The Solomon Islands National Statistics Office, SINSO, is facilitating a three-week Household Income and Expenditure Survey under the Building Capacity in Statistics and Audit, CAPSA Project, a jointly funded project between the World Bank and the Solomon Islands Government.
More than one hundred-thirty participants from the nine provinces and Honiara are currently attending the training event which kicked off on Tuesday 24th September.
Officially opening the program, Acting Government Statistician Samson Kanamoli highlighted the importance of the participants’ commitment and faithfulness to collecting quality data that is useful for the country.
Referring to the HIES, Mr Kanamoli said the very fact that the HIES occurs after a decade, signifies its gravity in relation to quality and updated data information that will be very effective for policy-makers in the next ten years.
“Without quality data, there is no effective baseline for the National Government for its planning. Thus, we must always ensure that our data is accurate and updated. That mandate has been given by the Government to the National Statistics Office.
“From thousands of applicants, you have been fortunate to take on this task. The responsibility to assist and support our National Government and our people is now in your hands.”
The Acting Head of Statistics encouraged the participants to persevere in spite of the challenges they will meet while on the field.
“There will be times when the communities will ask you intimidating questions about the Government simply because they are not happy with the services they receive.
“But the information you get from them will be the very information that will provide the services they need. You must explain it to them. That is how Statistics work.
He wished all the successful candidates every success in the training and upon completion of the training, the actual HIES Enumeration will begin from 21st of October 2024 for a period of 12 months.
The CAPSA project is funded by World Bank and aims to build the capacity of the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Office of the Auditor General of the Solomon Islands (OAG) to meet their respective mandates in contributing to evidence-based policy-making and improved government accountability.
The CAPSA project is aligned with the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Solomon Islands for the period FY18 –24 and has three components, the first component is directed to NSO, the second component is for OAG and the third component is shared between NSO and OAG for project management activities.