Development Account Projects
Strengthening the capacity of national statistical offices in the Caribbean small island developing States to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals
Background:
The need for building/strengthening institutional capabilities for generating and compiling reliable social and economic statistics in the Caribbean subregion has long been recognized, and NSOs have been searching for solutions to address this major gap, particularly in the area of social statistics. In response to these, ECLAC has been providing active support to the countries of the region in the design of systems in the fields of economic and social statistics.
In contrast, the project will address issues , such as the lack of data or metadata, highlighted by the previous regional efforts aimed at strengthening capacities in the generation of statistical indicators. Other issues include the absence of a standardized format for data collection and comparison as well as the absence of comprehensive harmonized regional indicators for monitoring and measuring each Millennium Development Goal. These problems are the results of the weak institutional capabilities available for generating reliable high-quality data and the absence of linkages among data collectors. Consequently, much work to develop capacities among the various Caribbean States remains to be done and would require increased collaboration among the various agencies in order to maximize the benefits of dwindling resources.
The project will take full advantage of existing programmes while avoiding duplication with ongoing activities relating to MDGs undertaken by other regional bodies. This will require a strengthened regional capacity to ensure better formulation and monitoring to take into account the new development modalities. Consequently, the project will strive to produce a higher level of coordination of statistical work across the region in social, economic, and environmental issues.
Objective:
Strengthening the technical capacities of the targeted Caribbean governments' statistical offices, through networking of institutions and experts, to improve the social and environmental indicators to measure poverty, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability with a view to advancing the fulfillment of MDGs.
Expected Accomplishments:
- Adoption by Caribbean countries of common data collection protocols, definitions and classifications for the collection and dissemination of an extended set of MDGs indicators that are more suitable to their situation, in order to monitor the accomplishment of the MDGs.
- Strengthened technical capacity of governmental institutions to produce and analyze MDGs indicators derived from harmonized household survey data sets and use them in the design and implementation of public polices that lead to the fulfillment of the goals.
- Improved capacity in the NSOs of participating countries to collect, compile, analyze, and disseminate data on social and environmental indicators to measure poverty, social cohesion and environmental sustainability.
- Establishment of a database which makes it possible to draw up indicators at the subregional level in order to measure the economic, social and environmental costs of maintaining current development patterns; evaluate and diagnose the current state of the environment in the region; gauge the environmental consequences of existing macroeconomic policies; and, supply orientation for policy decisions, especially in regard to public and private investment.
Implementation Status:
Project implementation commenced in 2008.
