The Department of Statistics in the Ministry of Sustainable Development in St. Kitts and Nevis is sincerely grateful to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the donation of three tablets donated under the CariSECURE Project. The tablets will be used for computer-assisted data collection.

In 2016, the Department of Statistics partnered with the Ministry of National Security to implement the CariSECURE Project  The project, called “Strengthening Evidence Based Decision Making for Citizen Security in the Caribbean,” or CariSECURE, aims to improve youth crime and violence policy planning, and decision making by using relevant, reliable, and timely statistics on citizen security.  The project, funded by USAID, adopted an evidence-based approach to policy making and planning for the eradication of youth crime and violence, and promotion of citizens’ safety and security.  Notably, the CariSECURE Project adopted a strategic approach with expert international technical assistance combined with local knowledge and expertise to:

●     Establish standardized data collection and compilation frameworks

●     Adopt the use of advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enhance the quality of crime statistics

●     Develop technical officers’ technical and analytical skills in the  relevant  government ministries, department and agencies 

The Department of Statistics with the Ministry of Sustainable Development is pleased to be part of the CariSECURE Project.  Firstly, the Department is satisfied that it was able to make a considerable contribution to the adoption of statistical methodologies and practices.  And secondly, the Department was able to learn about the nature and scope of the measurement and evaluation of youth crime and violence.   The donated tablets will be used in the data collection process for the upcoming 2021 Population and Housing Census, aiding in the collection of households’ data on crime and violence.  In the medium-term, the Department hopes to support the Ministry of National Security in conducting a Crime and Victimization Survey using these and other similar devices.  It is important to note that the use of such technology- computer assisted personal interviews -  is a significant step forward in improving the quality and timeliness of data collection.  Therefore, less time is spent cleaning and correcting data entry errors, allowing the tabulation of results to be more seamless. 

We wish to once again express sincere thanks to USAID for the support of this important and timely initiative in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis- to the benefit of our people. And thanks again for the donation of the devices to support our statistical data collection processes.