Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment Survey II 2004
Maldives, 2004
Identification
MDV_2004_VPA_v01_M
Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment Survey II 2004
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Maldives | MDV |
Income/Expenditure/Household Survey [hh/ies]
This is the second Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment for the Maldives. The survey for the first assessment (VPA-1) was carried out in 1997/98 and covered households on all 200 inhabited islands. The survey for this second assessment (VPA-2), which was carried out during the middle of 2004, had a similar coverage and used broadly speaking the same questions but with the additional feature that half the households in the sample had also been covered in the first survey – providing a unique ‘panel’ for the analysis of changes over the intervening period.
At the time of conception of VPA-2, the main purpose of the survey was to provide the baseline for the next National Development Plan. Equally important, it was to become the main source for the Maldives' first initiative in MDG tracking and reporting. Finally, as it included a 'panel' survey (same households, with similar questions seven years later), it could indicate successful coping mechanisms and poverty reduction strategies at the household level.
The survey acquired even greater significance as a result of the tsunami on 26th December 2004. The fieldwork that had been completed in July 2004 provided a detailed description of the socioeconomic conditions on the islands only a few months prior to the disaster. The Government was thus able to use the comparative analysis, which was already under way, to make preliminary estimates of the effects of the tsunami on people's livelihoods in the affected islands.
More specifically, VPA-2 aimed to include:
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The basis for an anti-poverty framework - An in-depth analysis of living conditions in all parts of the country should form the basis for a strategic anti-poverty framework. This should enable the Government to design pro-poor policies and programmes, as well as monitor and evaluate their impact.
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The people's perspective - The VPA was to provide an assessment, both in terms of geographical coverage and the range of development concerns, of the needs and priorities from the perspective of the people themselves. This was to include a human vulnerability index (HVI) tailored for a scattered and extensive island state.
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A database - Provide a relational database for poverty and vulnerability diagnostics;
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An evaluation - Looking at the effects of development activities upon household living standards.
The VPA-2 would then serve as the cornerstone for actions in a number of areas, including:
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Millennium Development Goals - A analysis of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) indicators and the writing of the first Maldives MDG Report;
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Public finance - A discussion of the allocative aspect of public finance and budgeting and social spending, arising from the results of the World Bank public expenditure report;
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Development plans - Data support for an evaluation of the current Sixth National Development Plan (NDP) and the formulation of the Seventh NDP.
The Government's decision to embark on this exercise reflects the importance it attached to the availability of comprehensive socioeconomic data for policy formulation. VPA-2 would not only highlight continuing problems, but also assess the effects of government policies. The panel data in particular would provide a sample large enough to allow for an in-depth analysis of changes in poverty and living conditions of households across the nation - and indicate why some households had made more progress than others.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Households
- Individuals
- Children under 5 years
- Consumption expenditure items/ services
- Community (to supplement the household information)
Scope
The scope of the Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment Survey 2004 includes:
- HOUSEHOLD: household listing; housing characteristics; living condition of households; access to electricity; availability of drinking water; method of garbage disposal; health services; morbidity; immigration and travel abroad; crisis, hardships and problems faced; perception economic status and well-being; ownership of durables; investment; property transaction; and loans and credits; expediture diary
- HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS: individual information, education, employment, nuptiality and fertility, employment and income, voluntary work
- CHILDREN: Measurements of children under 5 years
- ISLAND: vulnerability; accessibility conditions; transport; postal and communication network; sports, recreation and social activities; employment and economic activities; voluntary activities; access to electricity; and method of garbage disposal
| Topic | Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| Poverty | World Bank |
Coverage
National, Male', Atolls
The survey covered all households including their members. Institutions like hospitals, clinics, hostels, hotels, jails, labour quarters and defence force camps have not been included in the scope of the survey. However, staff members of the above mentioned institutions living independently in premises attached to these institutions have been included.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Minister of Planning and National Development |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| United Nations Development Programme | Technical support |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Minh Pham, Resident Coordinator | UN System in Maldives | Study initiation |
| Team of Netherlands Consultants | Complete project supervision from questionnaire design to data analysis | |
| Hans de Kruijk and Willem van den Andel | Netherlands Consultants | Guided the Netherlands Consultants team in project supervision |
| Karen van der Wiel and Judith Poleon | Netherlands Consultants | Provided assistance to the Netherlands Consultants team |
| Pemconsult | Danish firm contracted by World Bank | Conduct of survey fieldwork |
| Svend Erik Sorensen and David Moore | Pemconsult | Survey managers |
| Harsha Atrupane, Senior Economist | World Bank | Facilitated initial project phase |
| Shyam Upadhyaya | Sample design | |
| Huzaifa Zoomkawala | Data entry programme | |
| Annemieke van de Steeg | Data cleaning supervision | |
| Eric Jager | Demographic analysis | |
| Peter Stalker | Final document editing | |
| Najfa Shaheem Razee | Report layout | |
| Statistics Section | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Preparation of questionnaires and enumerator's manual; conduct of training; supervision of fieldwork; and data processing |
| Fuwad Thowfeek, Assistant Director General; and Aishath Shahuda, Director, Economic Statistics | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Work coordination |
| Idham Fahumy, Aishath Laila, Mohamed Firshan and Hana Mansoor | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Overall survey preparation and management |
| Fathimath Nihan, Mushthaq Saeed, Yasir Waseem and Mohamed Jawad | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Counterparts in data processing |
| Aishath Aniya, Aishath Suzy, Fathmath Hashiya, Faheema Abdulla and Ismail Ashwad | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Assisted MPND data processing counterparts |
| Aishath Ikram, Planning Section: Sofoora Kausar Usman, Fathmath Inwaza; Regional Development Section: Khadeeja Majida Hassan, Statistics Section: Aishath Shifaza | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Counterparts in analysis |
| Administrative and Finance; Development Planning; and Strategic Planning and Research Sections | Ministry of Planning and National Development | Administrative assistance; assistance to ensure the smooth implementation of the study |
| Respondents: household heads, island chiefs, island women's and development committees | ||
| Enumerators and data entry operators |
Sampling
SAMPLING FRAME
The main database for the frame of VPA sampling comes from the Population Census 2000.
