C A R I B B E A N                          C O M M U N I T Y                          S E C R E T A R I A T

 

THIRTY- FIRST MEETING OF                                                                                        

THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF

CARIBBEAN STATISTICIANS                                                       SCCS/2006/31/3

 

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad                                                    

6-8 November 2006                                                                          9 October 2006

 

 

 

STATISTICS IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN THE OECS

Discussion Paper

 

Vasantha Chase

Director, Social and Sustainable Development

and

Sean Curtis Mathurin

Economic Affairs Officer, Economic Affairs Division

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.    BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................ 4

2.    INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................... 5

3.    THE STATUS QUO................................................................................................................... 5

3.a.     Operations of OECS Statistical Offices.........................................................6

3.b.    Legal Framework Guiding OECS Statistical Offices..................................9

3.c.    Structure and Functions of OECS Statistical Offices.............................9

3.d.    Equipment Stock in OECS Statistical Offices................................................ 13

3.e.     Surveys Conducted by the OECS Statistical offices................................14

A.     Economic Surveys............................................................................................................................................... 14

B.     Social Surveys...................................................................................................................................................... 18

C.     Databases and Administrative Information............................................................................................. 22

4.    THE ANALYSIS....................................................................................................................... 23

5.    CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................ 25

 

 

 

1.      BACKGROUND

The OECS region has been "pigeonholed" by International Organisations, Development Donor Partners, Investors and the like as a region deficient in the production, compilation and application of relevant, timely and reliable statistics. Consequently, the region is more often than not disadvantaged and unprepared to avail themselves of and partake successfully in negotiations and to seize potential opportunities. Additionally, the region's capacity to strategize and monitor successful development initiatives is hamstrung by the lacking acknowledgment of the importance of statistics to development planning. The root cause of this inadequacy and failure is indisputably linked to the sub-region's inability to move to a level where the production, compilation and utilization of relevant, timely and reliable statistics would guide and inform decision-making, policies and development planning. Compounding this is the prevailing culture which is not conducive to the dissemination of data.

 

A procedural and mindset change, vis-à-vis the warranted importance of statistics in guiding and informing policies and decisions, are necessary to bring about any deviation from the prevailing irregular significance presently characterising the operations and functions of central statistical offices.  For statistics to play its important role as a public good, statistical systems must make a significant contribution to national development by implementing a strategy that will serve to bring together the most important indicators and data sets within a coherent framework.

 

This paper has been prepared with three main objectives in mind.  The first objective is to identify the causes that have resulted in a serious lack of statistical data in the OECS; the second objective seeks to put to bed the sometimes vexatious argument of the relevance of economic statistics over social statistics; and the third objective is to identify a series of inter-related recommendations for producing statistical information that is accurate, timely and which can be used for evidenced based planning and decision-making.  It attempts to evaluate and summarise, into a single document, the various studies and analyses that have been undertaken of the structure and functioning of central statistical offices in the OECS.  Secondly, the paper itemises the various surveys conducted by central statistical offices, very often in collaboration with other government agencies and departments.

 

2.      INTRODUCTION

Statistical information can no longer be about number crunching; it is about producing a "public good" (UNECLAC, LC/CAR/L.69 19 December 2005).   Based on this premise, this discussion paper is divided into three parts:  The first part summarises a number of surveys on the status of central statistical offices in the OECS, including reports that had been produced by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and UNECLAC in 2005; the second part undertakes an evaluation of the results of the surveys and other reports and makes a case for a new vision for the planning, collection and reporting of statistical information in the OECS region.  The third part provides recommendations for an avant garde change necessary for statistics to make a significant contribution to the ove