Pacific Regional Conference on Household Income and Expenditure Survey Methods

PACIFIC REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON HIES METHODS 28 TO 31 MARCH 2023 NADI, FIJI Pacific HIES methods: gap assessment Presenter name: Michael Sharp Presenter title: Manager, Statistics Collections Presenter affiliation: Pacific Community (SPC) PACSTAT project (P169122): Statistical Innovation and Capacity Building in the Pacific Island Countries

Contents Carpark recap HIES data needs In-country gap assessment Regional technical assistance gap assessment HIES development priorities

Carpark Questionnaire too long Requirement for automatic field checks More involvement of NSO in post enumeration activities Expansion of HIES needs (initially, prices, NA, poverty; now new needs) Data editing / cleaning: in field outlier detection; Statistical literacy in HIES data use CPI benefits more from location of purchase than detail on item Imported v local inflation (e.g., Ukraine war impact on prices) Need to look at location and branding of items (local v import) and then we can determine the driver of inflation MICS: modulated questionnaire, standard tools and instruments, structured development plan, reports and infographics Microdata anonymization guidelines FIES individual or household? Financial inclusion individual or household Supplementary labour modules (migrant worker (returned migrant and absentee), own use production (incl. time use) For reporting, identify priority populations to disaggregate by (e.g., LNOB) Perhaps need to develop sampling techniques Build analysis/tabulation plan into survey planning HIES summary should be tailored to national needs; connect to policy Data integration (link variables between different surveys and across surveys (e.g., HIES, census, LFS) Part of survey planning / MICS does this Survey vetting: lots of surveys happening; lots of requests for unique data; need survey plan with advocacy and user consultation; new modules being proposed and it s important they re reviewed and only included when relevant Donor and development partners running own stand alone surveys (e.g., financial inclusion, migrant workers) Statistical coordination is important NSO strategic planning to include users Raise awareness of existing data and types of information collected in HIES National priorities need to be met, then international user consultation South-South / Peer-to-Peer; coordination by SPC; resource distribution; support to small NSOs Structural design / governance: something specific for HIES for the Pacific; proposal to develop Need to be aware that data needs will change and therefore we need ongoing development

HIES data needs Data use Frequency Comment GDP rebase CPI rebase Poverty assessment Food security assessment SDG reporting Other 1 Other 2

In-country gap assessment Stakeholders need more recent and updated data Elections interrupt Other surveys interrupt as NSOs can t run more than one survey simultaneously Budget If budget was not a constraint, how frequently would you run HIES? Every 3 years because there s demand for current data NSO staffing data demand increase, but staff and budget do not; routine work limits resources for surveys Collection of redundant data should be avoided Technical capacity new staff, never experienced HIES before Legislative framework / political support Supportive generally for statistics development Depends on the result if you get support or not Need to highlight the benefit to the country Examples of interference by politicians Dissemination need political support and a legislative framework that supports data sharing Engage policy and planners Project proposal writing budgeting, project management, etc. Institutional strengthening Create national data champions National PACSTAT projects providing funding and technical support

Regional technical assistance gap Not enough staff at SDD; no subject matter specialists (e.g., welfare, food, gender, CPI, NA) Communication / coordination / push NSOs to do the survey / governments need to know they re behind NSO capacity to reduce reliance on international organisations South-South / Peer-to-Peer as an option HIES analysis capacity building (SDI Singapore has a programme for capacity building) Annual capacity building programme focusing on all aspects to HIES implementation needs to be regular (e.g., CAPI, Stata, labour, data analysis); economic statistics is a model Report writing Project proposals Governance SPC to provide advice to governments on data quality (e.g., results statistically sound) Add another level of advice International organisations need to coordinate better same software, joint capacity building initiatives, SPC to lead this Regional story about HIES and information behind the numbers (e.g., those impacted by CPI increase; those dependent on subsistence production; fact sheets) Learn from MICS; TA from UNICEF should be adopted for HIES (e.g., indicator list for core modules; purpose of questions; support stakeholder consultation; set expectations for survey) More emphasis on data processing; data editing guideline for core modules; SPC to jointly work with NSO on data editing and decisions in error correction; tabulation plan to be shared; give more the NSO and SPC peer review) Policy on South-South; transparency in terms of funding available; what s the optimal modality for S-S (e.g., SPC and S-S -> NSO; S-S -> NSO) Build regional pool of experts; supplement capacity at SPC; Mike s TOR Coordination needs to come from SPC Document processes to HIES; transfer knowledge; create reference resources; Word document of questionnaire National PACSTAT projects adding work to regional infrastructure

HIES development priorities

Thank you Address/post: Pacific Community (SPC), 95 Promenade Roger Laroque, BP D5 98848 Noumea, New Caledonia Phone: +687 262000 | Fax: +687 263818 | Email: complaints@spc.int | Web: https://spc.int/accountability