(OECS Secretariat, Castries, St. Lucia, Wednesday April 27^th 2011) The Department of Labour of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will formally launch a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) Website and its system of computerised administrative records on Thursday 28^th April 2011.  

OECS Secretariat, Castries, St. Lucia, January 2011

The OECS Secretariat with the support of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has commenced the implementation of a statistical data management and dissemination system that would considerably bolster the region’s capacity to manage and secure ready access to a wide range of statistical information and data.

The primary objective of this system is to strengthen the capabilities of the National Statistical Offices (CSOs) in the OECS Member States, the OECS Secretariat and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in the areas of statistical data management and dissemination, so as to allow these institutions to respond in an efficient and timely manner to requests for socio-economic data, and specifically trade data, in support of national and regional commitments and initiatives.

The Data Dissemination System (DDS), which was specifically developed for the OECS, will be deployed in the statistics unit of each of the eleven (11) project beneficiaries, namely the CDB, OECS Secretariat and nine (9) CSOs from OECS Member States.

The Data Dissemination System will include the following components:

1. A secure and centralized data warehouse consisting of socio-economic and merchandise trade databases;
2. An automated system for the publication of Internet ready statistical tables;
3. An (optional) corporate website for disseminating statistical information in an Intranet and or Internet environment;
4. A merchandise trade and tariff web database application for the CSOs in the OECS Member States;
5. Tools for updating the relevant databases and web applications;
6. Electronic user manuals and or help references.

The installation of the system commenced at the OECS Secretariat in December 2010 and will subsequently be installed in all OECS Member States by 31^st March 2011.

OECS Secretariat, Castries, St. Lucia, November 2010.

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat in collaboration with the Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), will from 15^th – 18^th November, 2010 convene an OECS workshop on Computer Editing of Population and Housing Census Data in St. Kitts and Nevis.

OECS Secretariat, Castries, St. Lucia, November 2010.

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariat in collaboration with the Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), will from 15^th – 18^th November, 2010 convene an OECS workshop on Computer Editing of Population and Housing Census Data in St. Kitts and Nevis.This activity is being held as part of ongoing technical assistance being provided to the OECS by the UNFPA, in support of the 2011 OECS Population and Housing Censuses, and is in direct response to a request by OECS Member States for technical support in the editing aspects of census data processing.

The workshop will focus on the techniques and procedures used in editing of census data and will impart basic concepts and tools to allow each participating country to develop a preliminary editing guide for its census data. Emphasis will be placed on the development of editing specifications and data codes which will later be translated into programming language. This process will require a team effort involving subject matter specialists and data-processing staff from OECS National Statistical offices.

The workshop is expected to contribute to the successful processing of census data in preparation for its tabulation, which is a vital step in the successful implementation of OECS Population and Housing Censuses in 2011, and the production of comparable data useful for policy and decision making, as the OECS progresses towards implementation of an Economic Union among its Member States. Additionally, the workshop is also expected to facilitate the establishment of dialogue between the subject matter specialist and the data processing staff, in order that editing and imputations rules are developed.