6Th MED-HIMS Regional Workshop

Page 6

6th MED-HIMS Regional Workshop

Thon Hotel Brussels City Center

1-5 July 2013

Main conclusions

(12 September 2013)

A.  Introduction

1.  The 6th MED-HIMS Regional Workshop held in Brussels on 1-5 July 2013 was organised by the ADETEF MEDSTAT III Consortium. The meeting, which followed the one held in Amman in March 2012, was attended by officials belonging to the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) of all the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) currently participating in the MEDSTAT Programme([1]), the representatives of the European Commission (DG Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid and DG EUROSTAT), the World Bank (Development Data Group), UNHCR (Field Information and Coordination Support Section), the regional offices for the Arab States of UNFPA and ILO and the regional offices for the MENA and Western countries of IOM, along with international experts on behalf of MEDSTAT III and the World Bank.

2.  The main purposes of the meeting were to discuss the following:

-  The work options and modalities for the Euro-Mediterranean Working Group on Migration Statistics (EMWGMS) for 2014-2015 in the “post-MEDSTAT” framework, including synergy with the EUROMED Migration Programme;

-  The preparation and implementation of national MED-HIMS surveys and other activities undertaken under the MED-HIMS Regional Coordination; and

-  The possible approach and structure of the MED-HIMS Model Manual 7 on tabulations and data analysis.

B.  Euro-Mediterranean Working Group on Migration Statistics (EMWGMS) and related topics

3.  The workshop generally agreed on the preliminary proposal for the design and implementation of the EMWGMS in 2014-2015 presented jointly by MEDSTAT III and the Central Administration for Statistics of Lebanon as the proposed leader of the working group. According to the decision taken at first meeting of the Forum of the Euro-Mediterranean Statisticians (formerly MEDSTAT Directors’ Committee) held in Luxembourg on 13-14 May 2013, this proposal foresees concentrating the working group activities on MED-HIMS Programme. Priorities were given to sharing practices among participating countries and to organising an annual regional workshop. Proposals and means for other work components were given initially a lower priority. These include the better use of administrative sources of and the definition of harmonised lists of indicators and questionnaires for the collection and dissemination of migration statistics. Apart from the MPCs, the proposal of EMWGMS found support from the international organisations and the EUROMED Migration III Project. The draft document submitted to the participants will be further discussed through distance consultations and possibly a first working group meeting held before the end of MEDSTAT III.

4.  The workshop supported the Migration Profiles Processes (MPPs) and the opportunities of regional meetings on this topic provided by EUROMED Migration III to the MPCs, with four countries (i.e. Algeria, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia) having already decided to apply the MMP, and the upcoming regular participation of all the NSIs in the activities and consultations undertaken at national and regional level under this parallel programme. Given the relevance of synergy and timetables of initiatives, MEDSTAT III and the future EMWGMS will maintain a close coordination with EUROMED Migration III.

5.  Participants in the workshop discussed proposals for harmonised sets of migration questions in the population censuses soon to take place in the region and lists of harmonised migration indicators/tables. As main conclusions, they decided the following:

i)  Not to integrate a section on migration indicators (or tables) in the Regionally Harmonised List of Indicators of Social Indicators defined under MEDSTAT III, due to limited availability of data on international migration. For that list, in parallel to the workshop the MEDSTAT III Key Expert for Social Statistics suggested at least including the proportion of foreign population residing in the country in addition to the net migration rate. In any case, some indicators for such a list could be deducted later from the MED-HIMS surveys, although their purpose is not to provide national estimates and such indicators may be available from time to time and reference dates, depending on countries;

ii)  To further discuss on the introduction of migration questions and modules in the next population censuses. This first concerns Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, i.e. the countries currently planning the next census in 2014, which were invited to consult with each other. The workshop recommended to revisit this topic in the next regional meetings;

iii)  To launch, or participate in, a possible definition of indicators for national Migration Profiles at a later stage, after the national consultative processes will allow determining data gaps and the production of improved indicators and tables based on administrative sources. This may occur under the “post-MEDSTAT” framework, starting from mid-2014.

