Fletcher argued that better information is needed to help vulnerable persons, and the proper management of that information is essential to informing appropriate policy responses to help reduce the level of poverty and other social challenges. He added that such information is critical in producing reports such as the OECS Human Development Report (HDR), and that the very little current or reliable data in the social sector had forced the OECS Secretariat to postpone publishing the 2008 edition of the OECS HDR: “We were trying to put together an HDR for 2008, and in some of our Member States we had to be depending on data that was as recent as 1999-2000. We were depending on the same data we used to produce the 2002 HDR to produce the 2008 HDR. This was ridiculous; so we had to abandon the publication of the HDR which would allow us to report on progress, and allow us to present credible information to our governments and say these are the areas where we need to be focusing our attention. Colleagues we must do a better job in data collection; we must do a better job in data management.”
He however explained that most of the Social Safety Net programmes in the region needed to be better monitored and evaluated and that a proper management information system would aid in that process whilst also addressing the chronic problem of data gathering and processing. Fletcher suggested that though the data exists, it needed to be more effectively managed: “It really is a serious problem. In every single one of the social sectors; each area that falls under my purview in the Social and Sustainable Development Division: health, education, social policy, sports and the environment, we do not have adequate data. So we have to be guessing or we have to be extrapolating widely. If you are going to extrapolate from 1999 to 2010, that’s a very wild extrapolation. We have to do a better job of managing information. Now that’s not to say that the information does not exist; Very often the information exists in your offices, in your filing cabinets, or in raw form and has not been collated and analysed. We cannot continue to make decisions based merely on conviction.”
Fletcher stated that regardless of the size of a country, one needs data to make sound decisions in a more programmed and sustainable manner for the development of people. He expressed the OECS Secretariat’s hope that it will be able to make a significant contribution to the social sector via its process towards developing an information system that provides evidence for decision making. Whilst pointing to the financial challenges facing governments, who in fact bear most of the cost for essential social development programmes, he made a call for more Public and Private Sector partnership in the provision of such Social Safety Net programmes.
Various United Nations agencies are supporting the OECS Secretariat’s efforts towards enhancing Social Safety Net programmes and building resilience in the OECS; these include UNIFEM, UNICEF and the UNDP. Roberta Clarke, the Regional Programme Director for UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) pointed out poverty studies have all concluded that women and children were over represented among the poorest and that more should be done to target them and improve their conditions. Violet Warnery of UNICEF called for a scaling up of the system to help ensure that social safety protection programmes sufficiently assisted the most vulnerable.
Darrel Montrope who heads the OECS Social Policy Unit says while the focus, consistent with the Millennium Development Goals, is on poverty reduction, there are several persons who might not be below a poverty line, but who are nonetheless vulnerable, as a bout of illness or loss of pay or any other crisis can tip them below. He adds, thus to ensure poverty reduction as well as social resilience, social intervention programmes must be properly scoped to reach the right set of vulnerable persons.
The meeting which was held from July 21st to 23rd 2010, identified the vulnerable to include persons such as the elderly, low income women who are single and are heads of households, children in poor households, the disabled, the unskilled youth, and persons living with HIV/AIDS, and the issues to be considered to help them overcome their specific vulnerabilities.
The OECS Social Policy Unit says part of the long term goal is to improve the social and economic resilience of the region by supporting a credible and reliable information system that informs policies that help to get people out of their vulnerable state.
Media Contact: Raymond O’Keiffe Email: rokeiffe@oecs.org Tel. 1-758- 455-6305 or 455-OECS
Subject Contact: Darrel Montrope OECS Social Policy Unit-455-OECS or 452-2537