Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive, Mohammed Ali Al Qaed praised His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, for the unwavering support to the National Complaints & Suggestions System, Tawasul, including his directives to improve government interactions with the public and respond to submissions swiftly. This has had a major impact in raising the quality and productivity of government services and helping it to achieve its desired goals.
Al Qaed highlighted the importance of swiftly implementing HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister’s directives to expand the criteria for the Customer Service Excellence Award, to strengthen competition among government agencies and improve services provided to citizens and residents. AL Qaed further noted the government’s ongoing approach towards sustainable development, achieved through constant improvement in services, and is among the key elements supporting the Kingdom’s Economic Vision 2030.
Al Qaed highlighted HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister’s directives which emphasized the importance of having an active eParticipation ecosystem, as well as an open door policy through permanent and direct channels of communication between the public and officials of all ministries and government entities. This was achieved through a range of initiatives, including Tawasul, which has played a major role in enhancing government performance and the quality of its services, ensuring that they keep pace with the aspirations of citizens and meet their future needs. This policy of ensuring excellence in communicating with the public is reflected by the increase in the number of government entities honored each year 3 government entites were honored in 2017, 11 in 2018 and 16 in 2019 and 20 in 2020.
Al Qaed said that Tawasul is a unified system which has allowed all government to achieve their plans and strategies, exposing areas for possible improvement and offering solutions to major issues, while prevent them from recurring in the future. Direct interaction and immediate feedback received through Tawasul has prompted government agencies to reengineer their services and procedures, and to provide them electronically. He praised the support of all government agencies for Bahrain’s e-transformation initiatives, which are based on a model of community participation, and the principles of sustainability, fairness and competitiveness in government services.
Al Qaed said that Tawasul, is an integrated platform that allows direct communication through the National Portal at bahrain.bh/Tawasul. The service was expanded to include an app for smart phones and devices andis easy to use and has gained the trust of citizens and residents, having implemented many of their suggestions. It has also had a direct impact on the development of electronic services and systems, in addition to improving the policies of many government entities.
Al Qaed explained that Tawasul, since its inception, has contributed to raising the level of citizens’ and residents’ satisfaction with government services through swift responses to their observations and suggestions. A total of 48 government entities have joined Tawasul to date, and more than 350,000 submissions have been received since its launch in 2014. The system’s rate of adherence to its Service Level Agreement currently stands at 99%.
Al Qaed added that the iGA, in implementing HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister’s directives, continues to develop the Tawasul system and app by adding new services and features and improving its underlying infrastructure , with the aim of further enhancing its quality and effectiveness.
