GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — Ministers responsible for CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Affairs have recommended that the Strategic Framework of the CARICOM Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics (RSDS) be placed before CARICOM Heads of Government in July for endorsement.

The recommendation came during deliberations on the Strategic Framework of the CARICOM RSDS during the 42nd meeting of the Community Council of Ministers (Council) here last week.

Also, to be placed before the Heads of Government for endorsement, are the next steps such as the development of a comprehensive implementation plan for the RSDS.

The plan will include costing, a Resource Mobilisation Strategy, a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and an Advocacy and Communication Strategy.

The RSDS will play a strategic role in strengthening the statistics in the Region and improving its availability for evidence-based decision-making. It constitutes a shared foundation upon which statistical capacity will be developed.

The CARICOM RSDS is being developed in three key phases.

Phase one will see a comprehensive evaluation of the CARICOM regional and national statistical systems, building on the results of the Diagnostic Assessment of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of Caribbean countries conducted in 2011/2013; and preparation of a roadmap for the design of the RSDS;

Phase two will be the RSDS Formulation which includes visioning, objective-setting, strategising, and action planning with budgeting; and dissemination and advocacy in phase three.

During the recent meeting, the ministers commended PARIS21 (The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the Twenty-First Century) – the organisation that is funding the preparation of the RSDS – for its support to CARICOM.

The development of the Strategic Framework of the CARICOM RSDS follows the endorsement of its preparation by the Thirty-Eighth Regular Meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM, in Grand Anse, Grenada in July, 2017.

The preparation of the RSDS was placed on the Agenda of that Meeting by the Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr Keith Mitchell.

The RSDS Strategic Framework comes at a time when the CARICOM Core SDG Indicators, identified from the global list of SDG Indicators was approved by the recently-concluded Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD).