Capacity Building at the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office Through Data Collection

Comprehensive and reliable statistics are crucial for designing economic policies. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq lacks the statistics it needs to improve infrastructure, encourage private-sector development, attract foreign investment, and create sustained economic growth. The Kurdistan Region Statistics Office needs to build capacity to collect the data. RAND worked closely with the office and in consultation with relevant ministries to build capacity by preparing, conducting, and analyzing the first round of a survey of the region's labor force critical to government policymaking. RAND provided overall guidance and both analytical and hands-on training to organization staff. Further, by being involved in the complete life cycle of the survey, from conception through data collection to policy analysis, and by being responsible for the final execution and analysis of the surveys, that staff benefited from learning by doing. Future rounds of the survey will provide up-to-date information on how these and other important indicators are changing over time and in response to policies.