Zdenko Milinovic , Director, BiH Agency for Statistics

1. Strengths and Weakness in Technical Cooperation Activities- Experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Zdenko Milinovic,Director, BiH Agency for Statistics

2. Background Information • The BiH statistical system had to be rebuilt after the war in BiH • Italian Government has targeted the Balkans as a priority area for its intervention assistance • First visit to ISTAT by the Director of the Federal Institute of Statistics was made in March 1996, • The first Italian fact-finding mission to BiH in November 1996 • BHAS, the state Agency for Statistics BiH, was established in August 1998 in order to take coordination role on state level Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

3. Statistical priorities • Statistical donor meetings held in November 1998, December 1999, June 2002, October 2003 • The Italian Government, in 1999,provided 360,000 €for support of BiH statistical system to refurbish statistics offices in BiH • At the end of the 1999 Donor Conference, a request was made to the Italian Government to support the development statistics in BiH in the fields of agriculture, demographics and migration, social and poverty, and the non-observed economy Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

4. Statistical priorities • The World Bank, in October 1999, designed a project proposal on the “Development, Implementation and Analysis of Household Surveys” • The World Bank project proposal focused on the need to set up a system of household surveys (LSMS, LFS and HBS) in BiH • The Italian Government through ISTAT focusedits efforts on the design and implementation of a Household Budget Survey (HBS) and Price Statistics, spending a total of 878,000€ • ISTAT started with the HBS Pilot Survey in 2003 and Main HBS in 2004 Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

5. Purpose of the HBS • This is the 1st of its kind HBS in BiH, using EU methodologiesand techniques, as well as benefits derived from replication over time. • A project was designed to follow the best practices available and accumilated expertise of ISTAT in the field, and is completely inline with EU and international standards and recommendations • The project’s immediate objectives are set forth by its two main components: • Design and implementation of the HBS • Consumer Price Statistics Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

6. Purposes of HBS and CPI Components • Project’s practical purpose: the design and implementation of all the phases related to undertaking the HBS • Main objective of HBS were the following: • sample design • questionnaire drafting and testing (during the pilot survey) • organisation and implementation of fieldwork activities • data input and editing • imputation and processing • tabulation • calculation of weights and errors • analysis of results and dissemination Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

7. Purposes of HBS and CPI Components • HBS data will also be used for the following: • the calculation of weights for the Consumer Price Index • as a source of information for national account estimation • to study consumption patterns and social inequality • to make poverty and geographic comparison etc. • The Consumer Price Statistics Component has several aims: • the adoption of a common basket of product • the implementation of new software to enter and process collected prices • the calculation of CPI weights based on HBS results. Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

8. Purposes of HBS and CPI Components( The role of BHAS) • In order to provide smooth communication Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina took over coordination role in implementation of project activities and it was responsible for: • Overall technical and organisational implementation • Coordination of operations between three statistical institutions • Making decisions in coordination with ISTAT experts Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

9. Strenghts - ISTAT’s Involvement • Bilateral cooperation with ISTAT enabled: highly professional implementation of statistical activities, acquisition of harmonized methodologies and standards • ISTAT has provided top level support to the project, ensuring complete methodological support to all the phases • The project was designed so as to follow the best practices available and the accumulated expertise of ISTAT • Senior experts from the HBS and methodological units have worked on the project’s design and implementation, with the active support of almost 30 ISTAT experts at different stages of the project Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

10. Strengths - ISTAT’s Involvement • 7 experts constituted the HBS Core Group of Experts, together with 5 colleagues from BiH, with whom they have worked in constant partnership • A similar, though smaller, setup has been put into place for the price statistics component • The eventual reimplementation of a new HBS would trigger many positive returns within a short period of time: • Using the same experts again • building a sustainable capacity to repeat surveys autonomously in future • Fine-tuning questionnaires, software and fieldwork activities on the basis of the lessons learned with the 2004 HBS Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

11. Strengths - ISTAT’s Involvement • In order to memorize compiled questionnaires the CADI technique was made available by the BLAISE System • The BLAISE System is also now being used for other survey (for example: LFS) • ISTAT also provided the CONCORD System for data editing and imputation, as well as the LINUX version of CONCORD, plus a set of ad hoc programs • A warehouse of statistical data has been developed and made available on the webin order to disseminate aggregated data to external users • Very important: EU methodology for CPI has been introduced into BiH practice for the first time Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

12. Weaknesses • The implementation of HBS activities uncovered internal/BiH weaknesses • Too few local (BiH) human resources, which were too intensively involved in more and more sophisticated sample surveys • Close cooperation with ISTAT was, on the other hand, counterproductive due to excessive reliance and, sometimes,the passive position of local experts and their expectation the work would be done by ISTAT experts • Using of not enought adjusted survey documents to situation in BiH Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

13. Weaknesses • Lack of high-capacity statistical software to manage the huge data sets and prepare final databases for analysis made BiH statistics very dependant on a partner • This could also eventually become more acute and easily become an additional bottleneck to the development of statistics in BiH • The problems in administrative procedures caused the slow allocation and disbursement of needed funds (at the beginning no advance was provided, ISTAT only reimbursed the costs) • Simultaneous engagement of experts (on bouth sides)in various projects has caused unplanned and unnecessary delays in the implementation of scheduled activities Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

14. Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Work • The biggest benefit for BiH statistical system from bilateral cooperation and support • Need to continue the process and implement next HBS in 2006 having in mind positive implications on CPI as well • In future, BHAS must engage and train more staff in specific areas • Awareness within BiH instutions of the importance of such activities must raised and commitment to be clerly expressed • General improvement can be expected with the more radical adjustment of survey documentation to situation in BiH. Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

15. Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Work • Special attention should be paid to increasing data quality control and strengthening of analytical skills • The 2006HBS could be used to fine tune this exercise, to finalize the transfer of all the procedures shown by ISTAT, as well as implementation of this know-how by BiH experts to do it independently and make it sustainable • Costs could be partly reduced by the BiH statistical institutes • To simplify if possible the administrative procedures refinance issues (if possible advance payment to cover higher amount) • HBS Survey Technique should be common factor for all sample survey taken Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

16. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities

17. Web site: www.bhas.ba • E-mail: bhas@bih.net.ba Strenghts and Weaknesses in Technical Cooperation Activities