Bhutan: Conducts Microdata Outreach Workshop (August 2014)

Bhutan National Statistics Bureau (NSB) organized a Microdata Outreach Workshop in Thimphu on 27-28 August 2014. Participants of the workshop included representatives from six government data producing agencies and nine user organizations from the government, private sector and academic institutions. Three producers presented on their data collection activities and three users presented their data requirements and their experiences in accessing data. NSB presented their data archiving system which currently houses studies from four agencies.

After the presentations the draft microdata dissemination policy prepared by NSB was thoroughly reviewed in a consultative process. The data producers agreed to use the NSB-DAS as the catalog for the national statistical system. Each participating agency will be responsible for their individual collections. The group agreed to have the policy signed by November 2014, the same schedule reflected in Bhutan’s draft NSDS. 

The participants were appreciated greatly this first producer-user meeting. They encouraged NSB to organize similar forums in the future and to include all producing agencies.