Forum (Spotlight Weekly)

Nepal-Info: Tracking Progress In Reducing Poverty

By J. BILL MUSOKE

Nepal-Info is a common United Nations database tracking the human development situation in Nepal. It provides easier access to quantifiable indicators for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation at sub-national levels.

The purpose of Nepal-Info is to assist the government of Nepal and UN agencies in the country in the use of information technology to accelerate sustainable human development. This task is based on the use of information technology to promote and encourage informed, inclusive, democratic dialogue among decision-makers and among development partners. The investment in this technology can leverage the tremendous knowledge resource of government departments, UN agencies and their partners into an information tool with up-to-date information on:-key indicators to monitor social development and poverty;-risk analysis by sub-national regions;-factual assessments of the status of social indicators;-well thought out analysis, using multiple sources of information presented through a variety of tools including:† tables, graphs and maps.

The database software tool features a comprehensive set of Social Development Indicators (98) selected to monitor the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Common Country Assessment and other key development parameters. The indicators are divided into sectors such as demography, economy, education, environment, gender, health, HIV/AIDS, and nutrition. With a click of a mouse, an indicator data value can be seen with its definition, unit of measurement, the methodology used and the source of that particular indicator.

The UN system in Nepal established in December 2000 an Inter-Agency Thematic Group on Poverty Monitoring tasked with the conceptualization of an integrated poverty monitoring system. The task also entailed establishing the necessary links to the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals and fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals international reportingrequirements.

It was so perceived at that time that a unified database would have "added value" to a more structured approach to data collection, storage and analysis. For example, besides overcoming problems linked to a variety of different database utilized by individual UN agencies such as the Vulnerability Assessment Mapping for the World Food Program, the Health Management Information System for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) or the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System for the Food and Agriculture Organization, a unified database will also ensure harmonization of reporting on data with easy access to sources and definitions.

The Thematic Group started its work in early 2001 by collecting information on the number of data and indicators regularly collected by the UN system in Nepal. The result has led to revealing findings, such as, that within the UN system 540 different indicators are regularly monitored by the UN agencies: 195 from primary sources and 345 from secondary sources.

It became evident that the scope for rationalization and harmonization was indeed enormous. Thus, as a subsequent initiative, overlaps and gaps were addressed through a thorough screening of the list of indicators by sub-themes reflecting the Millennium Development Goals. The process also provided a learning opportunity. For instance, it was interesting to realize that: i) different agencies use the same indicator with different definitions, for example, adult literacy rate: ii) different agencies use similar indicators that could be easily harmonized, for example, a gender discrimination index utilized by UN Children's Fund and a gender related development index used by the UNFPA; iii) most agencies use standard macro and demographic indicators although from different sources, for example, GNP per capita.

To address these discrepancies, six sub-themes composed of UN staff from different agencies were formed and their work and findings in terms of rationalization of the data bank and the choice of indicators constitutes the basis for Nepal-Info.

The development of Nepal-Info takes advantage of the UN resources, which have already been invested in similar common database systems and will accelerate its pace by building on the experiences gained in the development of Child Info in South Asia and DevInfo in India. Besides Nepal, UN common databases based on ChildInfo/DevInfo have been developed for Maldives, Tanzania, China, Turkmenistan and Benin and are being considered by several other countries in their 2002/2003 work plans. Nepal-Info is however, the first one to have indicators regrouped to address the Millennium development Goals.

The UN Inter-Agency Theme Group on Poverty Monitoring has been tasked with updating the data on a regular basis. At the same time, we look forward to working closely with the Central Bureau of Statistics on the wider dissemination of the recently concluded national census 2001, as more details become available.

For the time being, the UN system plans to reproduce up to 800 CD-ROMs for distribution to its government counterparts throughout the country all the way to district and village level authorities. To facilitate the utilization of the database by a larger audience the software is bilingual:† Nepali and English.

I hope that the use of Nepal-Info including the Millennium Development Goals indicators by all our UN agencies and His Majesty's Government will help in the efforts towards tracking important progress in reducing poverty and meeting the commitments of the Millennium Summit.

Furthermore, we look forward to its integration into a well-coordinated framework of poverty monitoring interventions, which the government is in the process of establishing under the conceptual leadership of the National Planning Commission.

(Excerpt from remarks delivered by Musoke, Resident Representatives of UNFPA, as an acting Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, at the launching of the Nepal-Info Database 2002)