Highlights
Information Technology and Communications (ITC) has dramatically impacted every aspect of our society, step by step, by the development of personal computers (early 80’s), the growth of broad band telecommunications, the Internet (early 90’s) and the massive deployment of portable ‘intelligent’ devices (smartphones) by mid-2000’s. Capturing, storing and exploiting of demographic and personal data is an integral part of today’s processes at all levels: government, cooperation institutions and private corporations, each of them with different objectives, but with similar interest on having access and exploiting that information. The relevance and, in some way, the ‘value’ of that information is very different when looking to countries with long experience using ITC (ITC mature countries) or to countries with late adoption of data management processes and systems (ITC developing countries).
To achieve consistent social protection data management systems on ITC developing countries it is necessary to have a reliable personal identification number for adults and children, that allows unequivocal recognition independently of what social programme deals with the individual.
