Regional Award for Innovation in Statistics

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PORTUGUÊS

THE TOP TEN STATISTICAL PROGRAMS AWARDED DEMONSTRATE

OUTSTANDING INNOVATION

On Thursday April 10, 2008, the World Bank announced the winners of its first Regional Award for Innovation in Statistics.  More than 150 programs from 20 countries participated in the competition— the first of its kind not only in Latin America and Caribbean, but worldwide — which aims to recognize the importance of statistics in development and promote innovation in this area.

Almost 100 people, including statistical producers representing the 31 finalist statistical programs and representatives of diplomatic delegations, evaluating organizations (IDB, IMF, U.S. Census Bureau, PARIS21, etc.) and press, attended the Award Ceremony. “This competition has accentuated the inventive ways in which Latin American countries are pursuing new ideas to better meet the pressing demands for timely, accurate and accessible information,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean during the Ceremony.

We would like to congratulate the winning programs from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil that were recognized for their groundbreaking work:

FIRST PLACE

Mexican Family Life Survey

Universidad Iberoamericana, Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) and associated institutions, Mexico. 

SECOND PLACE

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

National Administrative Department for Statistics (DANE), Colombia. 

The CPI is a long-standing and highly utilized source of information in the country, incorporating various inventive features that have increased its use and reliability.  An innovative and comprehensive management quality certification system has been incorporated into the production of the index based on the review of international norms by independent experts.  The consumption basket is calculated using both flexible and fixed variables.  The use of mobile devices for the collection of data has further facilitated the compilation and dissemination of information. Download Program Brief here.

THIRD PLACE

Bank of Evaluators of the National System of Higher Education (BASIs)

National Instituteof Studies and Research (INEP), Ministry of Education, Brazil. 

This program has made it easier to evaluate the quality of higher education in Brazil by integrating the collection and updating of data on professors, evaluators and courses, and linking it to other relevant agencies.  The system has facilitated the dissemination, evaluation and statistical analysis of higher education, improving the evaluation of institutions and promoting the excellence of higher education in Brazil. Download Program Brief here.

The following programs received honorable mentions for their innovative work:

> Semi Finalist Programs

>  Background

> The Concept of Innovation

> Basis for the Contest

> Benefits of the Award

> Selection Process

31 SEMI-FINALIST STATISTICAL PROGRAMS

The first stage of evaluations for the Award has been completed, and we would like to congratulate the 31 semi-finalist programs. In this round a total of 12 countries are represented: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Santa Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay.

All applications received have been evaluated by a group of experts from the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Based on a points system established, the 20-30 percent top ranked programs per category have moved on to the second round, and the institutions responsible for these activities have been requested to prepare a more extensive technical brief. Furthermore, some of the programs that will not continue to the next round, but have proven high levels of quality and innovation, have been requested to send additional information to be disseminated through materials on best statistical practices in the region.

In the Census category, eight statistical programs have been identified as semi-finalists, representing South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The category that received the highest number of applications is the Surveys category, where 13 semi-finalist programs represent national statistical offices, ministries, NGOs and universities.

Finally, in the category for Administrative Records, 10 statistical activities have been selected as semi-finalists.

Background

The World Bank, in collaboration with the Department for International Development (UK), will award statistical programs and activities of use for the design, implementation, and evaluation of priority public policies in three categories: Censuses, Surveys, and Administrative Records.

To be considered for one of these awards, a statistical program must be of high overall quality and be clearly innovative in at least one particular process

related to institutional aspects, data production and/or its usage.

In this contest, any statistical program or activity implemented between January 1996 and December 2006 by any statistics-producing entity from a World Bank member country in the Latin America and the Caribbean region can submit application(s).

A Selection Committee will review all the applications and choose the statistical activities that are the most innovative and have the highest quality data. The selected programs will be asked to prepare an auto-evaluation and submit a technical brief. These documents will be reviewed by a Technical Evaluation Committee that will provide written feedback to the contestants. The proposals selected for the finals will be evaluated and certified by a high-level panel of experts.

The winners and finalists in each category will have the opportunity to disseminate and promote their experiences at the regional and international level.

The Concept of Innovation 

Innovation implies the application of new ideas to improve a service, product or process. Innovation involves change, but not all changes involve new ideas or significant improvements.

In the framework of the Regional Award for Innovation in Statistics, innovation is linked to new or improved processes of design, data collection, analysis and dissemination of data; the introduction of new technology; modified or new management structures and systems; and the strategic direction of the statistical program: in other words, all the elements that lead to improvements in the quality of statistical information and its use for the design and implementation of better public policies.

Basis for the Contest

Any innovative statistical program, activity or product can participate in one or more of the three categories defined for the Award: Censuses, Surveys, and Administrative Records.

Any statistics-producing entity, public or private, from a World Bank member country in the Latin America and the Caribbean region can submit application(s).

The participating programs should be proposed by the institution responsible for them. One institution may submit one or more applications, in one or more categories of the Award. 

Statistical programs, activities and products implemented between January 1996 and December 2006 are eligible to participate. Participating institutions must submit their application to participate using this electronic form or by filling out and sending this application form to lac-estadisticas@worldbank.org before September 21, 2007, 

Proposals received before August 31, 2007 will receive technical feedback from the World Bank Team for Statistical Development, in order to assure that the application fulfills all of the requirements.

Benefits of the Award

The award carries with it great prestige and recognition for the important advances being made in statistical development, which often go unacknowledged. The award offers the opportunity to increase the visibility of the work of the winners to the national, regional and international levels. An awards ceremony will be held to publicly announce the winners in each of the three categories, where they will make a short presentation of their program. The winning initiative will be offered an internship in the World Bank to expand their knowledge of international best practices in their area of expertise.

Wide dissemination of the programs of the winners and finalists will be publicized to a broad audience of international experts and donors, key government officials, academics as well as other important stakeholders of the statistical community. The experiences of the award-winning programs will be published in a World Bank publication and on the Internet for international distribution. Finally, all submissions that comply with the basic requisites of the award will be included in an on-line inventory of regional best practices in statistical development.

Selection Process

The selection process were carried out in several phases. ASelection Committee selected the statistical programs that demonstrated innovation and quality in their data. Three main dimensions were evaluated: innovation (type of innovation and its impact), data quality, and use and usefulness of the data.

The selected programs were asked to prepare a technical brief based on the completion of a pre-defined application form, and agroup of evaluators (experts in statistics from the World Bnak, the IMF, the IDB, PAHO, the UN, the National Statistical Office of Spain and the US Census Bureau) analyzed the information provided by the pre-selected programs and selected those programs that received the highest points. 

The assessment of the technical brief wasbased on the Data Quality Framework Assessment (DQAF) developed by the International Monetary Fund, with some modifications to cover all aspects of the Award. The dimensions and main elements of the evaluation are explained in the following table:

PORTUGUÊS: Para mais informações sobre o Prêmio Regional para Inovações em Estatísticas em português, clicar aqui.