During the period June 23 – 27, 2003, the Department of Economic Planning &
Statistics hosted officials of the Statistics Programme of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM)’s who visited the Turks & Caicos Islands
in connection with the
commencement of the process of establishing the
Social Indicators and Millennium Development Goals (SIMDG) Committees in the CARICOM Member States. This is a joint project between the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and CARICOM. Supporting organizations include UNDP sub-regional offices with other organizations also collaborating in the effort.
In attendance at this previous meeting were representatives from a wide cross-section of agencies/departments such as Welfare Department, National Insurance Board, Primary Health Care, Environment Health, Office of the Registrar of Births & Deaths, Women’s Desk, Medical Records, Aids Department, Immigration Department, Drug Unit, etc. where it was proposed that the departments present would constitute the National SIMDG Committee, which was requested by the CARICOM representatives. Many countries in the Caribbean have already formed such a committee.
Since then, the proposal for the formation of the National SIMDG Committee has been approved by the Legislative Council – the catalyst for this Committee formation being the regional thrust and programme to “Strengthen Capacity in the Compilation of Social/Gender and Environment Statistics”.
The aim of such a Committee, which is in a privileged and strategic position, is to assess and measure the current social status and to set targets and objectives in the many spheres, such as those set by countries under the umbrella of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for the future so as to improve the quality of information and to fed into the programme at the national and regional levels. Consideration was given to the fact that some of the data required for this programme are, in fact, the products of departments and offices outside of the National Statistics Offices.
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