LocationsA Decade of Results – Social Protection Information System
December 8, 2025
December 8, 2025 – The Social Welfare Information System, e-Social, has enabled citizens to access social and child protection benefits more quickly and easily, with regular calculation and disbursement of over €1.2 billion in the past decade.
At the conference “e-Social 10 Years – A Reform That Delivered”, organized by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Family and Demography and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Montenegro, the system’s achievements were presented and a new, upgraded digital solution was announced.
The Social Welfare Information System, initially a capital project of the Government of Montenegro, is implemented in partnership with UNDP and the Ministry. Today, it facilitates over 200,000 monthly benefit payments to rights holders, totaling more than €230 million annually.
The system is a key tool for the daily work of social welfare centers, featuring automated data exchange with nine institutions. It significantly eases the workload of professional staff while relieving citizens of the burden of collecting extensive documentation. For example, when the universal child allowance was introduced, parents could access this benefit using only their ID cards, without having to provide additional documents from other institutions.
UNDP Resident Representative in Montenegro, Ekaterina Paniklova, highlighted that the system’s success is the result of dedicated work on the ground and announced the next phase of development:
“e-Socijala is the backbone of the social protection system, through which over 1.5 million decisions have been issued to citizens. This achievement belongs not only to technology but to the people who built the system and implemented the changes – the practitioners. Ahead of us is a new development phase, with additional functionalities and new digital services. UNDP remains a reliable partner in this process,” Paniklova stated.
UNDP Resident Representative in Montenegro, Ekaterina Paniklova
Minister of Social Welfare, Family and Demography, Damir Gutić emphasized that all processes in centers were previously manual, whereas today the system ensures digital processing of applications, automated controls, benefit calculations, and reporting.
“Behind this system are years of continuous work, hundreds of thousands of hours contributed by everyone involved in its development. e-Social does not serve only our ministry; it primarily serves citizens, especially those in need. The system has undeniably improved both the quality of work and the quality of our services for citizens,” Gutić said.
Minister of Social Welfare, Family and Demography, Damir Gutić
The upgraded digital solution, to be launched next year, will optimize existing modules and introduce new functionalities designed to further support the daily work of social and child protection institutions across Montenegro.
10 years of e-Social, audience