In line with the directives of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to take the lead in implementing digital conversion in government services, ArpuPlus, a company specialized in providing value-added mobile and telecommunication services in the Middle East and rising markets, has provided technical support to the Ministry of Social Solidarity using all its amenities to create the Interactive Communication Platform as part of the Ministry's mobile application services.

The exceptional platform performs a vital role in facilitating the Ministry to instantly interact with the beneficiaries of its 'Takaful and Karama' (Solidarity and Dignity) Program via SMS to (1442). The 'Takaful and Karama' Program is one of the Ministry's initiatives steered at granting conditional cash transfers to eligible groups, including families, children, women, people with special needs, the elderly and youths, under the umbrella of Social Safety Networks.

The Ministry of Social Solidarity is the first government entity to start the Interactive Communication Platform, to facilitate interactive mobile communication with members of local communities. The platform, which ArpuPlus contributed to its development and implementation, facilitate free sending and receiving of SMS via mobile phones between the Ministry and the citizens targeted by 'Takaful and Karama' Program and provide support to its beneficiaries. About 3.5 million Egyptian citizens profit from the program and all their communications are being collected through the platform, particularly in terms of education and health.

Offering an excellent tool to encourage interactive discussions with citizens, the platform facilitates the Ministry to successfully manage its various awareness programs and deliver the key information related to major social issues, as well as get the public's reactions and opinions about the services provided to them. To encourage citizens to use the interactive platform, a special awareness campaign has been designed regarding the severity of the coronavirus and educated the families benefiting from the 'Takaful and Karama' program. The Ministry also formed a competition focused on the precaution to avoid COVID-19 infection.

Medhat Karam, CEO of ArpuPlus, said: "The Interactive Communication Platform is an exceptional tool which performs an important role for the Ministry of Social Solidarity to clearly and conveniently communicate with citizens who are entitled to the 'Takaful and Karama' Program and accept messages on their mobile phones. The platform permits the transfer of short text messages between the Ministry and citizens for free to check if the social services have been rightfully delivered to the beneficiaries as well as get their feedback about the services. In the future, the program will include all the social services administered by the Ministry, which could grant a data centre based on the data collected from citizens. All these data will be examined to help come up with new services that the Ministry can present to the citizens."

ArpuPlus resumes its efforts to make a definite difference in the lives of people in the Middle East and North Africa by services that help all phases of their lives. The services help pass the news to the target audience and present more straightforward ways to order food, make payments, book travel tickets, and communicate with the government, among others.