Friday, September 29, 2006

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: All countries collect census data and population statistics, but many use different methods and measurements, which makes it nearly impossible to accurately compare their information or social indicators.

For years, regional experts have called on Caribbean nations to standardize and compile reliable statistics, and representatives from these countries have long asked for technical assistance in strengthening their capabilities.

Such assistance will now be available, thanks to a new project by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), entitled “Improving Caribbean Household Surveys,” a project which recently received a grant from the United States of America Department of State.

The project aims to improve the comparison of social statistics produced in the Caribbean region through household surveys.

It also seeks to ensure that the region’s statistics can be compared according to international standards. Specific objectives include: creating new variables for national data collection in the Caribbean; building consensus among National Statistics Offices on common data collection protocols, definitions and classifications for various social variables; and improving electronic access to these data via the Internet.

National Statistical Offices and Agencies from 15 Caribbean countries will benefit from the project that will be implemented over a two year period beginning from September 30, 2006.

The initiative will include country visits to collect existing data from household surveys, a meeting of experts to forge a consensus on the harmonization of household data, a regional training workshop for those responsible for managing social surveys, the publication of a standardized data dictionary, and the dissemination of on-line Caribbean household survey databanks.

At the end of the project Caribbean nations will have strengthened their institutional capabilities for generating and compiling reliable statistics.

ECLAC’s Caribbean Subregional Headquarters will be responsible for the management of the project, including monitoring, procurement of professional services and accounting.

ECLAC has vast experience in the field of social statistics and household surveys. In Latin American countries, it leads capacity building activities such as the Program for the Involvement of Surveys and the Measurement of Living Conditions.

In the Caribbean, it supports statisticians and other producers of statistics at the national level in their quest to produce more accurate and relevant statistics, and in so doing contribute more substantively to policy making, mainly through research, and technical and advisory services.

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