RIYADH — The National Center for Performance Measurement (Adaa) has started measuring the performance of government agencies providing services for this year's Hajj pilgrimage. The Kingdom's flagship performance measurement platform is evaluating the satisfaction of pilgrims with regard to 29 services being provided to them by 11 government agencies through distribution of questionnaires. The move is aimed at knowing pilgrims' level of satisfaction with government services provided to them during their Hajj journey, which can help public agencies further improve their services accordingly. Adaa Director General Eng. Rashid Al-Qaoud said that the measurement of the performance during this year's Hajj comes in the fulfillment of the aspirations of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman to provide of the best possible services and facilities to the pilgrims. The move is also in line with the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 that pays great attention to the Two Holy Mosques as well as the services provided to the pilgrims. Al-Qaoud said Adaa has relied on four tools, represented by field, telephone, electronic, and hidden beneficiary questionnaires, to measure the satisfaction of pilgrims. There will be a total of around 66,000 questionnaires. Regarding the hidden beneficiary tool, Al-Qaoud explained that the center will carry out 270 visits to the hidden beneficiary to measure the quality of government services provided by public agencies to pilgrims in a confidential way, and closely look at the experience of the pilgrim, the actual reality of service provision and its outputs. "The field surveys will be conducted in seven major sites, including the holy sites, airports, meeqat (boundary to enter in the state of ihram for Hajj), health centers and train stations in Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah. The field researchers have the ability to talk and communicate with pilgrims in their own languages. Al-Qaoud stated that the center has adopted specific criteria to measure the satisfaction of pilgrims based on a clear methodology designed in accordance with the best international practices, and that the measurement is not limited to a specific nationality or group, but all pilgrims. It is worth mentioning that Adaa issues periodic reports based on the evaluation of the services provided to pilgrims and their satisfaction with them, and these reports are submitted to decision-makers and heads of government agencies participating in the Hajj, and that in turn would contribute to improving and developing government services in a way realizing the satisfaction of the pilgrims.
