1.1 Poverty reduction and improvements in social equity are among the most important objectives of governments in the region and multilateral organizations. Even though a great deal has been learned in recent years, the need to better understand how government policies affect the poorest households remains pressing. In order to assess how government policies can contribute to poverty reduction, it is necessary to have information about the characteristics and behavior of households: e.g., sources of income, geographic location, socio-demographic characteristics, consumption patterns, use of social services, etc. Information must be available at both the household and community levels, with national coverage, be comparable across time, and be reliable, timely and relevant.

1.2 There are currently a great number of household surveys available in the region. However the problem is that very few of them are reliable, timely, or comparable across time, nor do they include all the information that is needed to perform an analysis of how public policies impact on the poor. The deficiencies vary depending on the survey, but the most common are the following:

a. Insufficient coverage, particularly of rural areas:

b. Limited questionnaires;

c. Problems with the reliability of the data.

d. Sufficient integration with other sources of information.

e. Limited topic coverage.

1.3 Recognizing the urgent need for an information system with reliable data for the measurement of poverty, inequality, and, in general, social indicators in all the countries in the region, the IDB -together with the World Bank, ECLAC and the country governments- is executing a program to strengthen the institutional capacity in each country to implement and analyze a high quality multipurpose household survey system. This program is called the Program Improving the Surveys of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean (MECOVI).

2.1 MECOVI' s general objective is to adequately generate better and more information regarding the living conditions of the Region' s population. Specifically, information must be improved in terms of its scope, coverage, reliability, and, most importantly, its relevance for policy making. In sum, the Program hopes to generate the information necessary for the design, follow up, and evaluation of the programs, projects and policies aimed to reduce poverty and reduce inequality.

3.1 The Program is being implemented by the IDB, the World Bank and ECLAC, in partnership with the participating countries specialized agencies.

3.2 The Program has two main components: (1) Region wide activities; and (2) activities in the participating countries.

 (i)Region wide activities

3.3 This component has the following specific objectives: (i) improvement in the estimation and analysis of the social indicators obtained from the household surveys; and (ii) maintenance, improvement and updating of a data bank of household surveys from all countries in the region, to be made accessible to users across the region.

3.4 These objectives will be achieved through the implementation of the following activities:

 (2) Country specific activities

3.5 The Program's country specific activities are carried out only in participating countries, and have the following specific objectives: (i) establish and/or improve institutional capacity in the design, implementation and use of household survey data for the analysis and evaluation of policies aimed at the reduction of poverty and inequality; (ii) improve the use of the information derived from existing and new surveys, and improve the estimation procedures to generate social indicators; and (iii) create and maintain data bases with household survey data, in order to make the information easily and promptly accessible to users in the country. 

3.6 These objectives will be reached through the implementation of the following activities in the beneficiary countries:

3.7 Although the objective is to have improved household survey systems for the measurement and the analysis of the standards of living in all the countries of the region, the present proposal for this component of the program is already being applied in seven countries, being Argentina, Bolivia (incorporated in May 1999) Nicaragua (Incorporated in October 1998), Paraguay and Peru. However, depending on the availability of financial and technical resources other countries will be able to incorporate to the Program. The co-sponsoring institutions of the program will develop mechanisms and lineups to guide requests from other countries to form a part of the program in the close future.

3.8 The requirements for technical assistance are defined as a function of the needs in each particular country. The technical assistance is mainly aimed at the statistical offices or the relevant agency responsible for administering national household surveys.

MECOVI-IDB Program Coordinator: José Antonio Mejía (Washington, DC), tel. (202) 623-3713, fax (202) 623-3299, e-mail: joseam@iadb.org

MECOVI-CEPAL Program Coordinator: Juan Carlos Feres (Santiago, Chile), tel. (56-2) 210-2408, fax (56-2) 210-2472, e-mail: jferes@eclac.cl

MECOVI-IBRD Program Coordinator: Jose Molinas (Washington, DC), tel. (202) 458-7560, e-mail: jmolinasvega@worldbank.org