Quarterly Progress Report: USAID TADAEEM PROJECT

This is expected to contribute to an increase in the legitimacy of the political system through more citizen participation in governmental decision-making, leading to increased responsiveness and improved performance of the Tunisian government at specific levels, focusing on municipal performance. The project has made significant progress in building on achievements, consolidating proven municipal service improvement methodologies, and developing sustainable e-governance tools for national counterparts to disseminate nationally. Key results achieved during this quarter include the participation of 62 elected and staff women from 23 municipalities in women leadership skills building training and dialogue program, resulting in the creation of a network between elected women. All communication and coordination system equipment for 350 municipalities, 24 governorates, the national training center (CFAD), and the Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment (MALE) were imported and cleared the long customs process. The installation, testing, and training of this equipment will begin at the start of the next quarter. The scope of work and Request for Proposals (RFPs) for procuring equipment to enable the implementation of the e-construction permit system in all 350 municipalities as a part of Post-COVID Part II were completed, with the evaluation of proposals and contract award to take place in the next quarter. The first three of four releases for the e-construction permit platform have been completed, and the project began demonstrations and testing it in the municipalities. Integration with the Architect Board database has been completed. Release four will be demonstrated and tested, and demonstrations for business and engineering communities will be conducted at the start of the next quarter. The scope of work and Request for Quotations (RFQs) for equipment grants for 33 municipalities to improve their public services have been completed, with the evaluation of proposals and contract award to take place at the start of the next quarter. Dissemination of public service management methodology and sharing of lessons learned, results, and positive deviances with non-partner municipalities was completed for public lighting, roads, and waste management services. Public lighting modules were shared online with 315 participants from 99 municipalities, road modules with 201 participants from 63 municipalities, and waste management modules with 17 participants from seven municipalities. The property and business survey grant to improve the database for the municipal own-source collection and management improvements in 10 municipalities was awarded, with onsite assessment of database and technology application in all 10 municipalities completed, and data collection tablet procurement initiated.