Introduction

The "CARICOM Programme on Strengthening Capacity in the Compilation of Social Gender and Environment Statistics and Indicators in the CARICOM Region" was formulated at the Second Meeting of the CARICOM Advisory Group in Social Gender and Environment Statistics in May 2002, in Roseau, Dominica. This CARICOM Advisory Group comprises Directors of Statistics/Chief Statisticians of The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname and representatives of the United Nations Statistical Division and the CARICOM Secretariat. For the second meeting of this group additional representatives of the UNSD and the CARICOM Secretariat were included as well as the former Chief Statistician of Belize to assist in formulating the Social Gender and Environment Progamme.

The main objective of the CARICOM Programme is;

            To institutionalize the production of Social Gender and Environment Statistics in the National Statistical Systems in order to inform policy formulation, that can improve the conditions of men and women and enable sustainable development of the Region.

The Project which was implemented during the period July 2000 to December 2001 sought to fulfill this need for statistics and indicators providing capacity building through activities which included, regional workshops in social gender and environment statistics and in information technology; in-country support in information technology and through the compilation of statistics and indicators and their production in two regional publications which are being finalized.

The Programme is divided into two main components, (i) Social Gender and (ii) Environment, with both components being supported by a data dissemination strategy that would make use of developments in Information Communication Technology.It will be coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat at the regional level relative to the compilation of regional databases. The programme will be supported and monitored by the CARICOM Advisory Group in Social Gender and Environment Statistics. The National Statistical Offices (NSOs) will coordinate the data compilation at the national level

The following are documentations arising out of this programme.