Living Standards Measurement Study

The Center for Development Data organizes training courses, thematic workshops on specialized topics, as well as short courses and seminars held at regional statistical training facilities to maximize outreach and impact. 

The Center’s research and capacity development work programs are closely linked to operational activities in client countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle-East and North Africa regions and beyond. 

The Center for Development Data Training Initiative organizes training courses, thematic workshops on specialized topics, as well as short courses and seminars. It relies on technical contributions from its Italian partners (the Bank of Italy, the Institute of Statistics – ISTAT, and the Italian Institute of Health – ISS) as well as from leading global experts, academia and the global statistical community at large.

The Center spearheads a rigorous program of methodological research to improve quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness of  survey data for sustainable development. The Center strides to develop innovative research methods that can be utilized at scale in the context of national survey programs in low- and middle-income countries.

Research results are translated into practical guidance documents for survey practitioners. Topics on which Center’s staff has contributed to producing practical guidebooks include energy; employment, labor and jobs; food consumption; educations; disability and more.

To track responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic impacts in developing countries, the Rome Center has been part of the LSMS effort to conduct high-frequency phone surveys - fielding 66 survey rounds and over  130,00 interviews in the two years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Center's research and capacity building work programs are closely linked to operational and technical activities in client countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle-East and North Africa region and beyond. The Center collaborates with teams across the World Bank Group and with partners in Italy and at the UN’s Rome-based agencies to effectively deliver technical assistance to low- and middle-income countries.  

Experts from the Center have supported the design and implementation of face to face as well as phone surveys over the world.

The Center works closely with the Rome Program on Jobs and Labor Mobility, which dentifies best practices and seeks solutions to create better jobs along the rural-urban border mobility continuum, in agrifood, towns and regions, and across borders. The focus is on low-income households and Africa and the Middle East. Better jobs data are integral to this endeavor, as is the link with operations and policymaking and the broader research community.