In the case of atolls, the frame for the VPA is the list of inhabited islands. The list is most recent and accurate since all inhabited islands were surveyed. The Census 2000 reported 200 inhabited islands. Sampling of islands was not considered appropriate because the level of vulnerability is very much determined by the local conditions.
The frame for Male' consists of 5 wards and 317 enumeration blocks which were created in the last census. These blocks served as the primary sampling units in VPA sample design for Male'.
LEVEL OF REPRESENTATION
The survey has two domains, Male' and Atolls and each of these domains have independent sampling schemes.
SAMPLING IN ATOLLS
The survey covered all 200 inhabited islands where the islands virtually served as independent strata. Since population sizes differ across the strata, the following rule was used in the selection of households:
- for islands with 1500 or less inhabitants (approximately 200 households), a minimum of 10 households were allocated for each island
- for islands with more than 1500 inhabitants , the sampling rate was increased by 10 households for every 1500 inhabitants
Partial Overlapping Sample
In order to ensure the data comparability of two surveys, half of the samples in all islands were retained from those selected for VPA 97. Some of the advantages of partial overlapping samples for successive surveys include:
-
It balances the advantages and disadvantages of a completely repeated panel and taking independent samples in the successive period. The former can give information about the changes of variables of interest, but ignores the effect of changes outside the panel. The latter scheme, on the other hands, cannot measure the changes occurred in individual units.
-
By using the same sampling units in the successive survey, there are certain gains in the reduction of the variance since the high degree of correlation between the samples of the periods increases the value of the correlation coefficient, thereby reducing the variance.
In obtaining partial overlapping samples for VPA 2004, the small islands each had 5 new households while for the larger islands, half of the households in each stratum were new households.
A total of 2840 households were sampled from atolls in VPA 2004.
Selection Procedure
Selection of households was done using systematic sampling with a random start. Ideally, the list should have been arranged in a systematic manner with a fixed route (clockwise or counter clockwise) so that samples taken from this ordered list creates implicit strata of each interval.
Replacement Scheme for Panel Households
At first, households in the panel of VPA 97 should be identified in the new list. If all households are found, sampling procedure begins. In cases where "old households" could not be found, different rules of replacement were applied to different scenarios. Details of these rules are found in Technical Note 3: Sampling Design of the Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment 2004 Report.
SAMPLING IN MALE'
Male' has no panel data, i.e., a completely new set of samples was taken in the island.
Selection Procedure
A two-stage self-weighting design was applied. Male' was stratified into 5 wards and selection was made within each ward. At the first stage, enumeration blocks were selected with probability proportional to the size (PPS) of blocks in terms of the number of households. In the second stage, a fixed number of 10 households were using systematic sampling from each selected block. In such a case, the blocks served as the primary sampling units (PSU) while the households, the secondary sampling units (SSU) or simply elements.
A technical document entitled Vulnerability and poverty assessment survey - 2004 Sampling Design discusses in detail the Sampling Design of VPA 2004. It can also be found in Technical Note 3: Sampling Design of the Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment 2004 Report.
Note: Detailed sample design information is provided in the technical document which is presented in this documentation.
Atoll weights
Sampling in atolls is made at single stage using the systematic method. The weight for each island is computed as the total number of households in an island divided by 10.
Male' weights
In Male', the weight for each strata (ward) is computed as the inverse of the probability of selection. At the estimation stage, desgin weight may undergo some changes to adjust the difference of the number of households in the frame and in the actaul list as well as the non-response. Thus these weights can be used as raising factors after necessary adjustments.
For details on the computation of weights, see Technical Note 3: Sampling Design of the Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment 2004 Report.
