By Lincoln G. Peters
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has announced the successful conclusion of Phase I of the Validation and Training Workshop and community entry/engagement activities for field data collection, a pivotal step in the establishment of the Community-Based Local Multidimensional Poverty Indicator (CB-LMPI).
UNDP in collaboration with the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) achieved this milestone in Local Poverty Measurement with the Completion of the Validation and Training Workshop, and field deployment of digital data collectors to assess multidimensional poverty in selected communities.
The initiative, held from January 3-7, 2024, is supported by the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) targeting select-electoral districts in Bomi, Bong, Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Lofa, Nimba and Rivercess counties. A total of 100 participants were targeted for the workshop from ACDP communities and Montserrado County.
It is a dynamic process encompassing validation exercises, comprehensive training, rigorous field tests, and insightful feedback sessions to co-create the data collection instruments, give feedback to communities that were consulted with in terms of what poverty is to them, what causes poverty, how is poverty known, who and where are the poor, what they do for a living, what to be done to address poverty and what support systems are available. Â
UNDP Economic Specialist, Stanley Kamara, said the successful completion of these exercises will lead to the production of first ever multidimensional poverty profile for a community or electoral district, paving way for support allocations.
“This initiative epitomizes a collective drive to uplift the livelihoods of marginalized groups within these regions, reduce vulnerabilities and multidimensional poverty using local context and approaches”, he stated.
Mr. Kamara explained that the successful completion of Phase I of the Validation and Training Workshop represents a momentous leap toward establishing robust local multidimensional poverty indicators, saying that Phase II will be after the Household survey.Â
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According to him, these indicators will play a pivotal role in shaping more inclusive and well-informed development policies that cater to the diverse needs of communities.
He said the workshop sought to equip participants with digital data collection tools and field data collection protocols.
Giving the primary objective of the symposium, he detailed that it aims to lay the groundwork for designing a robust household survey instrument tailored for data collection across all eight counties.
He said that supported by the Regional Service Center, the initiative signifies a concerted effort to fortify local capacities for sustainable development strategies across Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
He disclosed that the mobilization and community entry activities were part of the workshop’s aims and field staff are expected to engage with various households in their assigned locations, collect household data to summit by 15th January. Editing by Jonathan Browne
