World Bank Support to Household Survey Programs

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World Bank Support to Household Survey Programs

• Misha Belkindas
• 13 May 2004
• ________________________________________
• Presented at Forum on African Statistical
  DEVelopment (FASDEV)
• that took place 12-13 May 2004 in Addis Ababa,
  Ethiopia.

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Three Dimensions of Poverty
depth of poverty
Geographical distribution
Changes over time
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Tools for Poverty Monitoring

• Measuring depth of poverty and determinants
• Tools - A comprehensive household survey (there
  are various options Household Budget Survey,
  LSMS, Integrated Household Survey, etc.)
• Participative and qualitative assessments
• Monitoring Spatial/regional differences
• Poverty maps
• Tools - Population census Household survey
• Monitoring Changes over time
• Tools Administrative data/MIS
  Institution-based surveys household surveys
• Monitoring leading indicators (Service Delivery)
• Key requirements
• Simple to execute
• Rapid reporting
• Disaggregatable to low levels
• Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ)

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The World Bank and Capacity Building in Household
Surveys and Poverty Statistics

• Statistical capacity building in household
  surveys and poverty statistics are an integral
  part of World Banks development assistance for
  institutional and knowledge development to
  underpin research and policy work
• Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) surveys
  a multi-purpose household survey from
  1985-present
• Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA)
  Integrated Household Survey (HIS) and Priority
  Surveys (PS) for African countries from late
  80s to mid-90s
• Core Welfare Indicators Survey (CWIQ) An
  off-the-shelf survey package with core and
  optional questionnaire modules for service
  indicator
• MECOVI Program as an coordinated approach to
  build regional and country capacity for household
  surveys of living conditions
• _________________________________________________
  __
• MECOVI is short for Programa para el
  Mejoramiento de las Encuestas y la Medición de
  Condiciones de Vida, the Spanish translation for
  the Program for Improvement of the Surveys of
  Living Conditions (ISLC).

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A Brief History of the Living Standards
Measurement Study (LSMS) Surveys
Originally a research program to determine the
feasibility of
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Evolution of the Living Standard Measurement Study

• Originally a research program to determine
  feasibility, improve methodology and data
• The emphasis was on research
• Now, moved to a decentralized model
• WB has no central mandate LSMS surveys are
  demand driven by countries
• WBs Research Group provides technical /
  analytical support on LSMS activities to
  countries statistical offices
• Funding Started with WB Research grants, now
  largely funded by WB loans, other country
  resources, donor grants, cooperative agreements

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LSMS Surveys
LSMS Survey characteristics
LSMS Program goals

• Multi-topic household survey to collect data on
  wide range of factors affecting household and
  individual welfare
• Robust money-metric welfare measure
• Emphasis on quality control and timeliness of data

• Promoting linkages between users and producers
• Promoting open data access
• Capacity building for survey technique and policy
  analysis

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LSMS/IS Surveys 1985-2005

• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Bolivia
• BiH
• Brazil
• Bulgaria
• China (part)
• Cote dIvoire
• Ecuador
• FRY Kosovo
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guatemala
• Guinea

• Panama
• Papua New Guinea
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Russia
• South Africa
• Tajikistan
• Tanzania
• Timor Leste
• Tunisia
• Turkmenistan
• Uganda
• Viet Nam

• Guyana
• Honduras
• India (part)
• Jamaica
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Kyrgyz Republic
• Madagascar
• Mauritania
• Malawi
• Morocco
• Nepal
• Nicaragua
• Niger
• Pakistan

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Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA)

• World Banks response to international demands
  for knowledge on the human costs of a decade-long
  process of adjustments in 1980s
• Generous donor support to fund the work program
  for the Sub-Saharan Africa from late 80s to
  mid-90s
• Innovative approaches with Integrated Household
  Survey every 4-5 years, and Priority Survey in
  intervening years falling short at the
  execution stage
• Lessons learned
• Distance between planning and implementation
• Supply-driven process with little country input
• Limited absorptive capacity
• Scale up problem gt magnitude of the project
  should have required closer coordination and more
  technical support to surmount low country
  capacity
• Resources spread too thin across many projects in
  many countries gt too much money to chase too
  many talents with problematic quality control
• Narrow objectives of filling data gaps than
  building lasting country capacity gt
  sustainability was not achieved
• Some capacity built and some data gaps filled gt
  laid a foundation for World Banks current
  technical assistance program for the Africa region

