Pacific Region Progress in Adopting Standardised HIES Methodology

Session 1 - TYPPS Objective 1 PICTS are undertaking key statistical collections as scheduled Progress of adopting a standardised HIES methodology in the Pacific Region Chris Ryan and Bertrand Buffiere Statistics Advisers Statistics for Development Division 1

Introduction This presentation will cover the following issues: Background of HIES TWG Where things are at now Key achievements Main challenges faced Recommendations for future work

Background of HIES TWG 2006 Pacific Plan - strategic objective 12.4 Striving for greater harmonization of statistical standards, classifications and systems Consultancy team established, provided platform for developing the Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy (TYPSS), 2011 2020. Endorsed by the 2010 HOPS Established the Pacific Statistics Steering Committee (PSSC) to guide and monitor TYPSS implementation.

Background of HIES TWG 2nd PSSC meeting - SPC tabled a proposal for the establishment of the HIES Technical Working Group (TWG) met for the first time in August 2011 The HIES TWG is comprised of representatives from 5 NSOs, TA providers as well as donor agencies Met twice now, plus a poverty workshop last week

Progress thus far Countries currently adopting standardised HIES in field Nauru: Started in September 2012 due to complete field work in September 2013 Solomon Islands: Started in September 2012 due to complete field work in September 2013 Samoa: Started in April 2013 due to complete field work in March 2014 FSM: Just started on July 11, 2013 due to complete field work in July 2014 Countries showing interest in adopting standardised HIES Palau, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Tokelau

Key Achievements 1. Development of solid draft questionnaire Sols HIES Q s Nauru HIES Q s Samoa HIES Q s FSM HIES Q s Future Country HIES Q s

Key Achievements (cont.) 1. Development of solid draft questionnaire (cont) Important points to note: Only the structure of the Q s are standardised Countries can tailor this approach to their own countries needs BUT We don t want to stray from the general structure

Key Achievements (cont.) 2. Development of standard classifications Development of classifications for income and expenditure Modified to suit pacific conditions PACCOICOP Better alignment with international standards for defining income and expenditure components in outputs

Key Achievements (cont.) 3. Development of standard data processing system Three areas in particular have been focussed on: Data edits for checking each rounds data as the survey unfolds Monitoring tools for the survey manager to better track the performance of field staff An improved approach to producing outputs in a more timely manner More to come tomorrow

Key Achievements (cont.) Example of quality of field collection indicators - Average time period (in days) before data entry by round / team (as short as possible) - Average number of errors detected by the system per household by round / team / enumerator (as small as possible) - Average number of items collected in the diary per household by round / team / enumerator (bad if downward trend) - Average number of items recorded in the diary week1 and week2 (the difference should be as small as possible) Feedback to the teams in the field for improvement during the next rounds

SI HIES 2012 / 2013 - examples 40 Av. number of days between interview and entry of modules 31 30 24 19 20 16 15 13 11 10 10 6 0 25 20 Av. number of errors detected by the system per household 20 15 15 11 9 10 7 7 5 3 5 3 0 Round1 Round2 Round3 Round4 Round5 Round6 Round7 Round8 Round9

Key Achievements (cont.) 4. Adoption of 12 month field strategy All countries thus far adopting this, albeit differently Key benefits behind this are: Accounting for seasonal factors Smaller more qualified teams Opportunity to amend problem areas from earlier rounds

Key Achievements (cont.) 5. Stronger output focus Far greater consultation has taken place with a much wider list of key users In particular, focus on NMDIs with around 53 NMDIs across a wide range of sectors can potentially be produced: Population 1 Education 1 Community D ment 1 Youth 5 Agriculture 4 Public Health 6 Energy 3 Poverty 5 Labour Force 4 Gender 6 Culture 1 Fisheries 10 IT 6

Challenges which lay ahead Still not all countries on board due to project infancy Hopefully this will change SDD limited resources mean if countries deviate from recommended pacific methodology it will compromise TA opportunities Still teething conceptual and scope issues to be addressed Defining members of a household Coverage of non-private dwellings

Challenges which lay ahead Survey success is still highly dependent on how well field supervision takes place NSO staff still hold the key Better planning required for future HIESs for the region Lots of countries requesting HIES in the next 1-2 years Planning must be well organised, and not changed

Recommendations All countries subscribe to PICT HIES methodology, as recommended by PSSC, in the future Development of a standard set of outputs addressing CPI National Accounts Balance of Payments Poverty Other NMDIs Additional sectoral outputs Agriculture Fisheries Education Health Gender IT Labour Communication

Recommendations Stronger push for the conduct of a DA & RW course within 4-5 months of completion of field work Produce short informative pamphlets (similar to DHS) across a range of sectors