Lessons Learned from the Latin American Experience: The MECOVI Program

1
Lessons Learned from the Latin American
ExperienceThe MECOVI Program

• Haeduck Lee and Jose Antonio Mejia
• June 5, 2003
• ________________________________________
• Presented at the International Conference
  Improving Statistics for Measuring Development
  Outcomes that took place June 4-5, 2003 in
  Washington, D.C.
• 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).

UN-ECLAC
IBRD
IDB
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A Road Map for Improvements

• Diagnostics of pre-MECOVI conditions
• A shared vision for change
• Program description
• Results by program component
• Better data for better measurement
• Lessons in program design and implementation
• Lessons and challenges for the future to improve
  statistics for measuring development outcomes

3
Diagnostics of Country Capacity

• Anatomy of perpetuation of weak capacity
• A vicious circle of low-quality data, low data
  utilization, lack of credibility and low
  prestige, chronic shortage of funds, low
  investment and maintenance of statistical
  capacity, low-quality data, etc.
• Key indicators of weak capacity and low quality
• Incomplete coverage substance and geography
• High non-sampling errors during survey execution
• Excessive time lag between data collection and
  publication of results
• Lack of open data access policy at the
  unit-record level
• Low utilization of the data for research and
  policy work

4
State of the Play

• Donor community not part of the solution, but
  part of the problem
• More interested in pushing for short-term agenda
  by financing quick-fix data gathering activities,
  sometimes by-passing the NSOs
• Less interested in coordinating with wider group
  of development partners to help build the lasting
  capacity
• Marginalization of National Statistical Offices
  (NSOs)

5
A Shared Vision for Change

• 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 builds 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 household survey and
  poverty data

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What is the MECOVI Program?

• Regional program of technical assistance for
  capacity building to improve the household
  surveys to measure living conditions and poverty
  in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Jointly launched in 1996 by IDB, World Bank and
  UN-ECLAC
• Subsequently supported by other donors UNDP,
  Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, US,
  Japan, Soros Foundation, etc.

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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

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Program Governance and Coordination

• 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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Results by Program Component

• A joint national MECOVI program of technical
  assistance operation in 10 countries
• 10 regional seminars/workshops on survey
  methodologies poverty measurement
• 9 regional training courses
• 270 participants from 20 countries

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Better Data for Better Measuring Development
Outcomes

• Promotion of good practices in definitions,
  measurement, data collection and analysis
  (consultancies, workshops, training, etc.)
• LAC regional data bank made up of micro-data sets
  from 200 household surveys key input to
  country and regional reports
• World Bank -- Poverty Assessments and ESWs
• IDB -- IPES
• UN-ECLAC -- Social Panorama
• Comparability and standardization still elusive

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Lessons in Program Design and ImplementationCoun
try-Specific TA Programs

• NSOs in the drivers seat and extensive
  consultation with key stakeholders at program
  preparation stage help create country buy-in and
  ownership
• More emphasis on building capacity to plan and
  implement surveys than on perfecting survey
  instruments
• Building on the existing capacity start from
  the weakest link and move on to others
• Interaction of producers (supplier) and users
  (clients) of survey data increases long-term
  viability of the program contribution of
  inter-institutional committee
• Promote Culture of Statistics and
  democratization of data access (open data access
  policy pre-conditions for participation in
  MECOVI program)

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Lessons in Program Design and ImplementationRegi
onal training, workshops and data bank

• Regional workshops/seminars (UN-ECLAC-led)
• learn the latest techniques from world experts
• share and disseminate best practices
• An excellent venue for peer learning, networking
  and organizing horizontal cooperation
• Regional training program courses (IDB, World
  Bank-led)
• A structured knowledge building on survey
  strategies and methodologies, and poverty
  measurement
• Regional data bank (UN-ECLAC-led)
• UN-ECLAC created the value added for data users
  by introducing standardized data labeling for
  household survey data sets
• Data access and dissemination made easy

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Further Lessons

• Fundamental changes in the concept of key
  deliverables by the NSO
• Relevant and high-quality data
• Available on a timely basis to a wide group of
  users
• Useful for measuring development outcomes
• Institutional commitment of the NSO to producing
  high-quality data creates a virtuous circle of
• Better data ? Better publicity ? Increased demand
  ? Increased allocation of resources ?Better data

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Lessons and challenges for the future to improve
statistics for measuring development outcomes

• MECOVI owes its success to country-ownership,
  exercise of leadership by MECOVI governing body,
  fulfillment of financial and institutional
  commitments by co-sponsor agencies, close program
  coordination (proximity of IDB and World Bank
  helped as well)
• MECOVI-like framework could serve as an
  international technical cooperation platform for
  mobilizing resources to improve other sector
  statistics or scaling up the statistical capacity
  building for the entire gamut of activities in
  the strategic statistical development plan
• Sustainability remains a challenge
• No clear exit strategy at the program design
  stage (MECOVI)
• Lack of administrative and financial autonomy
  compromises long-term viability of improved
  measurement of development outcomes