PS DICT keynote speech – Mr. Benjamin Choppy
It is indeed with great pleasure, that I address you all today. Welcome to the official launch of the completed Child Care Benefit Information System Seychelles, or ‘CCBISS’ for short.
There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic brought Seychelles several setbacks, but on the other hand, it also acted as a catalyst for our digital transformation drive. It has accelerated the need to have our public and private services digitalized. We witnessed a rapid shift from the traditional in-person service delivery by some government services and private businesses to a modern and online service delivery model. However, this needs to happen at a larger scale here in Seychelles in order for it to have a more significant impact nationally on the economy. This is the drive of the Digital Economy Agenda of the Government which we are relentlessly pursuing.
The Digital economy agenda is an important component in the Seychelles’ National Development Strategy. It is built on five main pillars; Digital Infrastructure, Digital Platforms, Digital Entrepreneurship, Digital Skills and Digital Financial Services.
In line with the Digital Platforms pillar, the Department of ICT (DICT) is working with a number of Government organisations to put in place online digital solutions aimed at supporting the delivery of their services. The ‘CBISS’ project with the IECD is one such undertakings. The implementation of CCBISS is also aligned with the call of the Tashkent Declaration pertaining to increased use of ICT in the ECCE space.
The IECD already administers a very successful Government scheme that provides financial support to parents who are making use of childcare service providers. The administration of this scheme; from the registration of parents and children, to the following up on payments to the service providers, is essentially done manually. This requires a lot of logistical organisation, coordination and constitutes of, time consuming work tasks, for all parties involved.
This is where the CCBISS system comes in.
The CCBISS is an online platform accessible over the Internet, which is centrally administered and compatible with a wide range of devices; from desktops to smart phones.
It supports parents, guardians, and childcare service providers with the process of child registration for the financial assistance scheme, and offers timely updates and confirmation on registrations and payments. Its users can access and fill in crucial documents, online, related to the scheme, such as Parental Confirmation Forms, Transfer Forms, Confirmation Forms for newly registered childcare providers and more. In addition, it produces detailed reports to support informed decision-making and for enhancing the overall administration of the scheme.
In short, CCBISS makes the administration of this existing scheme much easier and efficient for all concerned. It is a service delivery channel that we expect the majority of parents and childcare service providers will opt to use.
I take the opportunity to note that out of the 2,400 parents making use of this scheme, around 1,480 or 62% have already registered on the CCBISS platform. This is very encouraging indeed and the following month, it will also be the first time that payments under the scheme will be administered through the platform. It is definitely something that all involved, including the IECD and the Treasury Division in the Ministry of Finance will be monitoring very closely to ensure that everything works as intended.
CCBISS is also a locally developed product which the DICT contracted SPACE95, a local IT company, to build. I wish to congratulate SPACE95 for successfully delivering this solution. The delivery of the system marks an important milestone and we look forward to working with SPACE95 on the long term support of this system. It has been indeed an interesting collaboration for all parties concerned and I am sure that we have all learnt a lot in the implementation of this project. Lessons, I am sure will benefit us all in future projects.
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all our partners and stakeholders who have made this project a reality. Your dedication and collaboration have been invaluable. Together, we have built a system that will make a positive impact in the delivery of one of the services of IECD.
By embarking on this project, IECD is not only contributing to progress in relation to the national drive for the digitalization of Government but also in relation to one internationally relating to ECCE. The latter, being very fitting with IECDs’ Category 2 status with UNESCO.
Finally, I now take the opportunity to thank the IECD management and its allocated project manager for this initiative, and also for organizing this event today. It is indeed much appreciated. I also wish to thank the contractor for the project; SPACE95 for their work in delivering the system. My appreciation also goes to the team at Treasury in the Ministry of Finance which embraced and facilitated the payment interfacing aspect. Finally, certainly not least, my team from DICT, especially the Project Management Unit, which has been instrumental in putting this project together and seeing it through. Your work and dedication have not gone unnoticed. Well done.
It now gives me great pleasure to launch the CCBISS platform.
I thank you for your attention.
