The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, UNICEF and UNDP donate 50 laptops to MONSTAT

Podgorica, 12 May 2022 - The United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO), United Nations Development Program in Montenegro (UNDP) and UNICEF Montenegro have provided support to the Statistical Office of Montenegro (MONSTAT) by donating IT equipment as their contribution to more efficient data collection for this year’s Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) in Montenegro.

Since 2013, MONSTAT has been conducting annual EU-SILC surveys on a regular basis. The data collected in this way provide an opportunity to monitor poverty risk indicators and indicators of income distribution inequality in a society.

The support in the form of 50 laptops, whose total value is 27,300 euros, will allow MONSTAT employees to collect and process data more efficiently and in a faster manner.

With the support of UNDP and UNICEF and in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, the University of Maastricht used MONSTAT data to develop a model that simulates the impact of social protection measures on the level of poverty risk in Montenegro. Said activities facilitate understanding of the expected impact of policy reforms on reducing inequalities and poverty even before they are implemented. In addition, it provides the authorities with the information that is necessary to make informed decisions about desired policy direction and define support to the population so that resources are directed to where they will have the most significant effect.

Adequate use and utilization of the total potential of the model depends on the timely entry and processing of quality data from SILC. So far, the period between the collection and publication of SILC data was about 19 months. The automation that the laptops will allow will reduce this period to about half a year, meaning that the data will become available in the same year.

UNDP Resident Representative to Montenegro Daniela Gašparikova says that UNDP’s desire is to support the digitization of the 2022 survey, which will lead to poverty reduction policy reforms.

“When it comes to the field of social inclusion, as an important area of its activities, UNDP has continuously supported the institutions of the system in Montenegro in strengthening their capacities to provide adequate social protection. In order to improve social policy measures, the competent authorities need precise data and information that can be provided by SILC. The collected and gender-disaggregated data will serve as a basis for simulating gender-responsive options in the domain of social policy, for planning the necessary resources in relation to the needs of socially vulnerable categories, as well as for their greater social inclusion, in accordance with the basic UN principle – leave no one behind”, Gašparikova said.

Juan Santander, UNICEF Representative to Montenegro, underlined the importance of accurate data collection and their timely publication in the effort to make the fight against poverty more effective.

“Policies and actions to reduce child poverty can become more effective if they rely on fast and reliable data. Our goal is to support national efforts to provide the most vulnerable children with the support they need and when they need it. Children are growing fast, which means there is no time to waste when it comes to improving their lives,” Santander said.