PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- On Friday morning, Head of the Statistics Department (STAT), Makini Hickinson, paid a courtesy call to the Minister responsible for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic & Telecommunications (TEZVT) Ted Richardson to discuss the Household Listing Project.
Both the Minister and Hickinson discussed the upcoming survey, its importance, and the benefits to the community.
Minister Richardson indicated the benefits to the community and urged the public to partake.
"This survey is important for the data that will become available. This information can then be used by the ministry and policy workers to draft policy in the benefit to the community. As such," the minister said, "I urge the community to part take."
Also present at the meeting were two invited International Observers, Mr. Martijn Balkestein, Head of CBS Aruba and Mr. Andrew Simpson, Research Statistician at the Bermuda Dept. of Statistics. Their role is to observe and report objectively on the preparations and overall conduct of the Household Listing Project. STAT is very pleased that they have agreed to support St. Maarten in this capacity.
Head of the Stat Department said that with the presence of these two observers, the STAT Dept. hopes to show its transparency and coherence with international standards on survey- taking.
The observers will be on-island at the start of the project, mid-way through the data-collection and during the final week. The length of stay will be approximately for one week at a time.
