Background
The objective of the Program for the Improvement of Surveys and the Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean (MECOVI), is to generate adequate and high quality information about the living conditions of people in the region, in terms of scope, coverage, reliability, timeliness and policy relevance. This kind of information is needed for the design, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs and projects, aimed at reducing poverty and the promotion of greater social equity. The program was formally launched in December 1996 in Asuncion, Paraguay.
MECOVI is a Spanish acronym for: “Mejoramiento de las Encuestas de Hogares y la Medición de Condiciones de Vida”. The Program has two main components: (i) country-specific activities, and (ii) Region-wide activities.
The MECOVI Program is executed by the World Bank (IBRD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), as well as specialized institutions or agencies in countries participating in the Program. Subsequently other donors, such as Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, UNDP, USA, and the Soros Foundation, have supported the Program.
MECOVI Strategy
MECOVI-IDB
MECOVI-CEPAL
National Statistical Development Strategy
The MECOVI Program is expanding its action plan to strengthen the institutional and technical capacity of the National Statistical Systems (NSS). To achieve this goal, the MECOVI Program is implementing Trust Funds for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) to support 13 countries in the preparation of their National Statistical Development Strategy (NSDS): Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela regard the formulation of the NSDS as an essential input to boost the activities of their NSS.
The NSDS will be validated and endorsed by the largest possible number of institutions involved in the production and use of statistical information. The NSDS would identify the areas in which general and particular requirements of statistical information should be strengthened. The NSDS will also reinforce the central role of the National Statistical Offices in the NSS and provide the guiding principles for statistical development. Additionally, the NSDS would provide a tool to facilitate the harmonization of statistical information across the region, in accordance with recognized international standards.
Country Specific Activities
The MECOVI Program has been active in: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and the OECS countries. Other countries have expressed an interest in receiving support from the MECOVI Program. For most of these countries, IDF and TFSCB grants have been used to complement support from other donors to finance major technical assistance activities and strengthen the capacity of these institutions to plan and carry out household surveys.
Management of the individual country-specific activities include: (i) coordination of MECOVI country programs with counterparts from other co-sponsoring institutions; and (ii) preparation and supervision of the IDF, TFSCB and BNPP grants support, endorsed by the respective CMUs.
Regional Activities
Regional Workshops
The MECOVI Program envisions organization of two regional workshops per year. To date the MECOVI Program has organized 14 regional workshops, in in Aguascalientes (Mexico), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and in Lima (Peru).
Regional Workshops and Background Material
Regional Training Courses
The objective of the MECOVI Regional Training Program is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the personnel of the statistical agencies by upgrading their technical skills in planning, designing, and implementing household surveys. The users of the surveys are invited to participate in the training courses in order to learn of the up-stream survey activities and the state-of-art analytical skills in poverty analysis. The curriculum of the MECOVI training course has been developed through collaborative efforts among the staff of the IDB and the World Bank. The World Bank has contributed by mobilizing the cross-support from the Development Research Group (DECRG) and the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network (PRMPR) as well as survey specialists from outside the Bank.
To date the MECOVI Program has organized 11 regional training courses, in Aguascalientes (Mexico), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and in Lima (Peru).
Regional Training Courses
Regional Databank
The Poverty and Gender Group has created a Regional Poverty Data Bank that contains an inventory of more than 400 household survey data sets from 23 countries in the LAC region. The data sets are maintained on line and are readily accessible to users in the World Bank.
The data sets have been extensively utilized by the World Bank researchers in and outside the LAC region for numerous research projects and ESWs. The maintenance of the data bank component is currently undertaken by the Poverty and Gender Sector, LAC PREM, largely supported by trust fund resources. Contact Mr. Namsuk Kim for more information on the databank.
For non World Bank work, please contact the National Statistical Offices in the countries to gain access to the data.
Lessons Learned
The MECOVI Program has developed good practice partnership programs in LAC. It has assisted countries in upgrading their capacity to plan and implement household surveys. It has been instrumental in: (i) diagnosing the situation of the surveys; (ii) creating awareness among donors and countries of the needs for mounting concerted efforts to mobilize financial and technical resources; and (iii) organizing reasonably successful multilateral efforts to build regional and country capacity to conduct household surveys.
Some of the key lessons learned from the MECOVI program are:
- The activist role of the National Statistical Offices (NSO) in its consultation with other stakeholders (sponsors and users) helps to create country ownership and accountability.
- Build capacity on top of existing capacity.
- Emphasize building capacity for planning, designing and executing the surveys, instead of just improving the survey instruments.
- Interaction between the producers and users of statistical information increases the viability of the project over time.
- Wide dissemination and democratization of statistical information is essential for engendering trust and confidence in the statistical system that generates it.
- Commitment of the country to the production of high quality statistical information creates a virtuous circle: better information, more credibility, more utilization of data, more demand, more resources, improved capacity, better information, and so forth.
- Training offered through workshops and courses is essential to enhancing the technical capacity, as well as for creation of a network of cooperation.
- Horizontal technical cooperation among countries is a practical, economical and mutually beneficial mechanism for enhancement of NSO capacities.
- Close coordination between sponsoring organizations helps to establish priorities and to conduct program activities in an integrated manner.
Program Coordination
The MECOVI Program owes its success to the collaborative spirit and extensive joint consultation among management and staff of the three co-sponsoring institutions.
At the highest level of authority, the Steering Committee of the Vice President of the World Bank, Vice President of the IDB, and Executive Director of UN-CEPAL, have met to review the progress of the activities, provide overall guidance, and have made executive decisions regarding the direction of the MECOVI Program. Members of the Steering Committee have received recommendations on best practices and policy directions from the Advisory Board, made up of experts.
The Program Coordinators from the three co-sponsoring institutions periodically meet to coordinate their support to the program countries, and discuss any pending issues.
The Poverty and Gender Sector, Latin American and the Caribbean Region (LAC), Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM), provides the institutional home for the World Bank's contribution to the MECOVI Program. Its members constitute: Jaime Saavedra, Sector Manager; Jose Molinas Vega, Coordinator; Monica Penuela, Assistant Coordinator; Namsuk Kim, Databank Administrator; Marta Cervantes-Miguel, Program Assistant. For more information, please contact mecovi@worldbank.org.
Link to National Statistical Offices
Argentina
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INDEC)
Bahamas
Department of Statistics
Barbados
Barbados Statistical Service
Bolivia
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)
Belize
Central Statistical Office
Brasil
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica(IBGE)
Chile
Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE)
Colombia
Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE)
Costa Rica
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC)
Ecuador
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC)
El Salvador
Dirección General de Estadísticas y Censos
Guatemala
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)
Guyana
Bureau of Statistics (website en construcción)
Haití
Institute of Statistics and Informatics (website en construcción)
Honduras
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)
Jamaica
Statistical Institute of Jamaica
México
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI)
Nicaragua
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC)
Panamá
Contraloría General de la República de Panamá
Paraguay
Dirección General de Estadística, Encuestas y Censos (DGEEC)
Perú
Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI)
República Dominicana
Oficina Nacional de Estadística (ONE)
Banco Central de la República Dominicana
Suriname
General Bureau of Statistics
Trinidad y Tobago
Central Statistical Office
Uruguay
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)
Venezuela
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE)
RSS