ICP 2003-2006 OPERATIONAL MANUAL
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What National Coordinators Need To Know
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Prepared by
John Astin
Acknowledgments are due to Yonas Biru and Jacob Ryten for useful comments on earlier draft.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction Para 1
ICP Global Office: roles, responsibilities, accountability 6
ICP regional offices: roles, responsibilities, accountability 8
Participating countries: roles, responsibilities, accountability 11
Memoranda of Understanding 14
Relationship of national coordinator with regional coordinator 18
Coordination and consistency between prices and national accounts 21
Relationship between ICP and CPI 24
Responsibilities of the national coordinator 32
Contingency planning 39
Staff resources and responsibilities 44
Staff training 46
Recruitment and training of supervisors 48
Recruitment and training of price collectors 52
Basic activities in each participating country 54
Location and travel costs 55
Survey questionnaires – translations and photographs 58
Consumption weights below basic heading level 64
Selection of geographic regions, towns and shopping districts 72
Sources of price data and methods of collection 80
Selection of retail outlet types and outlets 89
Survey period and frequency 98
Timing of surveys 101
Preparation of price schedules 104
Carrying out the consumer price surveys 107
Data input, validation and editing 111
Submission of data to Regional Coordinator 119
Progress reports and early warning indicators 123
Annexes:
1 Glossary of abbreviations
2 ICP2004 Timetable
3 Overview of ToolPack
4 Governance of ICP2004
5 Documentation
6 History of ICP
A INTRODUCTION
1 This Operational Manual is part of a range of documentation relating to ICP 2004. It is primarily intended for National Coordinators (hereafter NCs), and aims to help them by synthesising the important elements of the large volume of background and detailed information already available. The manual is concerned essentially with management issues rather than technical detail. The aim is to provide a brief guide, showing what needs to be done in order to fulfil the responsibilities of participating countries.
2 The manual aims to provide NCs with the answers to these questions:
ü What do I need to know about the ICP to help me understand the nature of the overall task, and to help me to manage the project in my own country?
ü What are the key issues I need to know about in order to run effectively the ICP surveys in my country?
ü What are my responsibilities as NC?
ü What is the timetable for the project?
3 At the present stage of ICP2004, much of the survey planning is already nearly complete. For instance, the selection of products is now made: each participating country should now possess a set of Product Specifications (PSs) which give the detailed specifications for every product whose price is to be collected. So the manual does not cover any aspects relating to product specifications. In general, the manual should not be regarded as a basic source of technical or theoretical material: the ICP Handbook, available on the ICP website, is the reference source for all such material.
4 Furthermore, given that the ICP is a worldwide operation, and the precise methods of organisation are bound to differ to some extent between participating countries, this manual cannot be specific in every fine detail concerning the practical operation of ICP. Instead, the manual lays down a number of explicit rules and norms which all countries should follow, and in other cases sets out guidelines which countries should follow but may adapt to local circumstances. An example of this would be regional stratification of the sample: in very small countries this would probably not be necessary. There will be already a number of separate documents available in countries which have been provided by the Regional Coordinator or distributed at training sessions. These address a range of very detailed procedures which will be specific to the country concerned.
5 Feedback on this manual is welcomed. Questions or comments should be put to the Regional Coordinator in the first place. He or she will either be able to deal with the query or, if not, ask for assistance from the Global Office. It should be stressed that this manual is a developing tool: this first version will be updated and amended from time to time. It is also not yet complete: as yet there are no sections concerning Basic Heading weights or on government or capital expenditure. These will be added later when the time comes for data collection on these aspects of ICP2004. Information on updated versions will be posted on the ICP website.
B BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ICP GLOBAL OFFICE – ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, ACCOUNTABILITY
6 The Global Office, based in Washington DC, carries out the day-to-day management of the ICP. Its functions include:
· Creation of an overall work plan
· Monitoring to ensure that the work plan is being carried out
· Overall coordination and implementation of the ICP;
· Preparation of annual budgets and work programs;
· Provision of secretariat functions to the Executive Board;
· Development of ICP standards;
· Devising procedures designed to that the regional workplans are mutually consistent;
· Strategic direction and technical backstopping for the regional implementing agencies;
· Global data aggregation, analysis and dissemination;
· Convening of TAG when required;
· Liaison with OECD and Eurostat to ensure proper coordination with the ICP regions;
· Preparing and distributing quarterly progress reports to the Executive Board;
· Financial management, accounting and reporting.
7 The Global Office prepares progress reports to the Executive Board. These are normally public documents, accessible to all.
The Global Office in general does not have direct contact with individual countries. Instead, the Global Office liaises with the Regional Offices, who are themselves in close contact with participating countries.
A short description of the governance structure of the ICP is given in Annex 4.
ICP REGIONAL OFFICES – ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, ACCOUNTABILITY
8 These offices – one for each region – carry out the work required to implement the ICP at the regional level. They are directly responsible to the Global Office, and each of their member countries are responsible to them. The Regional Offices are led by a Regional Coordinator (hereafter RC), with the assistance of a Regional Committee. The latter comprise members from participating countries in the region, the donor community and regional agencies. Each Regional Office has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global Office, setting out their entitlements and obligations. These are dealt with below.
The Regional Offices are located in the following organizations:
Africa: African Development Bank (AfDB)
Latin America : UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Statistics Canada
Asia: Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Western Asia: UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Statistical Committee of CIS, and Russian Goskomstat.
The countries managed by OECD and Eurostat are treated as a separate region for ICP purposes.
