process. No single NSS in a regional context, where the discipline of statistics is neither prioritised nor professionalised in the education system, should be expected to have the resources to become experts in all aspects and domains of statistics.
So how is comparability achieved? According to the idiom, how do we avoid comparing apples and oranges? Technical comparability is achieved by subscribing to the harmonisation rule – the process of creating commonalities by reducing differences in concepts, definitions, methodologies and classifications to get some degree of similarity in the resulting product. For example, the definition of poverty, unemployment or small to medium enterprises (SMEs) should be the same if the Economic Union is to have quantitative values that can be aggregated from the national to regional level.
Programmatic comparability is achieved when data collection, analysis and reporting are synchronised. That is to say, while there may be technical comparability, it matters too that all the NSOs would agree to a time-table for field work, data processing and dissemination such that there is symmetrical release of statistics throughout the Economic Union. It would be a situation where, for instance, all the Member States harmonise and synchronise their operations such that they can all release unemployment data with the same frequency, say quarterly, and at the same time, say, 15th of the month following the end of the quarter to which the data refer.
This is how an evidence base in an Economic Union should serve its people and citizens. A resource or asset that moves from one Member State to another should be measured the same way in the originating country and as it is in the destination country to preserve the utility of data comparability. Admittedly, it would be impossible to account for every single technical and programmatic difference among the Member States. But the narrower the dissimilarity, the
higher the quality of official statistics. To pursue data comparability the actors such as the OECS Commission, NSOs, key public sector leaders, development partners and subject matters experts should work collaboratively to design an empowered, resilient and visible RSS.
Requirements of the OECS RSS
To summarise, there are seven broad requirements for the regional statistical system that can effectively build and sustain the evidence base to support the OECS Economic Union’s integration agenda. These requirements are:
1. It must have the authority to regulate, steer and oversee the operations of its attendant national statistical systems cooperatively, consultatively and transparently;
2. It must be led by the OECS Commission, taking a holistic perspective and articulating a vision to make available high quality actionable statistical information, that is accessible anywhere, anyhow, anytime;
3. It must be empowered with sufficient resources, partnerships and expertise such that it serves the needs of the people and institutions of the single economic, social and environmental space;
4. It must be resilient such that it can respond to changes in statistical needs to reflect the characteristics of its national context, the common regional pursuits; and international initiatives designed for global benefits;
5. It should pursue data comparability utility such that the evidence base has little or no variation in its description of the context of its Member States, individually or collectively;
6. It must be have the appropriate mechanisms to avoid negative externalities and harvest positive externalities such that its visibility attracts the level of investments form government and development partners;
7. It must have responsible and compliant actors - data suppliers, data producers and data users and excellent feedback arrangements to ensure the system does not succumb to inertia.
Where do you fit in the RSS?
When regional data comparability is pursued, the difficulties and costs for the NSS are considerably decreased