6.  Concerning the MEDSTAT III planned publication on the documentation of national administrative registers and the statistical sources relevant for international migration, given the partial availability (only four out of eight countries) and limited comparability of the ‘country reports’ (based on the IOM Guidelines for Migration Profiles) as well as the current status of adhesion to the MPPs, it is suggested to postpone this activity and complete and harmonise these outputs under the EMWGMS framework, eventually for a group of countries.

C.  MED-HIMS Programme

General issues

7.  Different interventions in the workshop recalled the opportunity for measuring international migration in the MPCs through MED-HIMS and under the international coordination and raised the topic of the potential contribution of this survey programme to a possible round of world migration surveys. In particular, the MED-HIMS Chief Technical Adviser recalled the new approach of the “multi-level eligibility of respondents”, for which the data collection concerns all household members and the reference period of 1st January 2000. The same expert also informed the meeting of the Final Declaration of the 'Regional Consultative Meeting on International Migration and Development in the Arab Region' held in Cairo in June 2013 supporting such data collection and strengthening migration research capacity in the whole Arab region.

8.  All participating countries renewed their commitment for national surveys under the coordinated framework of MED-HIMS, highlighting the relevance of international support and the regional coordination provided so far by MEDSTAT III as an useful condition for increasing awareness and visibility and avoiding methodological deviations. Representatives of the international organisations discussed the need for future consultations for ensuring the regional coordination and technical assistance in the “post-MEDSTAT”.

9.  Summarising the activities to be undertaken at the regional level by the end of 2013 and beyond, the MEDSTAT III experts announced the upcoming publication of the MED-HIMS model data collection manuals([2]) according to the results of the pre-tests in the two priority countries Egypt and Jordan. Moreover, they exposed some possible options and means for better exchanging information and tools and communicating with the public, such as the extension of the MED-HIMS webpage in the EUROSTAT site, the use of the CRICABC or the creation of a dedicated website with an intranet facility.

10.  Concerning the national surveys, the meeting stressed on some opportunities for requesting the international funding arising from the recent missions and experiences of priority countries, as follows:

-  The need to promote the MED-HIMS surveys by the NSIs among national partner institutions and international stakeholders by demonstrating its usefulness for policy making and development;

-  The importance of dialogue with national partner institutions and other data users before the composition of the national steering committee is fixed;

-  The possibility to claim for international funding through the organisation of national donors meeting or other solutions, depending on local conditions; and

-  The opportunity to include the cost of the harmonised Technical Assistance in the budgets of national survey projects.

11.  Finally, apart from the MED-HIMS, the meeting recommended to devote efforts to the problem of measuring the emigration of whole households.

Preparation and implementation of national surveys

12.  The session on activities at country level was featured mainly by the presentations of CAPMAS-Egypt and DoS-Jordan. In the case of the Egypt-HIMS, the national officials mainly reported on the following:

-  The high level of national awareness about the survey;

-  The marginal adaptation of Model Questionnaires, sometimes for wording issues only, and including the introduction of questions on health upon WHO suggestion in the model tools too;

-  The good progress in the main data collection (already completed in 14 out of 26 governorates); and

-  The increase, jointly with UNHCR-Egypt, of the size of the targeted sample of forced migrants due to the high number of Syrian refugees arriving.

As a main potential issue for the quality of results, it was pointed out that the apparent higher emigration of household’s members from the rural zones may be partly due to the emigration from urban zones to the Gulf countries of more skilled workers together with family members based on facilitated visa procedures. However, the higher frequency of empty dwellings in the urban zones also derive from the tendency to keep the houses during emigration or the ones of deceased people.

