Poverty Monitoring - Good Practice in Selecting Indicators Presentation by Dirk U. Hahn, Consultant at the Workshop on Prioritization, Operationalization and Costing, Vientiane, Lao PDR, October, 20

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Poverty Monitoring - Good Practice in Selecting
IndicatorsPresentation by Dirk U. Hahn,
Consultant at the Workshop on Prioritization,
Operationalization and Costing, Vientiane, Lao
PDR, October, 20 22, 2004

• Based on The World Bank, Poverty Monitoring
  Guidance Note 1 Selecting Indicators,
  Washington 2004, and Statistics Norway, Basic
  Social Policy Data Basic Data to Monitor Status
  Intended Policy Effects with Focus on Social
  Sectors Incorporating Millennium Development
  Goals and Indicators, Oslo 2002.

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The MDGs and the NGPES

• The Millennium Development Goals are goals,
  targets and well defined indicators, but without
  a focus on how the goals should be reached.

• A Poverty Reduction Strategy like the National
  Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy focuses
  exactly on how to reach certain goals.

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Definitions

• Goalsare the objectives a country wants to
  achieve (i.e. achieve universal primary
  education)
• Indicatorsare the variables used to measure
  progress toward the goals (i.e. progress towards
  achieving universal primary education can be
  tracked using the indicator net enrolment in
  primary schools)
• Targetsare quantified levels of indicators a
  country wants to achieve at a given point in time
  (i.e. 95 net enrolment in primary schools by
  2015)

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Implementing and Monitoring

• In order to track progress in implementing a
  poverty reduction strategy it is necessary to
• - select appropriate indicators,
• - have the targets set, and
• - have a system in place to measure, monitor, and
  analyze progress in the indicators selected.
• Selecting indicators is the initial stage for
  monitoring this process.

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Indicators for Monitoring the Process

• What is the main chain of effects in the process
  from resource allocation to the impact on goals?

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The Process Has Four Main Stages, and Thus Four
Types of Indicators to Monitor the Effects
1. Sector and internal sector resource allocation
2. Standard of services generated by the use of
inputs
3. Access to services and use of these services
4. Impact on ultimate goals and poverty reduction
Input
Output
Outcome
Impact
Spending on reproductive health personal
Number of skilled births attendants
Proportion of births attended by skilled health
personal
Maternal mortality ratio
Example
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Example from the Education Sector
1. Sector and internal sector resource allocation
2. Standard of services generated by the use of
inputs
3. Access to services and use of these services
4. Impact on ultimate goals and poverty reduction
Input
Output
Outcome
Impact
Spending on multi grade teachers training
Number of multi grade teachers trained
Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach
grade 5
Literacy rate in the age group 15-24 years old
Spending on primary school feeding
Number of pupils benefiting from school feeding
Example
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Why is it Important to Monitor at All 4 Stages?

1. To understand the link between the input, the
   output, the outcome, and the impact.
2. To establish the baseline data (short-term).
3. To assess the progress made at the various stages
   providing information for analysis and
   diagnosis(short, medium, and long-term).
4. To identify where changes or additional efforts
   might be needed, for instance Did outputs
   translate into outcomes? (medium and long-term).
5. The indicators should be complemented with
   indicators describing the country context in
   which the PRSP is implemented.

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Some Features of Good Indicators

• The selection of indicators should be based on
  existing indicators (i.e. MDG/NGPES indicators).
• Indicators should be well defined to follow the
  effects throughout the process.
• Indicators should be easy to understand and
  reliable.
• Indicators should be consistent with decision
  making cycle at the responsible level.
• Indicators should be consistent with data
  availability and data collection capacity.

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The Process of Selecting Indicators
Choosing indicators is ultimately a political
process, in that it reflects priorities and
induces accountability.
Demand for Information
Priority Indicators for inputs, outputs, outcomes
and impact.
Supply of Data
On the technical side, the choice of indicators
depends on the types of data available and the
data collection capacity in a country.
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Thank You for Your Attention.