United Nations Development Programme Jamaica

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), under the auspices of the Support for the Development of a National Statistics System Project, hosted the first in a series of private sector stakeholder sessions under the theme "Promoting Statistics for Economic Development: A Public-Private Partnership", on Wednesday May 2, 2012 at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. As with the corresponding public sector workshop held in 2011, the private sector targeted series represents a crucial step in establishing a platform for stakeholder participation and contribution to the process of establishing a coordinated National Statistics System (NSS). The targeted audience included executive representatives and technocrats from the manufacturing and distributive trade industries and private sector business associations. The event sought to open dialogue with industry representatives on their role, as data users and providers, in the development of the system and the role of statistics in enhancing their competitiveness.

Speaking at the event,  Dr. Arun Kashyap, UNDP's Resident Representative, reaffirmed the organization's commitment to supporting the strengthening of Jamaica's capacity for evidence-based policy and decision-making through public-private partnership. He noted this was integral to the UN's work in exploring and initiating transformational change to promote inclusive and equitable development and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Dr. Kashyap asserted that development relies on coherent, quality data in determining the sequence and priority of interventions, while simultaneously monitoring and evaluating outcomes of interventions undertaken.  He reminded the assembly of the value of a coordinated approach to ensuring consistency, transparency and efficiency in the production of national statistics.

Director General of STATIN, Sonia Jackson, in her address identified a critical need to promote and develop a statistical culture to enhance greater understanding of the importance of statistics to policy and decision making for national development. Ms. Jackson asserted that the private sector could not afford to not be a partner in the development of an effective NSS in which statistics produced satisfied user needs, and user needs informed statistics produced. She pointed out that information and feedback from the private sector was key to the process of statistics production. The Director General highlighted the major issues affecting the production of statistics as low response to requests for information from the business community, deficiency in standards and replication across agencies, and the inability of the system to provide all the information required in a timely manner. She asserted that the way forward requires:

1. Amendment of the Statistics Act to include provisions for coordination and the establishment of a Statistics Commission to provide a governance structure for the NSS;
2. The establishment of data standards applicable across all statistics producing agencies and in line with international data standards being established, and;
3. The development of a national work programme for the NSS

In his presentation, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Anthony Hylton articulated the Government of Jamaica's (GOJ) commitment to, and role in, promoting an evidence-based approach to policy and decision-making and acknowledged the importance of partnership with the private sector in driving such an approach. He also articulated the GOJ's full endorsement of the establishment of the NSS and expressed gratitude to the UNDP for its support to the process.

Key issues raised by stakeholders concerned quality control and confidentiality of statistics. STATIN representatives highlighted that all statistics produced by the institution were done using international methodologies and standards.  Regarding the issue of confidentiality, Ms. Jackson expounded on the controls in place to ensure confidentiality and ethical practices.

The next session in the series is expected to target stakeholders in the financial sector and  should take place in the next weeks.

STATIN with support from UNDP is leading the way in creating a high quality, neutral and coherent NSS to ensure a standardized approach to the collection, storage, analysis and dissemination of vital information for the design of effective policies.

Presently, Jamaica does not have a coherent NSS, as there is a range of statistical information compiled by various government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with potential gaps and duplication. The UNDP Poverty Reduction portfolio is supporting the Support for the Development of a National Statistics System Project which is a national response to the broad consensus need for creating a coordinated approach to the production of national statistics to guarantee consistency, efficiency, transparency and compatibility with international standards and among national agencies.

View the photos

Please find more information on:

"Support for the Development of a National Statistics System" Project

"Support for the Development of National Statistics System" Project's Website

Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN)

Dr. Arun Kashyap, UN RC and UNDP RR in Jamaica welcoming remarks

Media Coverage:

JIS - National Statistical System Critical To Policy Making. May 03, 2012.