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The CWIQ is a household survey

• It is used to monitor outcomes of development
  actions, (such as HIPC/PRSPs) .
• ..through the use of leading indicators, such
  as access, use and satisfaction

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How does the CWIQ work?
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MECOVI Program in Latin America

• A Coordinated Approach A Regional Program of
  Technical Assistance for Capacity Building to
  Improve Household Surveys to Measure Living
  Conditions and Poverty in Latin America and the
  Caribbean
• Launched in 1996 jointly by IDB, World Bank and
  UN-ECLAC
• Subsequently supported by other donors UNDP,
  Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, US,
  Japan, Soros Foundation, etc.
• With a Shared Vision for Change in Doing Business
  in Household Surveys
• A multi-year program instead of a one-shot
  project with a view to building sustainable
  capacity
• Breaking the vicious circle with intervention at
  various entry points
• Program design built on the profile of existing
  country capacity and statistical system
• Program sponsors offer resources according to
  respective strengths and comparative advantages
• Allocation of generous amount of resources for
  coordination and supervision of program
  activities
• All to ensure significant improvement of
  statistical capacity for producing and analyzing
  household survey and poverty data

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MECOVI Program Objectives and Organization

• Program Objectives
• Improve quality, relevance and timeliness of
  household survey and poverty data
• Promote wide use of the improved data for
  research and policy analysis
• Promote open accessibility to the household
  survey and poverty data
• Improve survey methodologies and poverty analysis
• Organization a clear mechanism for governance,
  counsel, and inter-institutional coordination
• Steering Committee (made up of IDB VP, World Bank
  LAC VP, UN-ECLAC Executive Secretary) decides and
  guides on key matters of policy, planning and
  resource mobilization.
• Advisory Board provides input to technical issues
• Program Coordinators handle day-to-day
  operational matters, including program
  coordination, project development, preparation
  and implementation, and fielding joint missions
  to supervise on-going operations

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MECOVI Program Results by Component

• As of May 2004, a national MECOVI program of
  technical assistance operation were rolled out in
  10 countries
• 12 regional seminars/workshops on survey
  methodologies poverty measurement ?Promotion of
  good practices in definitions, measurement, data
  collection and analysis
• 11 regional training courses ? 270 participants
  from 20 countries
• Data Dissemination LAC regional data bank made
  up of micro-data sets from 300 household surveys
  ? key input to country and regional reports

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MECOVI Program Some Success Factors

• Relatively favorable environments to develop a
  joint regional initiative ? common language and
  some existing infrastructure
• Extensive consultation helps create country
  stakeholder buy-in and country ownership ? NSOs
  in the driver seats
• Institutional commitment of the NSOs creates a
  virtuous circle of
• Better data ? Better publicity ? Increased demand
  ? Increased allocation of resources ?Better data
• Fundamental changes in the concept of key
  deliverables
• Relevant and high-quality data timely available
  to a wide group of users
• Emphasis on building capacity than just
  perfecting survey instruments alone
• Producer-user interaction increases long-term
  viability of the program gt via constitution of
  an inter-institutional committee
• Promote Culture of Statistics and
  democratization of statistical information gt
  open data access policy as pre-conditions for
  participation in MECOVI program

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Lessons of MECOVI Program for International
Cooperation on Statistical Capacity Building

• Success of MECOVI exposed weaknesses of other
  statistical activities ? an island of efficiency
  in a sea of inefficiency
• MECOVI-like framework to serve as a platform of
  international technical cooperation to mobilize
  resources to scale up joint operation to build
  statistical capacity ? substantial up-front
  investment needed to set up the structure
• A call for scaling up MECOVI mandates to
• Replicate in other regions (SPARC, PADI, etc.)
• Formulate and implement a comprehensive strategy
  to develop statistical capacity (a la Marrakech
  Plan)
• Increase coordination and information sharing
  with setting up of International Household Network