MECOVI Program for Statistical Capacity Building in Latin America:**

1
IDB The World Bank
UN-ECLAC

• MECOVI Program for Statistical Capacity Building
  in Latin America
• Lessons for Developing Capacity Building Programs
  Elsewhere
•  February 25-27, 2002
• Presented at a regional meeting of PARIS21
  (Partnership of statistics for development in the
  21st century) held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra,
  Bolivia, February 25-27, 2002.
•  
• MECOVI is short for mejoramiento de las
  encuestas de las condiciones de vida, the
  Spanish translation for the improvement of the
  surveys of living conditions (ISLC) project.

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What is the MECOVI Program?

• Improvement of the surveys and measurement of
  living conditions (ISLC/MECOVI) in Latin America
  and the Caribbean (LAC)
• A regional capacity building program sponsored by
  IDB, World Bank and UN-ECLAC initially (1997)
  and with participation by more donors Canada,
  Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, UNDP,
  etc.

3
Why the MECOVI Program?

• Focus on improving the micro-data at household
  level to inform public policies aimed at reducing
  poverty
• Distilling and applying the lessons from past
  efforts at capacity building (UN programs, LSMS,
  SDAs, etc.)

4
Program Objectives

• Improve quality and relevance of household
  surveys questionnaire design, training, quality
  control, etc.
• Promote wide utilization of improved data for
  research and policy work
• Promote free accessibility of the survey data by
  the general public

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Program Components

• Country-specific TA programs (Argentina,
  Bolivia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
  Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru)
• Regional seminars/workshops, and regional
  training courses on household surveys and poverty
  analysis
• Regional data bank

6
Methodologies for Improving the Surveys in
Country-Specific TA Programs

• Reduce sampling errors ? improvement of sample
  frame and optimal distribution of samples in
  organization of fieldwork
• Reduce non-sampling errors ? improved
  questionnaire design, data collection, data
  entry, consistency checks, and data editing
• Sponsor policy-oriented research that uses the
  survey data to create feedback to data producers

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Methodologies for Improving the Surveys with
Regional Activities

• Regional workshops on survey methodology, poverty
  analysis, and social indicators ?
  expert input and sharing of best practices
• Regional training courses for producers and users
  of the survey data ? focus on hands-on training
• Regional data bank ? encourage wide accessibility
  of the survey data 

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Key Design Features of the MECOVI ProgramCommon
Agreed Framework for Cooperation

• Responding to the data needs to support policies
  aimed at reducing poverty and improving social
  welfare
• Shared vision that capacity building needs
  commitments to longer-term efforts by countries
  and development partners
• The MECOVI program serving as an operational
  platform to mobilize donor support to organize
  technical cooperation for sustainable capacity
  building

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Key Design Features of the MECOVI ProgramProgram
Governance and Coordination

• Clear mechanism for governance, counsel, and
  inter-institutional collaboration
• Steering Committee decides on key matters of
  policy, planning and resource mobilization
• Advisory Board advises on technical issues
• Program Coordinators handle day-to-day
  operational matters, including coordination,
  project development and preparation, and
  implementation

10
Key Lessons from MECOVI Program Country-Specific
TA Programs

• Program development and project design should be
  linked to country capacity and the existing needs
• Active role of the National Statistical Offices
  (NSOs) and wide consultation with stakeholders
  create country buy-in
• Interaction of producers and users of the survey
  data increases the viability of the program
• Capacity building and democratization of
  statistical information take time
• Close coordination and monitoring create more
  than the sum total of individual efforts
• Explicit attention should be paid to exit
  strategy upon project completion at the program
  design stage to ensure sustainability

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Key Lessons from MECOVI Program Regional MECOVI
Activities

• Regional activities served as
• Venues for data producers and users to interact
  with and learn from each other
• Forum to promote best practices in statistical
  capacity building in surveys and poverty analysis
• Opportunities for statistical staff and policy
  analysts to receive hands-on training with real
  country data applied to real world problems
  (poverty and welfare analysis, labor and other
  social policies, etc.)

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Working with Partners to Support Poverty
Reduction Strategies (PRS)

• MECOVI-like capacity building program supports
  the demanding data needs of country-driven PRSPs
  to monitor poverty and social indicators, and
  conduct impact evaluation
• MECOVI-like program provides a useful framework
  for development partners to collaborate in
  support of the country-driven PRS
• A Consortium of Partnership in statistics for
  development in the 21st century (PARIS21)
  provides important support to local statistical
  capacity building and MECOVI-like regional
  initiatives

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Developing the Caribbean MECOVI Program

• Finding shared vision and agreed framework for
  technical cooperation for capacity building among
  the Caribbean development stakeholders through
  consultation with Development Partners on Poverty
  Working Group (DPPWG) from March 2000
• Country buy-in was created by organizing a
  consultation meeting with representatives from
  policymaking circle of planning and finance as
  well as statisticians (A Consultation Meeting,
  Georgetown, Guyana, December 17, 2001)
• Consideration of local capacity, policy
  environments, and institutional structure is
  important in designing a customized regional
  program for capacity building

14
Poverty Analysis and Data Initiative (PADI) for
East Asia

• Poverty Analysis and Data Initiative (PADI) for
  East Asia is being developed by the World Bank
  Institute (WBI) in partnership with local
  partners
• Application of innovative methodologies of
  training of trainers to leverage scarce capacity
  building resources
• Need for further inter-agency coordination for
  sustainable program development and fund-raising