Studying statistics for social inclusion
Poland/Moldova, 6 August 2008 – In an attempt to share relevant development experience, UNDP organized a study tour to Poland for Moldovan civil servants from 16-20 June 2008. Moldovan professionals learned from their Polish counterparts about the collection and use of data in developing and monitoring social inclusion policies. Through the EU accession process, several countries in the region have recently introduced ways of monitoring levels and forms of people’s exclusion from broad socio-economic development trends.
Social inclusion has thus far been poorly understood by policy-makers and others in Moldova, with related measurements also being undeveloped. This tour was an opportunity to meet bodies in Poland involved in monitoring social inclusion, including at national level the National Statistical Office (GUS), ministries and government agencies and think tanks; and at local level, data administration agencies and experts involved in implementing local monitoring systems. Statistical capacity is important for being able to reliably track the progress of social policies and measure differential impacts on groups including national minorities, as well as differences by age, gender and rural or urban dwelling.
The administrative environment in Moldova – with centralized public services and weak local government – means that some of the positive developments in Poland cannot yet be transferred. But the demonstration of positive effects of administrative reforms in increasing social inclusion offers an added motivation. Most notably, the process of decentralization in Poland after 1999 moved responsibility for provision of many public services to the powiat (county) and gmina (municipal) levels. This created local self-government and gave local authorities financial and normative motivations for improving their data collection systems.
Interested local authorities have supported the gathering of data comparable across regions, which is an important complement to the national-level efforts of the National Statistical Office and European Union. A good idea of the requirement for data and the establishment of regular collection helps avoid the problem of ‘indicator-mania’ – the attempt to collect as much information as possible, without knowing how it will be constructively used.
This activity was supported by UNDP as part of its ongoing commitment to help the countries of central and eastern Europe help each other, and spread the knowledge gained through transition. Participants in the study tour felt that the social inclusion policy and monitoring framework applied in Poland can accommodate the socio-economic realities in Western CIS and Western Balkan countries, including human development agendas built around the Millennium Development Goals. For more information, please contact Susanne Milcher, UNDP Bratislava Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Specialist, +421 259 337 179 / susanne.milcher@undp.org
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