Challenge

• High instances of petty corruption during interactions between citizens and local government

o  1 in 10 of Tunisian public service users paid a bribe for a public service. This doesn’t include cases of nepotism.

o  46% of people who engage in petty corruption are between 18 and 35 years of age.

• Low youth engagement and interest in local politics.

o  Turnout for the municipal elections in Manouba was only 29% and nationally only 3.27% of registered voters were youth.

• Lack of trust and communication between youth citizens and local government.

o   Only 23% of youth have trust in the government.

Social And Behavioural Insights

We identified the following insights to address the challenges:

• Lack of knowledge and clarity on the municipality’s opening hour, costs and processes provide opportunity for corruption

• Lack of planning and desire to finish tasks at the municipality quickly provides justification for engaging in corruption

• The municipality is still regarded as a corrupt institution

• Youth in Manouba don’t trust elected Municipal officials or staff and feel excluded from their work

• Youth do not believe their engagement will change anything at the municipality

• Voices of the youth are not heard in the municipality

• Youth of Manouba aren’t aware of who the municipality is and what they are doing

What We Did

• We conducted behavioural research to gain insights into the social and behavioural drivers of petty corruption in Manouba, Tunisia

• We held a strategy workshop with the Manouba municipality and local CSOs to co-develop an actionable SBC strategy with consensus and buy in from key stakeholders

• We co-developed an SBC strategy and campaign to target the drivers of petty corruption in Manouba

• We produced strategically informed creative content consisting of 14 videos, 12 graphics, and a social media package for Facebook including 9 fonts and 4 reusable templates

• We disseminated the creative content online, in print and on billboards around Manouba for maximum outreach

• We provided guidelines for improving engagement and communication with the municipality’s online audience 

Impact

• Times, costs and processes for legalizing documents at the municipality are easily accessible online and in the municipality

• Comments on the municipality’s Facebook page increased by 35.7% 

• The Facebook audience grew by nearly 50%

• The videos featuring messages from municipality officials and the Mayor reached 80% more people than other videos shared previously by the municipality

• The youth audience on Facebook increased by 8%

• Municipality staff have increased capacity to engage and communicate with all segments of Manouba society including youth