Solomon Islands statistical services revitalised

Press release

Solomon Islands statistical services revitalised – a joint SPC/Solomon Islands success story

Thursday 16 November 2006, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), 36th Committee of Representatives of the Governments and Administrations (CRGA) – “It is my pleasure to inform the Committee of the success story of the 18-month statistics capacity building project implemented by SPC that has allowed the Solomon Islands National Statistical Services to be revitalised. Major economic and social indicators that were not reliable in recent years are now legitimate and timely,” announced Mr Luma Darcy, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Solomon Islands.

“Solomon Islands now has a new opportunity to undertake evidenced-based policy formulation, planning and decision-making. A number of core statistical outputs – many of which are for the last decade or so – have now been produced, disseminated and integrated,” said Mr Willie Lahari, SPC in-country technical adviser, in his presentation.

Mr Darcy added, “I commend SPC for the emphasis it places on capacity building. As Mr Lahari was previously a senior statistician in Papua New Guinea, he understood the Solomon Islands context, and this contributed to the success of the project.”

Mr Graeme Brown, SPC’s Statistics and Demography Programme Manager, stressed that “the Solomon Islands Statistical Development Project is an excellent example of a regionally coordinated intervention, implemented at the national level in partnership with the national government, that achieves an outcome of far greater value than the financial investment made in the project, in this case by Australia and New Zealand. Although this was a large project for one country in SPC terms, the real value is that the country’s statistical services – its engine room – have regained their strength.”

Mr John Oliver Gonzales from Northern Mariana Islands, impressed by the successful outcome of the project, suggested integrating best-practice models like that of Solomon Islands into SPC’s website, adding that “this will provide member countries and territories with successful examples to adapt and adopt for the benefit of our people, down to the ‘taro roots’ level.”

“The benefits to Solomon Islands from this joint initiative are huge. Reviving the engine room for enhanced analysis and monitoring of economic development indicators is a goal many countries aspire to,” concluded SPC Director-General Dr Jimmie Rodgers.

Papers of the meeting are available on SPC’s website: www.spc.int.

ENDS

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