaved Families. The old-age risk accounts for 51.3 per cent of the people protected.

The Department of Legal Medicine and Evaluation of Disabilities (Departamento de Medicina Legal y Evaluación de Incapacidades) is the technical-administrative body of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS). Its main objective is to prepare reports, which are used to support different types of evaluations related to the provision of services and economic benefits.

“Non-conformities”, better known as complaints, are an administrative tool from the point when they arise until they are resolved. They are an intra-institutional tool for obtaining opportunities for improvement so that a warm, quality service can be offered.

In December 2017, the Executive Board of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) approved the Institutional Strategic Plan (Plan Estratégico Institucional – PEI) for 2018–2022, like a compass pointing due north with regard to coverage extension, financial soundness, quality services, efficiency, transparency and monitoring, as well as institutional growth and development. In this respect, the subdirectorates and other actors firmly committed to reaching the targets set.

“AV+”, a voluntary insurance (assurance volontaire – AV) management project, is the fruit of the shared determination of Mali’s National Social Insurance Institute (Institut national de prévoyance sociale – INPS) and SAER-EMPLOI, which joined forces to increase the number of people registered with a voluntary insurance scheme. This partnership was founded through the signing of a delegation of management agreement on 10 April 2017 and rendered effective through the creation of a company, SAER-EMPLOI-AV+/SASU.

Changes were made based on quality standards to protect insured persons against ill health and ensure that their financial benefits are paid. This required the proper and transparent administration of resources, avoiding duplication of work, to ensure that the institution’s limited resources were used wisely.

In 2010, the government of Mali introduced a compulsory health insurance scheme with third-party payment for civil servants and workers to guarantee affordable health care.

In 2011, the National Sickness Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale d'assurance maladie (CNAM)) concluded agreements with all public agencies, in particular with hospitals, referral health centres and community health centres.

The Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) delivers healthcare coverage through the Sickness, Maternity and Accident (Enfermedad, Maternidad y Accidentes – EMA) programme as a mechanism for life protection. Its primary objective is to preserve or restore health and prevent health problems, covering the risks of sickness, maternity and accidents for affiliates and their family units, including their wife and children under the age of seven.

The SII-IGSS began in 2006 and consists of four information sub-systems:

• Health Supplies,
• Pecuniary Supplies,
• Financial and Administrative.

Instruments and processes previously employed (for more than 20 years) have been replaced, with some automated.
This has implied changes in the organizational culture of the Medical Units, in the use of information technology and in the actions of personnel in regard of the use of the information.

• more efficient and cost-effective collection methods;
• effective control of the registry of contributors and employers as generators of

income (contributions) and generators of expenditures (investment in the supply of medical and financial services).