Uzbekistan strives to make the person receiving assistance feel like a full-fledged member of society

An analysis of the adopted laws of Uzbekistan on ensuring social protection of the population shows: during 1991-2016, 24 laws were adopted in this direction, and from 2017 to 2023 - 44. In addition, hundreds of other legal acts are being implemented.

Based on this, in the last period, the main part of the State Budget expenditures has been directed to the social sphere. In particular, this year almost 50 percent of the total expenditures of the State budget, or 151.5 trillion soums (as of 02/28/2024 $1 =12.501.5 soums) will be directed to education, health care, social protection of the population, the development of science, culture and sports, housing for those in need and not only.
In the new version of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, our country is defined as a social state. Accordingly, large-scale practical work is underway. In particular, on June 1, 2023, a presidential decree was adopted "On a set of measures to provide high-quality social services and assistance to the population, as well as to establish a system of effective control over them." This was an important step in bringing work in this area to a new level.
A unified system of social protection of the population has been created, as well as a separate institutional body - the National Agency for Social Protection under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Thus, the regional departments of the agency have started their activities, and in districts and cities - Inson social service centers, the provision of professional social services and assistance to the population will be directly related to the activities of mahallas. This will help to fully reach the needy segments of the population, ease their burden, and solve problems by providing high-quality and professional support.
At the February video conference chaired by the President of Uzbekistan, the need for fundamental reform of the system, ensuring the targeting and effectiveness of social assistance was emphasized. Priority tasks in this direction have been identified.
Today, there are social workers only in the mahallas of 28 districts. The task has been set to organize their activities in all mahallas of the country before June 1 of this year.
Bringing 49 social services to the mahallas, such as providing people with disabilities with prostheses, registration of benefits and custody of children left without care, taking care of the elderly and lonely, in turn, places great responsibility on the social workers of the mahallas.
In fact, if families in need are targeted and a transparent system of informing residents of mahallas is created, as well as an individual approach to each social service and monitoring, then this will definitely help those who really need help.
Attention to social protection issues is reflected in the life of society. If we consider, for example, the work on the assignment of benefits, we will see how its volume has increased significantly.  In particular, in 2021, 404 thousand 763 people received various types of benefits, and today - more than 600 thousand. At the same time, the amount of social benefits is constantly increasing.
Separately, it can be noted that now the list of recipients of benefits will primarily include families of people with disabilities, deprived of parental care, who have lost a breadwinner, as well as those who, for health reasons or for other reasons, cannot work for a long time. When other citizens are included in the "social register", not only their income will be taken into account, but also expenses (living conditions, utilities, taxes, loan payments, etc.).
Another important aspect: starting in 2025, multidisciplinary social service centers will be opened in 40 districts for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, their rehabilitation and training in caring for them. This will serve to improve the standard of living of people receiving social assistance.
At the meeting, special attention was paid to topical issues of creating a barrier-free life for people with disabilities. In order to create a barrier-free environment for their education and employment, the practice of determining the level of working capacity will be discontinued, and disability will be established not by disease, but taking into account a person's ability to act independently, communicate and participate in social life.
It is determined that the designer of the construction of buildings and structures should conduct a mandatory examination to create a comfortable environment for people with disabilities, as well as take measures to organize a barrier-free environment for them in public transport, at train stations and in public places. The introduction of the new system will facilitate their integration into society.
In general, the main purpose of the innovations is to ensure accuracy, transparency and fairness in the social protection system. So that the person receiving help aspires to an active life, feels like a full-fledged member of society.
Firdavs Sharipov,
Deputy of the Legislative Chamber 
Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.