Help at home

Description of innovation

During the current period of dealing with the coVID-19 crisis, the need for care and support of the most vulnerable groups of citizens (the poor, the elderly, the disabled, etc.) has become even more apparent. In this context, it was deemed necessary to strengthen the existing organizational structure "Help at Home" in the country's municipalities, which can, directly and effectively, contribute to the provision of a variety of services to citizens, especially the weakest, and to cover their increased needs. As part of the implementation of measures to protect society as a whole from the spread of the COVID-19 virus, care was taken to directly support, with additional staff, municipal social policy services, including the structures implementing the Home Help Program, which is responsible for serving and supporting vulnerable citizens who are unable to move from their homes to meet basic needs.
Following instructions from the Ministry of the Interior, the local authorities have provided the following services to vulnerable groups of the population (the poor, people who cannot or are not allowed to move from home):
a) the registration of the poor and economically weak inhabitants of the municipality
b) the provision of medical care and the provision of basic necessities
c) the free supply of medical stuff products and basic necessities
d) assistance to the health services that operate within the limits of the municipality, according to their instructions
e) the operation of a call center and a website in order to record the requests and needs
f) the processing of requests of the residents of the aforementioned categories of citizens (receipt of applications - delivery of certificates) for all types of certificates issued through KEP

Target

To strengthen social care, support and provide a variety of services to citizens, especially vulnerable groups during the pandemic. Already 273 Municipalities of the Country that implement the Program have completed the procedures provided in article 91 of Law 4583/2018 for the establishment of jobs related to Home Help. In May, the process of creating an additional 2,909 permanent jobs for the Program began.

Collaborations

The Program was developed by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with the Municipalities of the Country.

Maintaining and integrating innovation after the COVID-19 crisis

The program will continue to be implemented to the same extent it was implemented before its reinforcement during the crisis, supported by the welfare structures of the Municipalities.