ROSEAU, Dominica, Apr 26, CMC – Caribbean sstatisticians are meeting here to develop core indicators as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) moves towards fulfilling the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Technical Workshop on the Indicator Framework for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, statisticians is expected to develop recommendations on the core indicators for further review towards approval by the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCS) and ultimately to the organs of CARICOM for endorsement.
The meeting will also develop a Technical Working Group (TWG), procedures for its operations and also make recommendations on its work programme and on the way forward.
Organisers say member countries have been keen on establishing the TWG and 10 have already volunteered to participate.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Director, Regional Statistics at the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Philomen Harrison, noted that the SDGs “will be it us for a long time, and therefore the development of this TWG and its work” were critical and timely.
She said the SIDS framework SAMOA Pathway must also be taken on board and that regional statisticians had been very proactive and engaged in the approach to the process of the then post-2015
Agenda which is now the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The three-day meeting, which ends on Wednesday, is funded the European Union under the Tenth European Development Fund (10th EDF) and is hosted by the Dominica government.
In December 2016, the CARICOM Secretariat and international and regional partners met to consider what should be the core as recommended by the CARICOM SCCS in the form of a Regional Consultative and Training Meeting.
“It should be mentioned that we have always thought to contextualise the indicators and in this regard to bring together producers of statistics and the policy personnel as prime users of these statistics. The view is that while statistics are needed for policy formulation – policy actually leads and should inform the statistics that should be produced by National Statistics Offices (NSOs)”, Harrison told the meeting.
