Comprehensive and reliable statistics are crucial for policy formulation in any region or country. Statistics make it possible to identify the most pressing needs, track the progress of policies and initiatives currently in place, and plan future development. Most important, statistics form the foundation upon which successful policy planning in many areas rests. The Kurdistan Region—Iraq (KRI) is hampered by the lack of such statistics as it aims to improve infrastructure, encourage private-sector development, attract foreign investment, and create a sustainable economy.

An efficient data-collection system lies at the core of effective data-driven policy making. For instance, if a...

The objectives of this chapter are to summarize

1. the organizational structure of the KRG

2. the purposes and structure of the KRSO

3. the interactions among the various KRG agencies that are relevant for data collection and information flow

4. the role of a statistics law.

The chapter notes that the KRSO, which is located within the KRG Ministry of Planning, is the body with overall responsibility for statistics for the KRI. However, the current absence of a statistics law hampers coordination among the various entities collecting data and the effective functioning of the KRSO.

It is beyond the scope of this monograph...

The goal of this chapter is to summarize RAND’s understanding of the various types of data and statistics currently collected and available in the KRI.

Overall, we find that some important policy-relevant data are being collected in the KRI, but there are significant gaps in data collection, and existing data are not effectively shared across ministries and between users.

The RAND team endeavored to access all available sources of information about how data and statistics are used within the KRG and what data are available for policymakers. We reviewed the following online resources: KRG websites (Appendix B catalogs ministry websites...

The objectives of this chapter are to:

Summarize the policy priorities articulated by policymakers in the KRG. Since the final goal is to collect data that can be used for making policy decisions, identifying these priorities is a crucial intermediate step.

Summarize the data priorities of the KRG, where policymakers express adirectneed for certain types of data.

Provide a brief rationale articulated by KRG officials for these priorities.

These priorities include shorter-term improvements of public services—including health, education, water and sewerage, electricity, and roads and transportation—and meeting longer-term challenges of private-sector development (with a focus on...

The objective of this chapter is to develop the data indicators that will help address each of the policy priorities identified in Chapter Four. We develop detailed data indicators for ten priority areas and identify a few within each area as “critical”—those that policymakers need to know on a regular basis to guide high-level policymaking. We note that the data need to come from multiple sources, and data will often be applicable across multiple policy areas.

The urgent priorities that emerged based on our discussions with KRG officials include providing public services people urgently need (health, education, water, electricity,...

The objectives of this chapter are to

Discuss the key components and activities involved in identifying, gathering, and disseminating comprehensive, high-quality, and policy-relevant economic and social data.

Review key data-collection methods and the steps necessary to ensure quality in data processing.

Highlight data-gathering activities that are relevant to the KRI’s future data-collection priorities.

Essentially provide a “mini user’s manual” for data collection and management, although we do not intend it to replace formal training in data-collection methodology.

In this section, we briefly review the major types of data collection used for policy and planning purposes—administrative data, census data, and...

The objectives of this chapter are to

Survey the international standards and procedures for statistical collection and the design of statistical information-gathering systems.

Take stock of the current efforts by the KRG in this domain in light of that information.

We note the urgent need for a statistics law and boards to oversee the functioning of the KRSO.

A system for collecting statistical information consists of institutions, procedures, and mechanisms that interact with each other and the population in order to execute the statistical program. These institutions, procedures, and mechanisms can be concretely defined in six categories:

legislation

agency infrastructure:...

The objectives of this chapter are to

Provide a sequenced and prioritized list of recommended steps for the KRG, and in particular the KRSO, given the recommendations made in the previous chapters.

Serve as a first reference for implementing the recommendations made in this monograph. For each step, the relevant chapter, which we reference, can be consulted for more detail.

This chapter elaborates on the following steps of the roadmap:

Enact a statistics law.

Convene stakeholder meetings.

Decide the composition of the policy and technical oversight boards.

Identify a data contact within each ministry.

Collect the critical data items.

Implement...

In this monograph, we have documented our efforts at designing a policy-relevant data-collection system for the KRI. Our first step was to understand existing institutions. We then assessed the available data and data-collection methods. Since the aim is to collect data that influences policymaking, we then collected information on the policy priorities of the region. We then mapped these priorities to data that needed to be collected to support decisions made regarding these policies, discussed the data-collection methodologies that are needed to collect these data, and recommended an institutional structure that would best support the data-collection efforts. Finally, we synthesized...