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Service provision and assistance

Role of government: Direct Shaped directly by public agencies.

45.5Access · regional mean

46.4Experience · regional mean

−0.9Access–experience gap

−0.33How closely access and experience move together across countries (correlation)

−0.47How closely this domain follows the overall index (correlation)

What the survey asks: access

Eligibility for and receipt of government social assistance and assistance from non-governmental or charitable organisations; eligibility for and receipt of legal aid.

What the survey asks: experience

Views on the assistance and legal aid received and on the range of opportunities to obtain them; the expected likelihood of obtaining social assistance and legal aid without a bribe or informal payment.

Findings

The weakest domain in the region (mean 45.9). Kuwait (57.9) and Qatar (54.0) lead; Tunisia (34.0), Lebanon (38.5) and Morocco (39.2) trail. The domain moves against the index (r = −0.47): Tunisia and Lebanon, first and second overall, are last and second last on services.

Access and experience move in opposite directions across states (r = −0.33). Yemen records the highest access (66.8), reflecting receipt of assistance by 158 of 252 respondents, with low experience (36.8); Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon record the lowest access (25.8, 26.5 and 28.8).

What the gap may indicate (inference, not measured)The access items count receipt of assistance from any source. The high access of Yemen and Iraq is consistent with, but does not establish, humanitarian provision compensating for limited state capacity. In Lebanon and Morocco, low access with moderate experience is consistent with problems of coverage, eligibility or information at the citizen interface.

Administrative implicationThis is the domain in which public administration is measured most directly. It can be reported separately from the composite, with eligibility, information, complaint handling and informal payments as the administrative levers.

Citizens voice

“Facilities and development of services”
Egypt

What respondents said they would change. Open-ended answers as transcribed in English by the survey team, lightly edited for punctuation; attributed by country only.

Figure 1Service provision and assistance: the gap is widest in Yemen; experience runs ahead in Morocco

AccessExperienceDotted lines: regional averages

Yemen66.8 · 36.8 Qatar63.9 · 44.1 Saudi Arabia56.5 · 41.7 Iraq50.7 · 36.7 Jordan44.5 · 47.4 Kuwait56.1 · 59.7 Tunisia26.5 · 41.5 Egypt35.7 · 55.0 Lebanon28.8 · 48.2 Morocco25.8 · 52.6

Sorted by the gap between access and experience.

A-SCOPE MENA, Arab Access and Experience Dataset 2026, ten states, N = 1,861. Wave 1 · Release 1.0 · September 2026.Image (PNG)

Figure 2Service provision and assistance: where access is higher, experience tends to be lower

Provision–experience mismatchMaterial-access deficitAdministrative interface deficitCapacity under crisisIntermediate alignment

Dashed line: access equals experienceDotted lines: regional averages

A-SCOPE MENA, Arab Access and Experience Dataset 2026, ten states, N = 1,861. Wave 1 · Release 1.0 · September 2026.Image (PNG)