Last Updated: April 30, 2018
In January 2007, the JamStats Secretariat was created to drive the process of the Institutionalization of DevInfo in Jamaica. The Secretariat, which is housed at the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), is charged with: strengthening of the JamStats Database in terms of content to include strategically important social and economic indicators, the routine updating of the database; as well as providing internet access to the database by establishing a website. The JamStats website was created and launched in 2008, along with the 2008 database and the Ministry of Education’s (EduStats) database.
The first JamStats database was create in 2002 as a national adaptation of the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) ChildInfo software. Since then, several updated versions have been release, using the successor to the ChildInfo software, DevInfo. The JamStats database currently uses DevInfo 7.0.
One of the major undertakings of the Secretariat has been to map indicators by commitment and/or framework. In doing so, JamStats has become an indispensable source of data, and DevInfo reliable data management software for data producers. JamStats has also positioned itself to play a key role in harmonizing national data collection and dissemination.
The Secretariat has carried out several sessions with key stakeholders to sensitize and increase public awareness. JamStats CDs, as well as other promotional and advocacy material, have been an instrumental aspect of public advocacy. These items have been disseminated in schools, public libraries, and at various promotional/institutional events. Training and capacity building are also important to achieving the Secretariat’s objectives. To this end, the Secretariat conducts and facilitates ongoing training sessions, mainly with public sector staff. So far a number of persons in the public sector and academia have been trained to be database administrators and users.
The introduction of the website and online databases truly allows us to operate in the local and international spaces thus fulfilling our vision: "To establish JamStats as a reliable and current data source for Jamaica, both locally and internationally."