Published on Sustainable Cities

Tunisia: Improving local governments’ performance through annual performance reviews

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The story of Krib, the top-performing local government in Tunisia
 
Tunisia’s transformation in the wake of the Arab Spring has been remarkable, and can be seen through a shift in the role and performance of its cities.
 
[Download report: Tunisia Urbanization Review - Reclaiming the Glory of Carthage]
 
Prior to the Jasmine Revolution of 2011, the government of Tunisia was extremely centralized, and citizens had limited ways to hold it to account.  The revolution created a force to change the concentration of power and the ability of Tunisians to hold the government to account. Specifically, the government created a decentralization program supported by the World Bank’s Urban Development and Local Governance Program for Results (UDLGP), along with support programs from other partners including the European Union, Swiss Cooperation.

One dramatic shift the program has introduced is the development and execution of an annual local government performance assessment. Every year, Tunisian cities’ local governments each get assessed by a semi-autonomous agency on a range of areas, which are critical for their ability to effectively govern as well as to deliver services and infrastructure. In the inaugural assessment (2016), the local government of Krib, a town in one of the most lagging interior governorates called Siliana, outperformed all others and achieved the highest assessment score.

To learn more about the program, watch a video with World Bank Senior Director Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez ( @Ede_WBG). Check out Tunisia’s first-ever local government website to track the performance of Tunisia’s local governments over time (the results of the 2017 assessment which will be posted soon).
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Authors

Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez

Former Regional Director, Africa, Sustainable Development Practice Group

Ayat Soliman

Director for Strategy and Operations, Latin America and Caribbean

Ayah Mahgoub

Urban Economist, Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice, World Bank

Sabine Beddies

Senior Urban Specialist

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