Report

2023 WIC Technology Landscape Report

By National WIC Association, Nava

Using Technology to Improve the Certification Experience for Participants and WIC Agencies

This report builds upon a 2020 WIC Technology Landscape Report which sought to understand the changes to enrollment and technology during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Landscape Report noted that while WIC had modernized technology in other areas of the program, like nutrition education and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) capabilities, the certification and enrollment steps of the program had less nationwide attention and presented a unique opportunity to use technology to support participant-centered service delivery at these touchpoints.

This 2023 Landscape Report details the progress made since and acknowledges some persistent structural barriers to technology equity. It highlights lessons learned from remote pandemic operations that provide a more nuanced understanding of challenges and informs targeted recommendations. It also calls for additional policy and systems support to raise the floor of WIC technology-enabled service delivery while uplifting the successful innovation of some states as examples to follow.

Overall, the assessment found that while WIC State Agencies have made some good progress in using new technology to support participant-centered services, enabled by the relaxed program requirements under the COVID-19 pandemic Public Health Emergency (PHE), many agencies continue to face some of the same barriers outlined in the previous report.

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Date Added
April 5, 2023