05/31/13
Social media based Kela-Kerttu service wins international certificate of merit
The certificate of merit was awarded by the International Social Security Association under its Good Practice Award programme.
With the Kela-Kerttu advice forum, Kela uses social media to provide assistance to families with children. The forum is a convenient way for parents to seek advice anonymously. Writing under the by-line "Kela-Kerttu", specialists from Kela answer questions posted to the forum within a couple of days. Launched in 2010, the forum has grown in popularity year after year. A total of 140,000 customers visited the forum in 2012.
The Kela-Kerttu service gained international recognition on 30 May 2013 as the International Social Security Association (ISSA) awarded Kela a Certificate of Merit. The Certificate of Merit was awarded under the ISSA's Good Practice Awards programme, which this year accepted entries from European social security institutions.
"Parents with small children are active users of online services, so we wanted to offer advice to them also through social media. We're proud of the Kela-Kerttu advice forum and delighted to see it recognised internationally as a good practice"; says Liisa Hyssälä, Director General of Kela, who accepted the award in Istanbul, Turkey.
The ISSA has recognised good practices in social security since 2008. Last year the competition was held among social security institutions in the Asia-Pacific region and in the Americas. By recognising good practices, the ISSA seeks to encourage social security institutions to improve their practices and administrative procedures. The recognised good practices are published on the ISSA's web pages.
In this year's competition, the ISSA gave out two Awards, seven Certificates of Merit with Special Mention and thirty-six Certificates of Merit. The Certificate of Merit awarded to Kela-Kerttu was the only entry from Finland singled out for recognition.
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