- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2021
Reorganisation of service delivery and standardisation of internal procedures of OPEKA, the Social Welfare benefits Organisation in Greece
The European Commission supported the Greek Social Welfare Benefits Organisation, OPEKA, in reviewing its customer service delivery framework as well as its organisational structure with a view to strengthening its institutional and administrative capacity through standardised business processes across all services.
Context
OPEKA is the single organisation for the management of welfare and social solidarity benefits in Greece, supervised by the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs. It was formed from a previous social insurance fund for farmers, OGA, and commenced operations in 2018, under the provisions set out in Law 4250/2018. OPEKA's main responsibilities include providing welfare payments and social services to families and vulnerable groups and implementing social solidarity policies and programmes. It manages around 32 welfare benefits funded by the State, targeting approximately 2 million households and amounting to EUR 3.5 billion.
Over time, OPEKA has transformed from a social security organization to a welfare organization, leading to a complex and often redundant structure. To enhance its efficiency and effectiveness, OPEKA sought technical support to implement a new customer service delivery framework and reorganize its procedures. This transformation aimed to simplify and standardize processes to better serve the growing number of citizens and address new functions such as childbirth allowance and public sector participation in loans.
Support Delivered
The technical support, implemented in the period from July 2022 to November 2023, was delivered through a review of the operations at OPEKA headquarters and at the eight regional OPEKA service offices as well as the related community centers in the selected regions visited in Greece. This was complemented by an exhaustive mapping of OPEKA’s business processes with an analysis of strengths and weaknesses, which allowed to identify business process improvements for greater efficiency.
The project also prepared OPEKA for the introduction of ISO standards and certification. In that context, it delivered a train the trainer programme for the Internal Audit, Control and Inspection Directorate to prepare for training of others in relation to starting a process for ISO standards attainment.
Results achieved
Through this project, OPEKA was equipped to implement a new quality customer service delivery framework as well as to improve its organisational structure, both centrally and regionally, through the redesign and simplification of procedures so as to ensure a uniform approach to all programmes under its remit and in order to improve day to day operations and service delivery. The expected long-term effect of this project is for OPEKA to contribute as best as possible to the achievement of policy results such as poverty reduction, supporting families, and improving accessibility to services for the most vulnerable in society.
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: