Increase data usage to enhance likelihood of successful policies

 

When a public institution of a country carries out a project funded by a loan from the IDB, the executing agency is not the only one that benefits; the work of another institution, as shown below, has become easier.

The National Population and Housing Census and Household Budget Survey: Increasing the Use of Basic Statistics, approved in December 2011 and implemented since June 2012, aims to increase and facilitate the use of the basic demographic, social, economic, and cultural information of the Republic of Suriname. The program aims to update the statistical data and improve its accuracy; produce and disseminate data in a timely manner by strengthening the institutional capacity of the General Bureau of Statistics (GBS); and achieve greater accessibility to the disseminated data. These objectives depart from merely supporting the production and go further into different dimensions such as accessibility and use.

The Ministry of Health of Suriname also made use of the 2012 census data, which included demographic information to help improve their planning activities. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health also points out that more accurate data facilitates better analysis, which leads to more targeted policy programs. In the past three months, the Ministry of Health has successfully targeted program beneficiaries using accurate data on demographics and ethnicity. Also, the GBS website makes it more convenient to carry out preparatory analysis, which allows the Ministry of Health to make specific data requests to the GBS when necessary, ultimately improving GBS’ effectiveness. This collaboration shows that the targeted impact of this program is already being met.

The same benefit is expected in November 2014, when the household budget survey data will be available. In the future, the census and household budget survey data will help with preparing more targeted policy measures by the the public sector who is responsible for  prepararing policy measures for the Republic of Suriname.

_{Figure 1. Official Census 2012 Logo} 

_{Source: www.statistics-suriname.org}

 

 

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