Basseterre, St. Kitts (February 18, 2005): Social questionnaire development is the focus of a visit by OECS specialists who are in the Federation this week.
The visit by Project Coordinator Nicolas Providence and Consultant, Linda Hewitt aims to strengthen the capacity of St. Kitts and Nevis to design customized questionnaires.
The activity falls under the MECOVI project. The latin inspired acronym represents the improvement of service and measurement of living conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The broad project provides assistance to the OECS to strengthen the capacity of statistical offices of the Governments of St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Grenada.
Other OECS countires have indicated a desire to be included in the project as well.
Questionnaire design development comes under phase one of the three -phase MECOVI project. Phase one also involves technical support, phase two; promotion of modernization of statistical information, and phase three; strengthening the capacity to support poverty reduction strategies.
MECOVI project coordinator Mr. Nicolas Providence said that there has been strong evidence over the years of a lack of capacity to collect analyse and disseminate social data. The Project seeks to correct that.
He explained that without relevant data, countries are unable to make informed decisions and policies geared at reducing poverty.
Consultant Linda Hewitt, explained that her role in the meeting of stakeholders which has been held in both St. Kitts and Nevis was to ensure that each country gains the capacity and understands the importance of developing tailor-made social questionnaires.
Ms Hewitt explained that during their visit they have been working towards identifying country-specific issues so that the questionnaire addresses issues that relate directly to St. Kitts and Nevis.
The visiting team said that at the completion of the project, there will be five well versed statistical officers in each of the participating countries who would be able to carry out and provide training for a regular assessment of poverty and living conditions.
According to Social Development Specialist and Head of the Social Policy Unit of the OECS, Ms. Rosalyn Hazelle, the project is timely and positions the Federation to actively pursue its poverty reduction goals in a systematic way.
