Liberia: NEC Consultant for LISGIS

The Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) was established as a semi-autonomous agency by the government of Liberia in 2004, soon after the war. The agency is responsible for producing and coordinating the dissemination of reliable statistical and spatial data to meet the needs of domestic and international users. Over the years LISGIS has conducted a number of large scale surveys, recent examples including National Population and Housing Census (NPHC, 2008), Demographic and Health Survey (DHS, 2007 and 2013), Labor Force Survey (LFS, 2010), Agriculture Survey (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012), and most recently, the Household Income & Expenditure Survey (HIES, 2014/15) which is currently still underway. As a result, LISGIS has amassed capabilities in enumeration, training, and managing data collection processes.

Building Markets (BM) works throughout the world to create jobs and sustain peace by connecting local entrepreneurs to new business opportunities. In Liberia, Building Markets launched the Sustainable Marketplace Initiative Liberia (SMI-L) in 2011. Building Markets’ USAID SMI-L is designed to break down obstacles to local procurement and promote inclusive economic growth in Liberia. The project is comprised of a comprehensive and multidimensional set of interventions that create the path of least resistance to supply linkages between buyers and local enterprises. Most recently, SMI-L initiated an engagement with LISGIS, to build their capacity in order to collect, record and monitor robust data which can feed into policy discussion for private sector development in Liberia.

USAID SMI-L carried out an “Ebola Economic Impact Monitoring and Analysis” activity in 2014 by doing a survey of local businesses. Besides partly measuring the impact, the study highlighted that the absence of such data increased the vulnerability of Liberian economy to such shocks. Data collected in this regard will not just inform policy but will also act as an early warning system. To ensure this survey is sustainable and far-reaching in its impact, it is important that a local institution is capacitated to carry on similar work beyond the life of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) crisis. Given Liberia’s delicate transition from a long period of instability towards sustainable economic growth, monitoring the local business environment on an ongoing basis is necessary as part of an economic early warning system and to inform appropriate actions to keep the economy on track. LISGIS stands out as the foremost government led economic research institution, tasked with collecting and disseminating official statistics for the country. An SMI-L capacity development partnership with LISGIS will allow skills and process knowledge to be transferred and pave the way for similar monitoring and tracking activities in the future.

An Economic Statistics Surveillance and Reporting (ESSR) Project Manager residing at the National Accounts Section within the Economics Statistics Division of LISGIS is supporting all survey activities including participation in the survey design and implementation, and capacity development activities for LISGIS. The Assistant Director (AD) for National Accounts along with 4 other ADs from the Economics Statistics Division together constitutes the Working Group on Business Statistics (WGBS) which will be undertaking the NEC.

Project Overview

In order to undertake economic surveys for the compilation of National Accounts estimates and other economic indicators, LISGIS is planning to undertake the National Establishment Census (NEC), 2016. The census will be a complete enumeration of all economic institutions in Liberia (excluding government MACs, international organizations such as the UN, EU, etc., and embassies of governments) to establish the sample frame. LISGIS successfully conducted its first post-war NEC in 2007 and subsequently used it as a sample frame for the 2008 and 2012 National Accounts Surveys, respectively.

A second NEC conducted in 2013 was done. However, it was declared an ‘incomplete’ census. The 2013 NEC faced resistance from some business enterprises, in the form of refusal to provide information to LISGIS. Building Markets is thus supporting LISGIS in doing a public awareness campaign that will sensitize business owners and the general public about LISGIS and its mandate to collect data for the national statistics of Liberia.

Some ministries, agencies and commissions (MACs) of government maintain database of business establishments for their use. However, most of these databases lack standardized classification code of business activities that can allow easy link between institution databases for easy harmonization among these business databases. The NEC 2016 will be used to harmonize databases across institutions and launch a live database that is regularly updated and can be referred when calculating National Accounts.

Objective of the Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to assist the staff at LISGIS with technical expertise to carry out the National Establishment Census, 2016. This consultancy is expected to help build technical capacity of LISGIS to conduct the NEC by delivering training and mentoring to the staff at LISGIS. The consultant is expected to be an advisor to LISGIS and the ESSR PM on the NEC rollout (See timeline for more details).

Majority of the consultancy will be conducted remotely; however two missions will be scheduled to Liberia to conduct a capacity building workshop on undertaking a National Establishment Census and finalize a statistical abstract (analysis) in collaboration with LISGIS.

Duration

The duration of the assignment will be 25 working days (with possibility of extension) including two 5-day missions to Liberia (excluding travel days). The date for the mission will be determined upon consultations between the consultant and LISGIS.

The NEC is expected to rollout by March, 2016. Thus, the consultant is expected to be available in an advisory capacity between November, 2015 and June, 2016.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Consultant

The NEC TC shall work in collaboration with the ESSR Project Manager and Assistant Director of National Accounts at LISGIS to carry out the functions of the project. Specifically, the consultant will be responsible to

1. Participate in the preparation, review and revision of the concept note, methodology, questionnaires, manuals and supervision instruments and control forms for the NEC. The methodology for this will follow best practices and will be documented in a detailed manner;
2. Review documents and data from the previous NEC conducted and develop consistent definitions, scope and methodology for the census;
3. Review and ensure standardization in the methodology and definitions used for the NEC and establish best practices and international and regional comparability for the results of the NEC;
4. Advise the Director General of LISGIS, Assistant Director of National Accounts, LISGIS and ESSR Project Manager on conceptual and practical considerations for undertaking the NEC;
5. Advice LISGIS on stakeholder coordination and workshops conducted for the NEC;
6. Conduct capacity building through training workshops on methodology, definitions, enumeration, management, industrial classification systems, data cleaning and analysis including the (statistical documentation) of the NEC for the staff at LISGIS (in country during field visit);
7. In collaboration with LISGIS, oversee data processing and production through all stages;
8. Assist LISGIS to develop a detailed statistical abstract for the results of the NEC (in country during field visit);
9. Together with LISGIS, prepare plan for dissemination of results of NEC.

Deliverables

Upon completion of this work, the consultant will

1. Submit one detailed final report outlining all activities undertaken for the NEC;
2. Prepare and deliver training modules for approval, on the NEC;
3. Deliver capacity building training in classroom sessions and submit training materials; including presentation slides, handouts, do-files and any other relevant material used; and
4. Edited/reviewed documents including the concept note, questionnaire, training manuals, data reports, outline for and finalized statistical abstract and dissemination plan; and any other document as may be used for defining characteristics of the NEC.

Consultant Qualifications

1. Masters or equivalent degree in Statistics, Economics, Mathematics or any related field;
2. At least 7 years of experience working with a national or international statistical institute/agency/organization;
3. At least 3-5 years of experience working with NEC-type economic census/surveys and economic activity classification systems;
4. Experience working with national statistical agencies in developing context;
5. Excellent command of STATA;
6. Experience working in developing countries, preferably in Africa;
7. Excellent communication skills in English (verbal and written);
8. Strong interpersonal skills;
9. Demonstrated experience in building the capacity through training of government agencies in developing contexts;
10. Demonstrated experience of providing advisory services in national statistics, particularly around developing surveys.

Interested candidates may apply with a detailed CV to dadu@buildingmarkets.org clearly indicating in the subject line – “LISGIS NEC TC Application (name of consultant)" no later than 30th Sep, 2015.