Lorena Moscovich

August 1st, 2025

Digitalization

The accelerator lab and the inclusive growth CO cluster of UNDP Argentina are supporting the Ministry of Community Development of Buenos Aires province to to design and implement a centralized hub for receiving, processing, and monitoring citizen . The ministry is the largest of the province, and the province it self is the most populous in the country, accounting for approximately 38% of the national population. Moreover, 58.2% of its residents live in poverty, and 8.4% are unemployed. These figures reflect the complex social and economic situation facing the country, with Buenos Aires Province experiencing some of the most critical indicators of poverty, extreme poverty, and unemployment. The specific learning from this activity is to understand how citizens currently interact with the Ministry’s services, and to identify how the current request-handling system operates: who manages it, with what resources and criteria requests are received, processed, and followed up. The goal was to detect key inefficiencies such as fragmentation, overlapping functions, and outdated procedures, and to assess whether the proposed One-Stop Shop model could enhance access, optimize the use of resources, and better serve those most in need. This process entailed a clear problem definition, ecosystem mapping, and narrowing the scope for targeted action. 

This study was exploratory in nature. Therefore, it sought to understand which factors hinder or facilitate the reception of requests. The main hypothesis planned to be tested was that processes for receiving applications affect their registration and monitoring and consequently limit the Ministry's ability to evaluate the outcomes of the policies designed to address the identified problems. In addition, we wanted to test if the lack of standardization in internal procedures generates inefficiency and inequity in the handling of requests and if weak coordination between municipal departments and with external actors (NGOs, national agencies, etc.) limits the comprehensive resolution of cases.     While this study is exploratory in nature and does not seek to establish statistical causality, it is guided by a set of working hypotheses. These hypotheses serve as an analytical framework throughout the report, helping to organize findings, highlight key areas of concern, and inform the direction of proposed actions  - The absence of standardized processes for receiving requests may lead to inconsistencies in how they are registered and monitored, weakening the Ministry’s ability to track and respond effectively.  - Poor coordination between Ministry departments and with external actors can result in fragmented case management, delays, and incomplete solutions for citizens’ needs.  - Differences in the availability of human and technological resources across departments may create inequities in the speed and quality of service provided to citizens.  - When staff use varying criteria to refer requests, this can generate inefficiencies and inconsistent outcomes across different areas of the Ministry.  - Without a single, clear, and accessible system for submitting requests, citizens—particularly those from vulnerable groups—may struggle to access services or receive timely responses.   

To test our working hypotheses, we carried out a series of coordinated actions between September and December 2024, in collaboration with the Ministry of Community Development of the Province of Buenos Aires and UNDP Argentina.  First, we implemented a sensing plan, which involved weekly meetings with key Ministry and UNDP staff to gradually align problem definitions, objectives, and action strategies. This was complemented by a stakeholder mapping exercise that identified internal and external actors involved in the reception and processing of citizen requests.  We also conducted an activity mapping of the current service flows and documented how requests were received, categorized, and followed up across different departments. To contextualize the MDC experience, we conducted a literature review and a survey of similar experiences in public service redesign, drawing insights from cases such as the AUH, the CUIDAR app, and the Chatbot Bonaerense.  To deepen our understanding, we carried out in-depth semi-structured interviews with over a dozen key informants across all units involved in receiving and managing citizen requests. This helped us uncover operational inconsistencies, communication bottlenecks, and resource disparities. Lastly, we used service design mapping techniques to visualize pain points in the user journey—both for citizens and internal staff—and identify opportunities for systemic improvements.  All these actions took place within the Ministry and in coordination with its teams between September and December 2024. The insights generated are guiding the next phase of a more structured diagnostic and co-creation process for a unified and accessible citizen request center.   

The hypotheses were supported by observational, no experimental, data. Based on a sensing or understanding exercise conducted jointly by the ministry and UNDP teams, along with interviews with key stakeholders and process analysis, the main findings included:  - Multiplicity of intake channels: Currently, three main areas (Modernization, Carla Zocco’s team, and the Minister’s pre-private office) manage requests independently, without coordination or integrated systems. As a result, the intake and processing of requests are fragmented, often leading to duplication of tasks and of the same requests.  - Outdated tools: Requests are recorded in various shared Excel spreadsheets, limiting the ability to track cases, causing duplication, and hindering access to consolidated information. There is also no unified database among the different areas, which impairs more strategic and evidence-based decision-making.  - Lack of protocols: There are no standardized procedures for referral, categorization, follow-up, and case closure, which at times relies on the individual judgment of team members. This leads to a lack of long-term planning within the areas.  - Reliance on informal tools: WhatsApp and personal email accounts are the main channels for internal and external communication. This limits knowledge and analysis regarding the number and processing of requests, and also poses risks to data security and traceability of citizens’ information.  - Staff shortages and operational overload: The volume of requests exceeds the processing capacity of the current teams, who face insufficient technological resources — often using personal computers — and limited human resources.   

The most important learning outcomes of the experiment include a clearer understanding of the institutional ecosystem, the identification of internal organizational gaps, and the need for coordinated and user-centered solutions. The initial diagnostic revealed the importance of drawing from relevant experiences in other jurisdictions, recognizing internal resources and challenges, and engaging a broader range of stakeholders in the design of an effective request center.  Based on these insights, changes are recommended:  - Expand interviews with key informants to gather lessons from similar initiatives in other provinces or municipalities, which will help anticipate implementation challenges.  - Conduct an internal assessment to map available resources, existing competencies, and potential overlaps, thereby improving coordination across teams.  - Establish a task force working group composed of technical profiles from relevant MDC departments and supported by UNDP, to lead and validate proposals.  - Form a technical team to develop and adapt systems that can efficiently manage internal and external requests in a coordinated way.  - Deepen co-creation efforts with both internal stakeholders and citizens through interviews, workshops, consultations, and testing, ensuring that solutions are tailored to user needs.  - Invest in strategic digital skills training for staff, enabling a cultural shift that supports inclusive and sustainable innovation.  - Develop a strong project identity and narrative, supported by design and communication strategies, to motivate engagement and align internal and external incentives. 

Another significant obstacle was aligning the incentives of all stakeholders involved in the project. This project will have clear consequences on the day-to-day job of bureaucrats, redesigning the process on how requests are received, classified, and derived. The day-to-day bureaucrats in the Ministry attend unexpected events or emergencies, for instance, due to climate events or flooding that overload the MDC’s ability to meet regular demands,  that often limit a long-term vision on how the whole process could be better. It was essential to communicate a clear vision of the potential impact of the initiative and to demonstrate how each team or individual could benefit from its success. Building shared ownership took time and sustained engagement.  Another challenge is the large scale of the province, , with structural problems of poverty and infrastructure, as we mentioned above. AlsoThere is a context of public spending restrictions, lack of funding, and limited coordination between the federal and provincial governments—who belong to different political parties—which constrains the provincial government’s access to resources. The province has adopted a highly conservative spending strategy, which affects the availability of funds for this work plan. As a result, the UNDP project is currently almost entirely unfunded.   The fragmentation and precarious infrastructure for receiving and processing requests also limits the ability to grasp the true scale of the demand the request center will need to address. In this sense, there is no baseline from which to evaluate the impact of future reforms.  Lastly, the activity involved engaging with several new concepts and methodologies that were unfamiliar to our team, like concepts regarding service design and software. This required additional effort to learn, adapt, and sometimes rethink our initial assumptions. Interviews with key informants, like members of the data center of the University of Buenos Aires, other software engineers and people in the service industry were crucial to provide us with answers.