Survey instrument
Ten questionnaire forms were prepared for VPA 2004 (VPA II). These include:
Form 1. Listing form
Form 2. Structure form
Form 3. Individual Information, Education, Employment, Nuptiality and Fertility
Form 4. Household Form: Living Condition of the Household, Electricity, Availability of Drinking Water, Garbage Disposal, Health Services, Immigration, Crisis, Hardship, Consumer Durables, Travel Abroad, Problems in our Lives, Investment, Perception of Economic Status and Well Being, Voluntary Work of Household Members, Morbidity, Property Transaction, Loans and Credits
Form 5. Measurements of Children under 5 Years
Form 6. Employment and Income
Form 7. Expenditure Diary: Food purchased in bulk, other food items; Locally produced goods (bought, own produced good) and fresh produce; Fish and fish products; Tobacco / chewing products; Furnishing and furnitures, household items; Clothing and footwear; Housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels; Medical and health expenses; Transport and communication; Education; Entertainment and sports; Personal goods/ personal care; Miscellaneous goods and services
Form 8. Crisis and Coping Mechanism
Form 9. Problems in our Daily Lives
Form 10. Island Form
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2004-05-01 | 2004-07-01 |
| Start date | End date |
|---|---|
| 2004-01-01 | 2004-12-31 |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Pemconsult | World Bank under a contract |
In the atolls, the survey for VPA-2 selected for its sample half the households that had been enumerated in 1997/98 - forming the 'panel' - and the other half from the remaining households. In Male', population movements in the intervening seven years had made it unfeasible to locate an acceptable number of households that had been enumerated in the first survey, so a completely new sample was taken.
To supplement the household information, questionnaires were also administered at the community level - concerning physical infrastructure and the availability of social services and economic services.
Data processing
Consistency and plausibility checks were done in the following stages:
-
During data entry: a large number of items were checked for consistency and plausibility. If this process suggested errors, the data entry operators were prompted to cross-check the
information they had entered with that on the forms – reducing the number of data transcription errors to an acceptable level while allowing obvious errors to be corrected at an early stage. Once all the data had been entered, more checks for consistency and errors were carried out until an acceptable level of accuracy was obtained and only limited data gaps remained. This was an iterative process demanding frequent cross-checks with the original forms. -
During analysis: inconsistencies found required adjustments to the database.
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At the time of preparation of the panel data and in a few cases the datasets from the first survey were adjusted to correct for inconsistencies
Data appraisal
Computation of the standard error was made using Balanced repeated replication (BRR) method in Wesvar 32. While estimating standard error fpc (1-f) was ignored. Estimated proportion and mean are given in the confidence interval at the 95% level of precision for which value of t equals 1.96. In complex designs, the variance of estimates can be inflated by the magnitude of design effect (Deff) that occurs due to unequal probability, stratification and clustering. Therefore, estimated value of key variables are presented with the relative standard error (RSE) and Deff.
Overall asssessment of variance for the survey results is made for 3 key variables: headcount ratio, average expenditure per person per day and the average size of households as per survey observation. Since the headcount ratio has signficantly fallen by 2004 and there was a very small number of households observed under the poverty line, the variance was estimated rather for its inverse indicator that is the proportion of population not affected by poverty income.
Details of the estimation of the standard error is found in Technical Note 4: VPA Estimation Procedure of the Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment 2004 report.
Data Access
| Affiliation |
|---|
| Department of National Planning |
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | Confidentiality of respondents is guaranteed by Articles N to NN of the National Statistics Act of [date]. |
The dataset has been anonymized and is available as a Public Use Dataset. It is accessible to all for statistical and research purposes only, under the following terms and conditions:
- The data and other materials will not be redistributed or sold to other individuals, institutions, or organizations without the written agreement of the Department of National Planning.
- The data will be used for statistical and scientific research purposes only. They will be used solely for reporting of aggregated information, and not for investigation of specific individuals or organizations.
- No attempt will be made to re-identify respondents, and no use will be made of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently. Any such discovery would immediately be reported to the Department of National Planning.
- No attempt will be made to produce links among datasets provided by the Department of National Planning, or among data from the Department of National Planning and other datasets that could identify individuals or organizations.
- Any books, articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, reports, or other publications that employ data obtained from the Department of National Planning will cite the source of data in accordance with the Citation Requirement provided with each dataset.
- An electronic copy of all reports and publications based on the requested data will be sent to the Department of National Planning.
The original collector of the data, the Department of National Planning, and the relevant funding agencies bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Maldives Ministry of Planning and National Development. Maldives Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment Survey II 2004. Dataset downloaded from http://www.planning.gov.mv/en/ on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| Department of National Planning | info@planning.gov.mv | http://planning.gov.mv/en/ |
Metadata production
DDI_WB_MDV_2004_VPA_v01_M
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| World Bank, Development Economics Data Group | Generation of DDI documentation |
2011-05-24
Metadata version
Version 1.0: (May 2011)