September 21st, 2009, UNDP Sub-regional office (SRO) for Barbados and the OECS and the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy/Poverty Group, based in New York, just completed a testing workshop of a revised tool “Indicators for Development”. The workshop took place at UN House in Barbados from September 17th-19th, 2009. The English-speaking Caribbean was identified as the pilot testing site for the global tool for a number of reasons including our involvement in a global initiative to conduct poverty and social impact analyses of the current economic crisis.
Hosted by the Poverty Reduction programme of the SRO, the workshop was integrated into the 2009 work-plan as part of the ongoing focus on capacity development. The Support to Poverty Assessment and Reduction in the Caribbean (SPARC) programme (http://www.bb.undp.org/index.php?page=sparc) focuses specifically on enhanced capacity and systemization of appropriate tools for the Caribbean that will enhance the access and use of quality data for policy making. The tool consolidated many elements – conceptual frameworks, methodologies, analytical tools and communication guidance. Comprising of 11 modules, it forms a unique self-paced course. Both a learning tool and a valuable reference document, it can do much to expand the capacity of users of data to do so effectively.
In her Welcome Remarks, Leisa Perch, Programme Manager – Poverty Reduction noted that the workshop continues a partnership of many years which continues to expand naturally as we grapple with poverty reduction and the MDGs. The objective of the workshop was to strengthen capacities to use data and statistics in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies.
In his Brief Opening Remarks, Officer-in-charge, Armstrong Alexis, noted “Too often, we have felt that our issues are not always well reflected at the global level or in global tools. The fact that we operate in a varying number of contexts makes our policy process a complex one. We also face specific challenges as middle-income SIDS. To the world, a brief scan suggests high levels of development, strong commitment by government and people in health and education, high literacy rates and a beautiful setting. All true. You and I know however, that this may belie fundamental challenges in sustaining these significant achievements, limited scope for economic development, a highly vulnerable natural environment and our vulnerability to a number of natural hazards, high levels of social vulnerability and poverty and competing global and local realities”. This reality for the Caribbean make tools like this an essential component of our work in better presenting our case as SIDS and middle income countries facing high vulnerability particularly in the context of climatic change.
Cluster Leader for Inclusive Development in the Bureau for Development Policy, Ms Diana Alarcon, expressed her pleasure in the hosting of the workshop and the interest expressed by participants in the learning tool. She noted that this particular course was part of a broader initiative for capacity development which would provide specific tools to improve the capacity of a broad range of stakeholders to use statistics and information as mechanisms to improve the results of policy and development programs. She expressed her appreciation on Friday, upon her departure, for the rich feedback received which will help to improve the tool. She also expressed commitment to the development of specialized tools for the Caribbean context and an interest in further expanding support in the area of capacity development in collaboration with other partners in the region such as DFID and CIDA.
Participants from varying sectors across Barbados and the OECS were involved, d bringing a unique set of perspectives to the workshop; academia, health, education, environment as well as government and NGOs were represented. Also participating were a number of development partners including UNECLAC, UNFPA, DFID – Caribbean as well as the UNDP Jamaica office.
Emerging from the workshop was a consensus that the tool was invaluable and is a rich source of information and best practice on development practice. Also explored was how to improve its design to make it more user friendly, simple and reflective of issues across the globe. It was noted that the tool is not an end in itself. The critical question was, how can we use it to help countries move to the next level of development planning, programming or evaluation? In this context, the workshop made recommendations to address key issues:
- Conceptual issues ;
- Methodologies and Appropriate Tools ;
- Capacity Development – what do we need, when and how often; and
- Systematic approaches
Participants agreed to some key actions including returning comments within two weeks of the workshop and also follow-up with other colleagues to assess future options for capacity development based on this tool. A new version of the tool should be available by the end of November 2009 and it is hoped that participants will use the contents and guidance to improve the design and dialogue within the PRSP process, the development of national DevInfo systems and other relevant processes.
