Adaptation Of The Social Protection System To Crisis Conditions: Expert Views[Адаптация Системы Социальной Защиты Населения К Кризисным Условиям: Взгляд Специалистов]

The coronavirus pandemic has led to drastic economic and social disruption, increasing the need for social support and social services. The purpose of this study is to trace changes in the system of social protection and social services induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and identify the related challenges faced by Russian regions. The objectives of this study include building a survey toolkit, conducting expert interviews with representatives of regional ministries responsible for social protection of the population and analyzing the data obtained. The methods used include expert interviews, analysis, comparison and generalization. The study explores the difficulties in organizing assistance to the population during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzes the decisions made and the potential for making social assistance more effective, which underscores the importance of the study. The object of the research is the system of social protection of the population at the level of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The subject of the study is the social security system’s experience during the coronavirus pandemic. The results of the study show that the pandemic has necessitated quick decision-making and completely new approaches, and exacerbated problems such as poor interagency coordination, low salaries of specialists, underdevelopment of digital technologies and people’s insufficient readiness to use remote access technologies. Nevertheless, the period of the pandemic has pushed the social protection system to develop in several aspects. First of all, this concerned the development of digital technologies for administrative purposes as well as for informing the population and providing services, and efforts to meet the needs of the population and reduce bureaucratic barriers in providing social support and social services. Еxploring opportunities for using digital technologies to improve the availability and quality of social support and social services is very important and may be considered as a subject for further research.