All manuals and guides published by SDD are listed below, grouped by topics.
Specific workshops presentations and other specific training material can also be found under each workshop listed in under the Workshop Material tab below.
All videos produced for or during training workshops can also be found directly under our SDD Youtube account.
- Census and Surveys
International Merchandise Trade Statistics Pacific Compilation Guide
The International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) Pacific Compilation Guide 2021 has been compiled to assist National Statistics Offices (NSOs) in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) to collect, compile, analyse and report statistics on international trade in goods using a standard methodology.
This guideline is an adaptation for the Pacific region of a comprehensive document on processing food consumption data from Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES). It aligns with UN Statistical Commission-endorsed guidelines and is specifically designed for Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) in the Pacific, using standard food consumption modules developed by the Pacific Community (SPC). These modules, tested in 2018 in the Republic of Marshall Islands, have been adopted by most Pacific Island countries and territories.
Sampling Guidelines For The Pacific
The Pacific region, consisting mostly of small island developing states (SIDS), faces significant challenges in developing statistics due to small, dispersed populations and underdeveloped administrative systems.
Despite these challenges, there is a growing demand for high-quality, disaggregated statistics to report on various development indicators, including the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Household surveys are the primary source of data for many indicators, and efficient sampling strategies are needed to balance the demand for efficient data collection with the need for detailed development indicators.
These guidelines aim to help pacific survey practitioners achieve this balance and strengthen their capacity in sampling theory.
The Pacific HIES Toolkit
The Pacific HIES Toolkit is a comprehensive toolkit that has been developed in collaboration with the Pacific Statistics Methods Board (PSMB) to create a series of guidance notes on statistical methods for practitioners in the Pacific, covering topics from sampling design to poverty measurement. This is in response to address the need identified as the lack of support for Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES)
The toolkit consolidates expert recommendations and experiences from recent HIES implementations. It has adopted UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) guidance as a model, resulting in the division of the HIES guidance into multiple notes organized by survey phases, with examples and templates.
These guidance notes are designed as living documents, periodically updated to reflect methodological and technological advancements, ensuring high-quality data collection.
- Climate Change and Environmental Statistics
Natural Disaster and Climate Change Survey Sourcebook
The aim of this Sourcebook is to promote the production and use of socio-economic data on the impacts of natural disasters and climate change on households in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). The Core Module adds a short set of questions to existing household surveys, while the Sourcebook can be integrated into larger surveys or used independently. It serves as a guide for survey leaders and practitioners, aiming to streamline data collection and use for decision-making on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Survey Module supports National Statistical Systems in defining roles and responsibilities for data collection and sharing, making socio-economic impact data accessible for research and monitoring.
- CRVS
Data Analysis and Report Writing for CRVS
As countries work towards improving their CRVS systems, a number of countries are now in a position where their routine administrative processes either are able to, or will soon be able to generate reasonably reliable data. Ensuring that system improvements are reflected in an actual improvement in the availability and reliability of data is a key regional challenge. It is critical that this data is analysed, reported, and made available to decision makers. This may be a significant change for many NSO’s who have not previously had a clear role in the analysis or reporting of this data. This course book aims to build capacity in these areas.
Legislation for CRVS in the Pacific: Best Practice Guidelines
Many Pacific Island countries and territories have begun to review their legislation over the last five years with support under the Pacific Vital Statistics Action Plan using the WHO Comprehensive Assessment Tool for CRVS. As a result of these assessments, a number of countries have highlighted legislation improvement as a core priority at the national level. This document builds on the work undertaken to date in order to:
- provide an overview of the key legal issues and challenges facing the Pacific;
- develop an assessment tool that countries can use to assist them to implement best practice in upcoming legal reviews; and
- assist in facilitating the uptake of new opportunities in registry practice by ensuring countries have considered both current and future registry needs.
You will also find additional CRVS materials on our Sub-regional training on medical certification of causes of death page.
