"Maghreb Workshop on Survey Data Documentation, Archiving and Dissemination Techniques", Gammarth, Tunisia, 26 and 27 May 2010

The "Maghreb Workshop on Survey Data Documentation, Archiving and Dissemination Techniques" was held in Gammarth, Tunisia, on 26 and 27 May 2010. Participants, coming from seven countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine and Tunisia), have discussed standards and tools, and best practices available. The technological, organizational and legal constraints faced by their agencies were also discussed, with a special focus on access to survey microdata.

The participants noted:
1- The importance of the documentation, archiving and dissemination of survey data.
2- The relevance of tools and standards promoted by IHSN / PSA (DDI, DCMI MMtoolkit, NADA).
3- The achievements and progress made by national statistical agencies during the last 2 years (documentation, archiving)
4- Fostering the capacities of national statistical agencies:
- In the implementation of standards and quality control processes (incl. Users monitoring)
- On the anonymization of microdata
- On dissemination (metadata / micro data)

The workshop recommended:
1- The creation of an Arab forum on the subject of the workshop, to facilitate the exchange of good practices and the emergence of a regional network of experts
2- Finalizing the Arabization of the IHSN tools
3- The participation of all countries of the region in the ADP
4- The holding of a technical workshop on the creation of PUFs with the PCBS (Palestine) active participation.
5- The continuation of the documentation and archiving work within the national statistical offices and ministerial cells, with the support of ADP if necessary
6- Dissemination of metadata on the websites of national statistical offices.
7- The establishment of policy and procedures for disseminating microdata within the national statistical offices, in accordance with national laws.
8- The integration of the documentation, archiving and dissemination activities in the regular budgets of the national statistical offices, or in the surveys’ budgets.
9- Continue the maintenance and development of IHSN/ADP tools (promoting open source)
10- Finish the IHSN’s Microdata anonymization tools, and provide the necessary support to national statistical offices in this regard.
11. Prepare a guide containing the best practices for the documentation process.

Documents and materials produced for the workshop are available from the Tunisian INS website: http://www.ins.nat.tn/seminaires/atelier_archivage_documentation2010/CD/...