Facebook Survey shows citizens in Latin America frustrated with bureaucracy

iadb.org/ Novel Facebook-based survey measures citizen frustration with bureaucracy in Latin America and Caribbean – The IDB has launched two studies on quality and innovation in public services

The Inter-American Development Bank launched two studies that show the low regard citizens have for the quality of public services they receive and how innovation can help make these services less bureaucratic.

In the first report, Simplifying Lives: Quality and Satisfaction with Public Services (available in Spanish), citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean give a low rating to common government procedures such as getting a doctor’s appointment or reporting a robbery, in a survey that used Facebook to increase reach and lower costs.

A second study, Governments that Serve: Innovations that are Improving Service Delivery to Citizens (available in Spanish), looks at innovative ways to provide government services.

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Low score for common procedures

The first study on quality, the average satisfaction score for procedures was 4.8 on a scale from 1 (worse) to 10 (best) – below similar measurements in developed economies (64 over a 100 in the United States). Two out of every five individuals surveyed want to complete the procedures online.

The study looked at satisfaction levels in Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. The idea was to obtain a representative sample that tracked the institutional, social and economic reality of all Latin America and the Caribbean.

The poll was done online using Facebook to reach more citizens. Over 11,000 responses were obtained on six common procedures: getting disability benefits; getting a doctor’s appointment in the public health system; reporting a robbery; registering for a birth certificate; registering a child in a public school; and renewing an identification document. Read Full Article