The Civil Tawafa Foundation for Pilgrims of Arab Countries is developing a special program to measure the degree of satisfaction by pilgrims regarding the services provided to them during the Haj pilgrimage.

According to the head of the program, Dr. Suaad bin Hassan Bishara, the aim of the study is to identify the degree of satisfaction of the pilgrims regarding the basic and additional services they received, including transportation and housing services in Makkah and the holy sites, in order to avoid repeating negative issues while developing the services provided by the institution.

Bishara explained that the idea of the program emerged at the end of last year’s pilgrimage season in a bid to develop and improve services to pilgrims, according to “ISO” specifications as part of the quality project sponsored by the foundation.

She said the foundation had hired female muttawifs, who are qualified to distribute the questionnaires to the pilgrims in Makkah and the holy sites, as well as collect and analyze the data.

She declared that the program has passed through several stages. The first phase was determining the targeted clients of the study represented in two sectors: The muttawifs and the pilgrims, with a focus on the pilgrims as they are the direct recipients of the services provided by the institution.

She pointed out that “the foundation then moved into the second phase of the program, which involves contracting experienced experts from “Dahlan Office” to carry out the research.

“We started searching for female trainees to participate in filling out the questionnaires, and selected them from a group of young women who work as muttawifs in the foundation and have post graduate and bachelors degrees,” she said.

She pointed out that the aim of this step is to take advantage of the ideas, energies, and qualifications of the female muttawifs under the guidance and support of the president of the foundation, Faisal bin Muhammad Nuh, and the supervision of the vice president of the foundation, Mohammed bin Hassan Maegeni.

According to Bishara, the foundation carried out two training sessions for the female researchers; one dedicated to the overall quality, and the other for training.

She added that the program moved to the next phase phase which is printing out the questionnaire and organizing a brainstorming session between the supervisors and working round, which consists of 22 young female muttawifs.

The team is composed of three groups, each containing a team of seven researchers and a supervisor, she explained. The work started on the second of Dhu Al-Hijja as a pilot phase, during which trams visited the housing sites of Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians and Lebanese pilgrims.

“We received significant interaction from the pilgrims and the researchers were able to persuade the pilgrims to answer questions comprehensively,” she said.

“We informed pilgrims of the need to take their time to answer the questions honestly and fairly, and thankfully, the impression was positive.”

She added that the second stage of the field research began on the third day of Eid Al-Adha. Researchers roamed the camps to select a random sample of Arab pilgrims.

The foundation is now in the process of counting the questionnaires and evaluating the performance of female volunteers, as well as excluding the invalid questionnaires. Results will be submitted to the company for analysis, and the results will be delivered to the foundation.

Bishara thanked the Ministry of Haj and the head of the foundation and his deputy for supporting female involvement in the activities of the foundation and contributing to improving the services provided to pilgrims.