13.  Concerning the work undertaken so far for the Jordan-HIMS, the Jordanian officials mainly reported on the following:

-  Following extensive discussions within DoS and with international experts, the final adaptation of the MQs to the Jordan-HIMS involved making a number of changes to the order of questions on educational status, and adding some questions on work and economic status (which DoS need for their internal use), and also expanding the list of family planning methods used by respondents. These changes will not affect the comparability of data with other countries;

-  The high response rates in the ongoing pre-test operations, although some problem with the availability of the best respondents, the reluctance from foreign respondents and the long time required to interview households with forced migrants;

-  The need of recruiting more female interviewers to facilitate data collection; and

-  The ongoing negotiations with the EU Delegation for facilitating the reporting mechanism for the funding of national operations.

14.  In the case of the Maroc-HIMS, the national officials reported on early preparations undertaken with MEDSTAT III experts which will make possible to use forthcoming census data to avoid the costly listing operation to identify households eligible for interview, by selecting a sample of about 15,000 households from the proposed 2014 Census, which will have appropriate questions to identify households with emigrants and return migrants. This will make possible a significant reduction in the overall cost of the survey. With support from UNFPA-Morocco, HCP is currently seeking funding for carrying out a pre-test survey in 2013, based on a sample of 700-1,000 households, probably in the region of Beni Mellal.

15.  The MED-HIMS Sampling Expert reviewed the need for flexibility in adapting the model sampling strategy based on stratification and oversampling areas with high prevalence of international migrants of interest but adhering to the need to use sampling approaches that ensure efficiency in the fieldwork. He outlined the different sampling strategies developed so far by the three priority surveys listed above, which were made available for the first time in a draft compendium([3]).

16.  After welcoming the presentations and discussing on progress in the priority surveys, the workshop called for a wider and more frequent documentation and sharing of progress at the national level through the communication modalities proposed under regional coordination. The Sampling Expert invited countries to evaluate their sampling experience at the end of the project to test the different methodological approaches and present the conclusions in supplementary national reports and through papers for international conferences.

17.  Concerning the other countries, Lebanon, Tunisia and Algeria expressed their readiness to respectively start preparing the national survey by few months, finalise the project document and start preparing that in view of implementing their MED-HIMS surveys in 2015-2016. In addition, PCBS expressed the commitment for planning a second MED-HIMS survey in Palestine in 2015, five years after the implementation of the first national survey which used an earlier version of the Model Questionnaires.

Model Manual 7 on tabulation and data analysis

18.  A preparatory session allowed to shortly review the approaches and practices of tabulation and data analysis from recent emigration surveys, in particular the ones of Palestine and the multi-country projects of MIREM (MIgration de REtour au Maghreb), MAFE (Migration between Africa and Europe) and the World Bank (Africa Migration Project). The experience of the Immigration Absorption Survey in Israel of 2010-2011 was also presented.

19.  The session on tabulation and analysis plans for MED-HIMS allowed extensive discussions of possible approaches and contents at national level, in particular for the outline and tabulation programme for a standardised main report. Many points were made, including adoption of more digits for occupation using the international codes of the ILO, and a wide use of tools to graphically illustrate and summarize data for policy makers, media and other users. Among other things, it was proposed that such publication explain the impact of migration on individuals, households and communities, and on development of the country in general, as well as examine many issues such as brain-drain vs. gain, and indicate impacts of migration on investment and entrepreneurship in the countries of destination and origin. This led to recommendations for adding a few final questions to the Model Questionnaires.

20.  As a main outcome from two parallel working groups and the plenary session, the workshop produced a preliminary outline of the content of the Principal National Report, presented as Annex 3 in a version elaborated by the MED-HIMS experts after the meeting. This preliminary outline includes an introductory chapter presenting the national development context and experience with international migration, followed by a sequence of chapters on the characteristics of households with and without international migrants (Chapter 2), the basic characteristics of migrants and non-migrant individuals from the individual interviews (3), outlines of tabulations to assess the processes of migration and its determinants, causes and profiles (chapters 4 to 7), then a specific chapter on remittances (8), and a final one with the summary of main findings (9). The meeting considered that the National Principal Report should comprise about 100-120 tables and graphs and about 100 pages of text, depending on decisions at a later stage.