Recognizing the importance of having adequate information on poverty for the design, implementation, and monitoring of policies, in 1997 the Inter-American Development Bank in conjunction with the World Bank and ECLAC has implemented the Program for the Improvement of Surveys and the Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean (MECOVI) .
In 2002 the Mini-MECOVI was endorsed by the CARICOM Council on Human and Social Development. The World Bank secured funding from the International Development Fund (IDF), and that grant provided the OECS Secretariat with resources for strengthening institutional capacities of the participating Member States in a customised manner.
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.
