On 17 and 18 April 2018, the Eleventh Living Standard Measurement Committee (LSMC) meeting was convened at the Radisson Hotel in St. George’s, Grenada. As the steering body for the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)-funded Enhanced Country Poverty Assessment (CPA) Project, this group meets bi-annually to discuss issues, take decisions and recommend actions to advance availability of and access to poverty and living standards statistics for the OECS region.
The objectives of the meeting were, inter alia, to:
• Provide an update on the project activities implemented post the Tenth LSMC Meeting;
• Inform on the revised Sustainable Household Data Collection Programme (SDP) matrix;
• Adopt the Enhanced CPA bi-annual progress report for July-December 2017 and approve the quarterly financial report for the period ending December 2017;
• Present for approval the project’s Annual Work Programme and Budget (AWPB) for January-December 2018; and
• Discuss the OECS Multi-Dimensional Poverty (MPI) methodological expansion
Dr. Gale Archibald, Head of the Statistical Services Unit (SSU) stated this LSMC meeting is notable since it marked the third meeting since the focus is now on matters related to the Enhanced CPA project, marking sustained implementation effort. She also noted that two Member States have already launched their Enhanced CPA.
In his opening remarks Mr. Elbert Ellis, Operations Officer (Social Analyst) at the CDB and the Project Supervisor of the Enhanced CPA Project, commended the OECS Commission for the coordination and quality of the LSMC meetings. He also recognised development partners’ collaborative work to support the OECS Member States to address poverty reduction Mr. Ellis emphasised the importance of collecting data on persons living with disabilities to ensure they are not left out of development projects and programmes. He reiterated CDB’s commitment to bridge financial gaps in Member States to implement the Enhanced CPA.
Project Coordinator for the Enhanced CPA Project at the Commission, Ms. Geraldine St. Croix, updated the meeting on project activities since the last meeting of the LSMC. Members States also provided updates on their progress to support the SDP.
The highlight of the meeting was Grenada’s launch of their Enhanced CPA, making it the third OECS Member State to achieve this milestone.
The meeting was organised by the OECS Commission’s Statistical Services Unit and funded by the CDB. It was attended by Directors and Chief Statisticians of the OECS national statistics offices, social and or economic planners and policy analysts, and representatives from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)..
The meeting was chaired by Ms. Shervonne Alexander, Senior Statistician, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Statistical Office. ¤
