Since the middle of the last century, the Government of Colombia (GoC) has been working on consolidating its Social Protection System. In the early of the 1990s, Colombia did not have social assistance programs and only 31% of the population had access to social security (health and pensions) offered by the Instituto de Seguros Sociales (ISS). The ISS´s problems led to its closure and prompted the reform of the health and social protection sector (Law 100 of 1993). In the late nineties, Colombia experienced one of the deepest recessions in seven decades, that revealed the impacts of the crisis on the poorest and most vulnerable populations as well as the lack of institutional response for these groups. To address this crisis, in 1999 the GoC introduced the first social assistance programs and launched the Red de Apoyo Social (RAS) with three flagship programs[1] that targeted low income and vulnerable populations. For the first time, the GoC used the social registry, Sistema de Identificación de Potenciales Beneficiarios de Programas Sociales (SISBEN), created in 1995, to target benefits different to education and health.

Although without a formal definition, Colombia’s social protection system revolves around five main pillars that aim to protect populations against the risks faced throughout the life cycle: (i) social assistance (noncontributory) programs are aimed at reducing poverty, stimulating human capital accumulation, and strengthening social mobility; (ii) social insurance (contributory) comprises pension schemes includes savings programs for informal workers; (iii) labor market programs that include unemployment insurance, job placement, and vocational education and training; (iv) Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programs and interventions led by the UNGRD, and (v) access to financial and physical assets that aims to develop financial inclusion initiatives for poor and vulnerable households, such as Banca de Oportunidades, as well as decent housing solutions (World Bank, 2021b).

The objective of the consultancy is to conduct a qualitative customer journey mapping exercise to better understand the opportunities and challenges to improve the customer experience of Colombian citizens and migrants to access: (i) the social registry and (ii) selected flagship social programs. The research activities seek to identify social registry and social programs‘ pain points, and opportunities for increased convenience, reliability, affordability, and adequacy of social benefits. By identifying the touchpoints, pain points, and “wow factors” throughout their process to access social registry and social programs, the World Bank and the Multi Agency-Global Accelerator partner agencies expect to gain clarity on what citizens and migrants do, how they think, how they feel when applying for social benefits and when they face challenges related to the payments.

This journey mapping exercise will explore the experience of by: (i) beneficiaries and the unserved poor and vulnerable population at each point of the interaction between the user and the institutions, (ii) officials and territorial liaisons who are responsible for SISBEN and other subnational registries as well as responsible for the delivery of social benefits and services, (iii) the opportunities and advantages for DNP and partners agencies for the improvement of the social registry, (iv) the opportunities and advantages of SP programs to improve their reliability, affordability, and adequacy. 

The journey map will also attempt to assess the experience of beneficiaries and households when they stop receiving assistance from programs, such as Cash Transfers (CT). The journey map should build on the quantitative evidence of the WB report Trayectorias: Prosperidad y reducción de la pobreza en el territorio colombiano (2024), IDB report Evaluacion Institucional y de Operaciones del SISBEN IV a nivel nacional y territorial (2024), and UNICEF report “Diseño de una estrategia de atención al ciudadano y dialogo con comunidades para el Registro Social de Hogares y la Ventanilla Única de Servicios del DNP a partir de un modelo de interacción basado en comunidades”.

The overarching goal is to translate results into practical guidance for the Colombian government as they move from SISBEN to implement a fully operational Registro Universal de Ingresos, and on how to enhance social protection beneficiaries experience by adopting a customer-centric approach. The findings will also help to inform decisions on potential improvements to the current social protection delivery systems, including onestop shops tool and the potential dialogue between the government and relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors involved in social programs. The results of the journey map will be essential for the GoC and, in particular, for the DNP and relevant social protection agencies to generate guidelines and tools that allow improving the experience of potential beneficiaries of SP programs, developing an approach focused on Colombian citizens and migrants and potential beneficiaries, obtaining more appropriate information on errors in inclusion and exclusion from social registries, and reducing access obstacles to SP programs. This consultancy study will be funded through the resources of the MA- Global Accelerator for Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions project assigned to Colombia.  

The consulting firm must be able to form a team that has:

• Deep and demonstrable experience in the beneficiary-centered design process

• Strong and proven experience in customer experience and customer/beneficiary journey mapping, particularly in the Latin American region. Firms with more specific experience and knowledge of SPS in Colombia and the region will be given greater consideration.

• Extensive experience in qualitative studies and in poverty and equity.

• Firms with a high capacity to deliver high-quality analysis and potentially effective recommendations in the short and medium term.

• Ability to work in partnership with multiple parties and partners on a complex project and in close collaboration with the GoC.

• Demonstrated ability to produce high quality reports in English and Spanish.

• Firm with proven experience in the use of graphic tools, infographics, and visual aids.

• The World Bank encourages firms/consortiums to submit proposals in partnership with regional academic institutions or firms.