Improving Policy-making and Development Effectiveness through Statistics : The Regional Award for Innovation in Statistics

Abstract

Efforts to design effective development policies aimed at enhancing the welfare of people in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region depend on the improved measurement of living conditions, strengthened information baselines in monitoring and evaluation systems and the availability of high quality statistical information. The World Bank's Team for Statistical Development (TSD) in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region is working to increase the capacity of users and producers of statistics to support improved evidence based policies through the use of high-quality statistics in their design, implementation and evaluation. TSD supports activities that emphasize innovative solutions and best statistical practices in the region. As part of this approach, and with the financial support of the British Department for International Development (DFID), a Regional Award for Innovation in Statistics was launched in July 2007. The Award aimed to recognize the importance of statistics in development and promote innovation in this area and was the first of its kind, not only in the LAC Region, but worldwide.