The number of Tunisian public structures having obtained the national quality label “Marhaba” currently stands at 106, while the Presidency of the Government aims to raise this figure to 150 by the end of 2027, announced on Wednesday by Olfa Souli, Director General of Reforms and Administrative Prospective Studies at the Presidency of the Government.
This statement was made on the margins of a ceremony organized at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, on the occasion of the award of the label to five offices of the citizen relations.
Olfa Souli explained that this approach is part of the efforts deployed by the Presidency of the Government to modernize the administration, improve its working methods, simplify administrative procedures and strengthen the quality of services provided to citizens. The project to upgrade the offices of the citizen relations aims in particular to improve reception conditions, facilitate access to administrative services and strengthen communication between the administration and its users.
She specified that this project rests on a cooperation between the General Directorate of Reforms and Administrative Prospective Studies at the Presidency of the Government and the National Institute for Standardization and Industrial Property (INNORPI). This collaboration relies on an approach aimed at improving the quality of public services and promoting the principles of a quality welcome and attentive listening to citizens, in order to strengthen their trust in the administration.
The official also stressed the importance of anchoring a true culture of quality within public structures and services. According to her, improving the services is not limited to the development of suitable reception spaces, but also involves simplification, reorganization and digitization of procedures and administrative pathways, in order to make services more accessible, more efficient and better adapted to the needs of citizens and businesses.
Moreover, Olfa Souli indicated that the Presidency of the Government has been working since 2019 to implement a project aimed at improving the quality of several administrative services deemed priorities for citizens. This approach is based on a needs- and expectations-centered approach.
It consists notably of analyzing the paths followed by citizens to access administrative services, identifying the complexities and difficulties encountered, then reexamining the procedures, legal texts and the information systems involved. The objective is to rethink and simplify these paths in order to improve the user experience in their relations with the administration, she explained.
The first phase of this revision focused on 13 administrative paths, some of which concern school services and school dropout. Others are related to social coverage, social aid, access to care as well as the obtaining of certain documents and administrative services.
The official stressed that obtaining the quality label in terms of welcome constitutes an important step in the modernization process of the administration, without however representing its culmination. True quality rests, according to her, on daily and durable practices, based on an adequate welcome, listening, guidance and respect for the needs of citizens, as well as on the constant search for solutions to the difficulties they encounter.
Finally, Olfa Souli stressed that the success of this approach depends on the mobilization of all stakeholders and on strengthening cooperation between the Presidency of the Government, the ministries and the relevant public structures, with a view to establishing an administration closer to citizens, more efficient and more transparent.
