THE OECS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT COMMITTEE IN THE CONTEXT OF MPI & SDP

1. THE OECS LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT COMMITTEE IN THE CONTEXT OF MPI & SDP REGIONAL STATISTICAL SEMINAR Radisson Grenada Beach Resort Grand Anse St. George’s 28 May 2014

2. What is the LSMC • A regional Committee for the Measurement of Poverty and Inequality in the OECS

3. Why? • Governments and civil society’s urgent need for Indicators measuring the incidence of poverty in a given country • Irregular data availability, the limited capacity (both in terms of staff and financial resources) of NSOs to design and implement household surveys, and difficult coordination among islands and donors • (leading to fragmented funding and programs) • National institutions like social ministries in the Caribbean have limited capacity to analyzedata • Low frequency of data

4. Why? • The LSMC was an immediate response to these challenges confronted by NSOs in the area of Labour Force Surveys and Poverty measurement.

5. LSMC Terms of Reference • Aims to contribute to the production of up-to-date, harmonised data and data analysis for labour, poverty and inequality measurement across the countries. • In order to achieve this long-term objective, the LSMC will serve as an advisory body to the NSOs and the OECS Secretariat • Promoting capacity building to equip NSOs with the skills • Developing a regional methodology and implementation of surveys of living conditions and labour force in the region; • Serving as a forum of discussion and coordination for development partners’

6. Who comprise the LSMC • OECS member countries- Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines • OECS Secretariat- Host of LSMC • Development Partners- World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, CDB, CARICOM, ILO, UNWOMEN (Not limited to these partners)-to be permanent observers or will be invited on specific occasions • Subcommittee-Technical Committee- offshoot of the LSMC

7. History of the LSMC • The LSMC has had four meetings since it’s inception on 16 April 2012. • Meeting 1 focused on establishment of LSMC and development of TOR • Meeting 2- Harmonised OECS Labour Force Survey and the proposal of the OECS Sustainable Household Data Collection Programme for the measurement of Living Conditions in the OECS (SDP) • incorporating the Harmonised LFS • Meeting 3- Incorporated the measurement of multi-dimensional poverty as part of the core OECS harmonised LFS (strong recommendations) • focused on issues related to the OECS LFS, Multi-Dimensional Poverty (MPM) and the OECS Sustainable Household Data Collection Programme (SDP), • With the aim that the LFS, MPM and SDP will result in the improvement of household data collection and analysis thus resolving the some of the data challenges of the OECS.

8. History of the LSMC • Meeting 4 • The SPD was adapted to reflect a 10 year cycle • The SDP was also harmonised with the MPM • Expertise from OPHI and UNICEF guided the discussions • There was consensus on the dimensions for the multi-dimensional poverty • Four dimensions: Education, Living Standards, Employment and Health • Several of the additional indicators were considered but not agreed upon as yet. • No more than 10 questions will be added to LFS questionnaire to have an annual measure of the MPI.

9. Dimension and Indicators For MPI • Education- Educational Attainment, school attendance and Internet • Health- Child mortality, access to health services, Food security • Living standards-Assets, housing, overcrowding, Toilet, Water • Employment-Unemployment, Quality of Employment , Youth unemployment, child labour • NB- The indicators and deprivation cut-offs will be finalised after the consultative process with other sectoral partners in-country ( which also inlude technical persons in the respective fields)

10. Next Steps • April through May 2014 • World Bank will send their questionnaire to the Member States to obtain information on their indicative research programme based on the proposed LFS/MPI schedule. • OPHI will work on the 1st draft of the revised, harmonized OECS questionnaires (specifically the additional questions to be integrated into the LFS). • World Bank will share the consumption module that will serve as a starting point for future revisions or adaptations.

11. Next Steps • May through June 2014 • The UNDP Sub-regional Office for Barbados and the OECS in collaboration with the LSMC will meet with government counterparts in key line ministries in all OECS Member States, • Hold a working meeting of all ministries to review the draft Core LFS (adapted with MPI) and to secure support for the piloting process. • Decision makers as well as technical persons will be engaged in discussions.

12. Next Steps • August through September 2014 • The LSMC Technical Committee will take the feedback from these consultations and accordingly modify the questionnaires for piloting. The modified questionnaires should be ready for the first week of August and be presented to the LSMC. • The pilot of the Core LFS will be conducted in Saint Lucia. The LSMC will pilot (1) the Core LFS i.e. the annual LFS with extra questions, (2) the Consumption Module (3) and then the joint Core LFS & Consumption Module. • The LSMC will meet over five days, allotting one day for the technical committee, one day for the Core LFS, two days for the five-year review and one day for the entire committee.

13. Next Steps • November 2014 through February 2015 • Possibility of a country applying the harmonized questionnaire—possibility of Saint Kitts and Nevis applying it in November. • It is possible that the MPI will be complete in Saint Lucia in January or February. • There will also be a validation of the SLC. • Ongoing • The LSMC will meticulously document the process to enable easy replication. • The LSMC will support the creation of a pool of experts. To achieve this end, the OECS will have an IP able to offer technical support. The LSMC will use the methodology of the pilot to take stock of the necessary skills, materials and the costs (and then help produce a gap analysis). This offers opportunity to examine the experts needed for this work.

14. Thank You