The National House of Social Insurance (CNAS) trained older persons in Moldova to use online, directly from the mobile phone, public services provided by the institution. The training was staged as part of a pilot initiative of UNFPA and CNAS in the framework of the project “Digital Skills Connect Generations”, IPN reports.
Training courses in 2021 were staged in 15 localities in the districts of Șoldănești, Rezina, Basarabeasca, Leova, Orhei and Strășeni and involved 300 women and men. Public servants helped the older persons to gain access to the personal account on www.cnas.gov.md and to familiarize themselves with different data and services.
“Approximately 60% of all the applications for reexamining petitions received by CNAS were submitted online by older persons. Online appointment scheduling was also very popular in 2021, with over 4,000 persons making appointments beforehand and visiting local subdivisions. We are glad that as part of this pilot partnership project with the UN Population Fund, we have the unique chance of extending the number by training older persons to use our services online,” said CNAS director Elena Țîbîrnă, being quoted in a press release.
The initiative forms part of the “Digital Skills Connect Generations” project that is a broad program initiated by UNFPA during the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim of supporting the social and digital inclusion of older people with the help of young people.
“Each of the 300 older persons received by a modern mobile phone and later took part in training and were taught how to use digital technologies by young volunteers. Now, following these training courses held in partnership with CNAS, we moved to the new level – we trained older persons to access online, directly from the mobile phone, social services that are provided by the institution. We are glad that the partners from CNAS were open and we together made direct interaction between older persons and employees of this public institution possible, which is a premiere for the Republic of Moldova,” stated Eduard Mihalaș, UNFPA Program Analyst on Population and Development.
According to statistics, only three in ten older persons aged between 60 and 79 in Moldova have access to digital technologies, as opposed to eight in ten persons of younger categories of population. The Active Aging Index launched by UNFPA shows continuous learning throughout lifetime is a poorly developed and insufficiently promoted area in Moldova – only two in ten persons older than 55 become involved in such activities.
