Investing in digital independence for long-term resilience
Project Dolphin requires significant short-term investment, delivery complexity to secure greater long-term control, efficiency, and resilience. Following its February 2026 kick-off, the programme moved into active delivery to replace OCTOPAS with a Fund-owned pension administration platform, strengthening core administration, financial integration, and future scalability.
During the year, NSSF established seven assurance gates covering the business case, delivery, ownership, protection, integration, capability, and economics. The Fund also clarified the UGX 6.8 billion current-year allocation within the wider multi-year programme and adopted a co-creation model, combining NSSF teams with external specialists while retaining strategic, technical, and operational control. Implementation is phased, beginning with registration, contributions, benefits, and compliance, before extending to investment portfolio management and the general ledger.
Trade-offs in our use of Financial, Human, Intellectual and Manufactured Capital
Long-term positive impact
- Reduced vendor dependency through NSSF ownership of source code, repositories, and operating documentation.
- Greater strategic and operational control over the pension administration platform and future enhancements.
- Stronger internal capability through knowledge transfer, paired delivery, and measurable support-readiness before specialist exit.
- Improved member service, supported by greater resilience and scalability and through stronger architecture, integration, performance, and recovery capabilities.
- Greater digital independence, creating a sustainable foundation for pension administration at scale.
Short-term negative impact
- Significant upfront investment in development, assurance, migration, cybersecurity, training, and support.
- Increased demands on employee capacity and management time while maintaining OCTOPAS alongside Dolphin development and transition activities.
- Longer time-to-value, as progress is dependent on evidence and successful completion of each assurance gate.
- Implementation risks relating to data migration, reconciliation, integrations, cybersecurity, and specialist skills transfer.
- Potential change fatigue as legacy operations, platform development, testing, and readiness activities run in parallel.
Contributing to the following SDGs
SDG 1 No Poverty
Expanding access to digital financial tools, such as Smartlife, supports financial inclusion and enables more Ugandans to build financial security.
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
Supporting digital job creation, upskilling, and the development of internal capabilities.
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Building resilient, locally developed digital systems and infrastructure that strengthen NSSF’s long-term digital independence.
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Strengthening cybersecurity, governance, and internal controls across NSSF’s digital platforms.
Material matters
Strategic risks