- Development Indicators
Indicator Guidelines for Policy Monitoring in the Pacific
These guidelines aims to provide a more complete picture of the indicator challenges faced in countries in the Pacific and to offer some guiding advice on how to tackle these challenges, including some general guidance on the formulation of indicators. In particular these guidelines aim to:
- promote the importance of tackling indicator production in a more holistic way for reporting progress against global/regional/national/sub-national initiatives and plans;
- provide guidance on processes for producing indicator frameworks for national policies or plans, including what constitutes a good indicator, through a set of soundness criteria;
- improve the understanding of reporting requirements of priority global and regional initiatives, including how they can be addressed;
- provide background material for Pacific countries to review and develop their own national indicator strategy2 (if they so wish), covering the following processes;
- stocktaking of current practices;
- assessment of what is working and where modifications could be made;
- development of a new indicator landscape; and
- potential adoption of a core set of priority indicators.
- Dissemination and Microdata Access
Microdata dissemination is crucial in the statistics production process and survey programs. Making data accessible to a wide range of users enhances its value and reduces the need for new data collection. However, data producers face increasing demand for microdata and must address both technical challenges (like documentation and preservation) and legal/ethical issues (such as maintaining confidentiality and minimizing disclosure risks).
These guidelines aims to describe all the concepts and the technical and legal aspects related with microdata dissemination, with a particular focus on the Pacific region, and to present possible solutions for improving and expanding microdata dissemination, such as the Pacific Data Hub Microdata Library (PDH-ML).
- Economic Statistics
Imputation of Housing Rent in Consumption Aggregate
The guidance note discusses the challenges of estimating the value of housing in household consumption, especially in the Pacific region. It highlights the difficulty in valuing housing when it's owned by the household or provided by employers, and even among renters with subsidies. The focus is on how to accurately value housing for measuring monetary well-being, poverty, and inequality.
IMTS Pacific Compilation Guide, 2021
The International Merchandise Trade Statistics Pacific Compilation Guide 2021 aims to address challenges faced by the National Statistics Offices of the Pacific
Island countries and territories to produce reliable and timely trade statistics needed by the various users, most importantly the government. The guide not only recommends the use of UNs recommended best practice, but it also outlines the steps necessary to produce International Merchandise Trade.
This guidance note is designed to help statistics stakeholders in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) understand how to derive monetary poverty indicators using household consumption data. It outlines the steps and concepts involved, focusing on the two main pillars of monetary poverty measurement: the consumption aggregate and the poverty line.
Pacific Business Register Development Guide 2014
This guide is jointly produced by the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as part of their effort to provide leadership for statistical development in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). It is a broad guide to assist the development and improvement of business registers in national statistical offices (NSOs) in PICTs, to ensure that:
- development progresses according to global best practice; and
- development occurs consistently and harmoniously within the Pacific region to allow better statistical comparability across borders and future cooperation between NSOs in the region.
- GIS (Mapping)
QGIS for Census and Survey Mapping
This document details the steps required to:
- Plot and modify GPS Household locations,
- Create and modify administrative boundaries,
- Produce field maps for Supervisors and Enumerators, including automatic map production,
- Basic approach to raster datasets,
- Basic spatial analysis,
- Basic approach to geographical databases.
Tutorials to download:
- How to generate offline maps for survey solutions in QGIS
- Setting up offline maps in survey solutions server
Workshops:
See video below with full recording of workshop presentations, accessible through the Pacific Statistics YouTube channel:
- Social Statistics
Pacific Roadmap on Gender Statistics
The roadmap aims to provide the guiding framework to support Pacific National Statistical Systems to generate quality, relevant and timely gender data that meets users’ needs to advance gender equality. It also aims to enhance dialogue and ownership of gender statistics across the Pacific through collaboration between gender data users and producers. It emphasizes the need for resource mobilization and integration into national and regional statistical strategies.
The framework respects cultural values and identities, recognizing traditional gender roles in Pacific Island Countries and Territories. It promotes gender equality by considering cultural contexts to better understand development and prosperity. Monitoring gender equality with a cultural perspective helps address discriminatory practices and values women's traditional knowledge in natural resource management. Countries will report on these issues voluntarily, considering cultural sensitivities.
- Online Dissemination
Regional National Statistics Office Web Administrators Workshop
See video below with full recording of workshop presentations, accessible through the Pacific Statistics YouTube channel: