Results and Lessons Learned

During the 1996-2006 period, the Program for the Improvement of Surveys and Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean has provided direct technical and financial support to the improvement of information systems in 15 Latin American countries, and 16 Caribbean countries.

 

Selected Results (1996 – 2006)

 

Among the main achievements during this period, the following can be highlighted:

• Improvement and extension of the thematic content of household surveys, including the introduction of subjects such as crime, ethnicity and race, disability, family remittances and others.
• Greater dissemination and utilization of statistical information on living standards .
• A better informed and documented analysis on living conditions, based on greater capacity to measure poverty.
• Development of the institutional capacity of national statistical institutes.
• Regional Latin American database with more than 400 household surveys since 1980 until this date.  Throughout 2007, the World Bank shall launch the inclusion of a regional database within the search platforms: for external users of the World Bank system, through Quick Query (link to be available soon); and for internal users of the World Bank system, the statistical information shall be available through DDP (link to be available soon).
• Financial support and technical assistance for the design of National Strategies for Development of Statistics in 15 countries.
• Development of good practices related to the donors-region-countries coordination.
• Promotion of transparency and accessibility in the use of information.
• Promotion of the rapprochement between users and producers to enhance the relevance and utilization of the surveys’ information.

It is also worth mentioning that during the 10 years of Program’s existence, it has evolved to include activities that not only build national and regional capacities to gather, analyze and use information, but also advance the development and implementation of Strategic Plans for the Development of Statistics at country level.

Main Lessons Learned after 10 Years of the Program’s Existence

 

The MECOVI program has developed good program practices for the intersectorial (within the World Bank) and interinstitutional (with beneficiaries and different partners) coordination in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. This coordination has been crucial to the countries, providing support to build their capacity for planning, implementing and analyzing household surveys, and furthering the socialization and awareness of donors and counterparts regarding the need to mobilize financial and technical resources in a coordinated and consolidated manner.

 

The experiences ensuing from the Program have in turn generated a series of lesson learned, such as –among others- the following:

• A broad access to, and democratization of the information is vital to the consolidation of trust in the statistical systems.
• A greater demand for information increases its quality and relevance.
• The need to concentrate efforts on improving data gathering tools is equally important to the need of building capacities in survey planning, design and implementation.
• The horizontal technical cooperation among countries has proven to be an effective, affordable and mutually beneficial method for improving statistical capacities.
• It is convenient to build upon the base of existing capacities.
• Training by means of workshops and courses is crucial for increasing the technical capacities and for creating cooperation networks and promoting the exchange of experiences.
• The political will and commitment, the active and leading role of the National Statistical Office, and a high degree of coordination between statistic data producers and sponsors, help create a sense of ownership and accountability for the activities performed, in addition to improving sustainability.
• A close coordination among sponsor agencies helps to establish priorities and to expedite the implementation of those activities defined within the Program framework in an integral manner.

The lessons learned serve as a stepping stone to highlight the need for an integral and ongoing effort to produce, use and coordinate the statistical information required in the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies, programs and projects aimed at reducing poverty and promoting social equality.

 

With this in mind, the World Bank created the Team for Statistical Development attached to the Poverty and Gender Group of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit (PREM) of the World Bank’s Latin American and Caribbean Region.

 

Future Challenges

 

The Team for Statistical Development still faces several challenges arising from the need to implement an integral and ongoing effort to strengthen the processes for the development of statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Some of the challenges identified during the implementation of the MECOVI program, are described herein below:

• To strengthen the link between statistical information, administrative records, and monitoring and evaluation processes related to the Millennium Development Goals and poverty indicators.
• To seek flexible strategies to conduct household surveys based on the country’s characteristics and needs.
• To improve the quality of the administrative records and the censuses in order to strengthen the different information systems.
• To enhance the capacity to measure the evolution of variables through the implementation of panel surveys and data observations.
• To promote the methodological research of household surveys, censuses, and administrative records.
• To improve the organization and documentation of household surveys’ databases.
• To improve the access to, and the dissemination of household survey data.
• To strengthen the demand for information generated by the civil society, the private sector and public institutions.
• To foster an ongoing interaction between producers and users of statistical data.
• To promote the standardization of the data gathering processes.