Group 4

Nepal, Iran, Kirghizstan, Lao PDR, PNG

Reporting on new MDG indicators

Indicator 1.4, Growth rate of GDP per person employed

Data source: administrative, LFS, population censuses.

Issues:

1)Definition: “person employed” needs to be clearly defined. Is “person employed” referring to “formal sector” or “informal sector”? I.e. what does “employed” mean for countries with huge population engaged in informal/agricultural sector? In other words, one could get a low growth rate of GDP per person employed if we exclude the informal sector and a high rate if we include the informal sector.

2)Denominator: “number of persons employed” needs to be clarified. Is it just the formal sector or both formal and informal?

Indicator 1.5, Employment to population ratio

Issues:

1)Definition: “working age” varies from country to country could be more than ten years, 12 years, 15 years, etc. There should be a specific age cut off/limit to enable comparability.

2)Denominator should be the working age population and not just “the population”.

Indicator 1.6, Proportion of employed people living below $1.00 per day

Issues:

1)What is the ultimate objective of this indicator?

Indicator 1.7, Proportion of own account and contributing family workers in total employment

Data source: HIES, LFS.

Issues:

1) Definition: There is a need to clarify “vulnerable employment” – the selection of variables to measure the indicator needs refinement. Own account workers are not as vulnerable as the factory workers.

Indicator 5.4, Adolescent birth rate

Issues:

1)Some countries apply 12-19, others 15-19 age groups. A clear reference period needs to be defined.

Indicator 5.5, Ante-natal coverage

Source: DHS/MICS

1)Definition: “skilled health workers” – does this include traditional birth attendant or village birth attendant?

Indicator 5.6, Unmet need for family planning

Source: DHS

1)What about the needs of women who are not married or living in consensual unions?

2)What about the unmet needs of men?

Indicator 6.5, Proportion of population with advanced HIV/AIDS

Source: HIV/AIDS

1)Data is so vital yet so difficult to collect. Currently, data are collected from administrative sources. However, the data are fragmented, which raises concerns about the quality of the collected data.

2)Accessibility of ART depends on remoteness of rural population, data are based on voluntary testing, and depends on cultural issues.

Indicator 7.5, Proportion of total water resources used

1)Indicator 7.5 poses a difficult challenge in terms of data collection. Our countries are blessed with big rivers/streams, i.e. both surface and ground water. In countries where the population is predominantly rural, it will be difficult to explain to the population the need to measure a pint/galloon of water that they used.

2)How do you measure how much of the water from the well/stream or river if the water is continuously flowing?

Indicator 7.7, Proportion of species threatened with extinction

A lot of advocacy is required in terms of raising people’s awareness on species threatened. Some species are food for people who harvest it using the traditional means – these traditional methods of harvest are being threatened by population growth – leading overhasting.