CAPSA Project Overview
The Project, Building Capacity in Statistics and Audit in the Solomon Islands (CAPSA) is a World Bank funded project which 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 as follows:
Component 1: Strengthening statistical capacity.
The component deals with supporting NSO institutionally, and its production of various statistics mainly the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) and Business Registration, such as the Establishment Survey and Business Registration. It is divided into three subcomponents:
Subcomponent 1.1. Institutional Strengthening. This sub-component deals with gaps for NSO to fulfil the National Statistics Development Strategy (NSDS) in terms of production of quality statistics. This will be addressed by a review of the NSDS, training, better ICT and office equipment.
Subcomponent 1.2 Innovations in HIES data collection. As part of the implementation of the HIES 2024/25, new ICT including Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) via tablets will be applied to save costs and improve the quality of data collection. The project will finance the full survey bringing in new survey techniques moving away from paper and manual data registrations.
Subcomponent 1.3 Improvements to the system of national accounts and economic statistics. The existing information in the Statistical Business Register (SBR) and business surveys is outdated and lacks information on informal businesses including in the service sector. A reliable SBR is crucial for improving business statistics, the national accounts and regular GDP estimations. The project will finance the data collection of a new Establishment Census, the development and update of the SBR, and the modernization of the Annual Business Surveys.
Component 2: Strengthening audit capacity.
The objective of component 2 is to support the long-term capacity-building strategy of the OAG to deliver its mandate. This involves supporting measures to develop relevant technical and leadership skills of staff, embedding quality assurance into the audit process, and strengthening the technical capacity of OAG to deliver high-quality audits on a timely basis. It has two subcomponents:
Subcomponent 2.1 Strengthening capacity to enhance service provision. This sub-component aims to strengthen the technical capacity of OAG staff and enhance quality assurance practices in line with OAG’s Corporate Plan for 2022-2027. The project will fund technical expertise in OAG at management level to address the existing audit backlog, develop QA procedures and support better application of ICT in the audit process.
Component 3: Project Management.
Component 3 covers overall project management, monitoring, reporting, and communication with IDA. It covers support provided to the implementing agencies (IAs) within financial management (budgeting, accounting), procurement arrangements, and project monitoring.
Minimal Environmental and Social Impact
CAPSA’s activities predominantly revolve around technical assistance, equipment procurement, and capacity-building. As a result, the environmental and social risks are considered to be low. Furthermore, CAPSA’s design aligns with SIG’s commitment to improving the quality of SINSO and OAG services, which could potentially yield positive environmental and social outcomes. We anticipate no downstream environmental or social impacts arising from project implementation and no physical works will be funded or implemented.
Environmental and Social Risk Management
To ensure that potential environmental and social impacts are diligently managed across all stages of the project’s lifecycle and to foster active engagement with stakeholders, we have developed comprehensive environmental and social risk management instruments. Specifically, the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) and the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP). These instruments are designed to guide SIG’s actions and maintain transparency during CAPSA’s implementation.