9 The roles of the Regional Offices include:-
· Planning and implementing regional programs, database management, standards, guidelines and procedures as agreed with the ICP Global Office;
· Maintaining a close relationship with the ICP Global Office including regular and extensive sharing of information;
· Coordinating the efforts of the participating countries in the region through the dissemination of information, training, and ensuring that ICP standards and guidelines, including the use of specialist ICP software (ToolPack), are complied with;
· Striking a workable compromise with national participants on the list of items (goods and services) to be priced and expenditure weights to be supplied;
· Ensuring that all national participants share the same understanding about how prices for comparable and representative items ought to be collected, the circumstances of collection, the outlets from which the prices must be obtained, the standards of recording and documentation, and the overall timetable for the program;
· Ensuring that inter-regional link countries carry out their agreed duties;
· Providing technical guidance and effective leadership to participating countries to settle questions, doubts, ambiguities and inconsistencies, where necessary obtaining advice from the Technical Advisory Group through the ICP Global Manager;
· Monitoring implementation of the program in order to signal, if necessary, possible delays, budgetary overshoots or major technical flaws to take preventive or remedial action if required;
· Processing the national results to calculate PPP indices and subsequently applying them to GDP expenditure breakdowns for calculating volume measures;
· Providing an analytical underpinning for the regional results;
· Submitting quarterly progress reports and comprehensive annual reports in consultation with the Regional Committee (where one exists), to the Executive Board through the ICP Global Office;
· Keeping appropriate financial and administrative records and providing regular progress and financial reports.
10 The roles of the Regional Committees may include:-
Providing a forum for participating countries to be involved in the regional project;
Providing a mechanism for the two way flow of information from the region to implementing countries and vice-versa;
Providing a forum for the training of national personnel and for sharing information and expertise.
PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES – ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, ACCOUNTABILITY
11 Finally – and in fact most importantly – we arrive at the level of the participating countries. Most importantly, because it is from the participating countries that the data are collected, without which there would be no ICP.
12 Without national organizations and infrastructures there would be no ICP. But the ICP also requires that there be a National Coordinator (NC) appointed in each country. Normally the person responsible for the price statistics programme or for the national accounts will be the NC, depending on national circumstances. Where the two responsibilities reside in different institutions (e.g. the NSO for prices and the Central Bank for national accounts) it may not be practical to subordinate one of the two officers to the other. In such cases one of them will be entrusted with the task of reporting and communicating to the RC. However, both officials must assure the RC that they will work in close coordination with each other.
Whatever the NC’s field of expertise or institutional base is, he or she must ensure that the people responsible for each relevant aspect of the ICP are not only consulted but fully integrated into the project at all stages.
(See also paras 21 et seq regarding coordination between prices and national accounts officials).
13 Many participating countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with their Regional Office, setting out their entitlements and obligations, and the NC is responsible for ensuring that the countries fulfil their obligations as laid down in the MoU. In cases where not all countries within a region have signed an MOU, RCs will nonetheless ensure that all NC’s are aware of the contents of a standard MOU and will strive to abide by its terms.
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MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING (MoU)
14 As mentioned above, MoUs exist at two levels, first between the participating country and Regional Office, and secondly between the Regional Office and the Global Office. As well as setting out the background and general aims of the exercise, the MoU lists the various roles and responsibilities of each party concerned. The MoU is not a legal contract and it has no binding force in law. Even where a country has not signed an MoU, it should nevertheless be aware of its roles and responsibilities as regards its participation in the ICP 2004. For this reason, the contents of typical MoUs are described below.
MoU between regional offices and Global Office
15 The roles and responsibilities of the regional offices are:
Foster country participation, mobilize resources, and coordinate the national programs
· Establish a regional ICP office with appropriate staff and resources to implement and monitor the program at the regional level;
· Motivate countries to take part in the ICP, and coordinate the efforts of the participating countries through information sharing, training and general assistance; and ensure that global ICP standards and timetables are met;
· Mobilize resources to finance the regional coordination component of the program and where absolutely necessary to provide financial support to countries to help cover data collection and processing costs unless the policy for the region states otherwise;
· Prepare timetables of activities and due dates for participating countries and establish monitoring criteria to signal possible delays, budget shortfalls, or technical issues requiring attention;
· Organize and conduct regional workshops;
· Provide venues, support, materials, and guides to ensure that participants are properly trained;
· Cooperate closely with participating countries to design their ICP plan of action, which will include the benchmark comparison tasks and follow-up activities deemed necessary to ensure the sustainability of the ICP;
· Ensure that national implementing agencies carry out what is required of them, assisting them and monitoring their performance where necessary.
Provide mechanisms to ensure that participating countries take full ownership of the program
· Where possible, form a Regional Committee, representing all stakeholders, in order to fully involve participating countries in the management of the ICP, to ensure that effective communication takes place, to promote the use of the ICP and to guide the dissemination of the results;
· Keep appropriate financial and administrative records and provide regular progress and financial reports to the Regional Committee (where one exists) and the Global Office;
· Provide secretarial support to the Regional Committee (where one exists).
Ensure countries observe standard data collection and processing guidelines established by the Global Office
· Develop a list of regional product specifications, maintaining adequate overlaps with other regions;
· Ensure uniform standards in the participating countries, regarding comparable and representative items, price collection and outlets from where they are obtained, recording and documentation, and the overall timetable for the program;
· Assist countries in the adoption of survey methods and compilation of average prices and GDP expenditure weights;
· Supervise all technical and managerial aspects of the regional program.