In 2001, the World Bank in co-operation with the Republika Srpska Institute for Statistics (RSIS), the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) and the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHAS), carried out a Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS). The Living Standard Measurement Survey LSMS, in addition to collecting the information necessary to obtain a comprehensive as possible measure of the basic dimensions of household living standards, has three basic objectives, as follows: 1. To provide the public sector, government, the business community, scientific institutions, international donor organizations and social organizations with information on different indicators of the population's living conditions, as well as on available resources for satisfying basic needs. 2. To provide information for the evaluation of the results of different forms of government policy and programs developed with the aim to improve the population's living standard. The survey will enable the analysis of the relations between and among different aspects of living standards (housing, consumption, education, health, labor) at a given time, as well as within a household. 3. To provide key contributions for development of government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, based on analyzed data. The Department for International Development, UK (DFID) contributed funding to the LSMS and is also providing funding for a further two years of data collection for a panel survey, to be known as the Household Survey Panel Series (HSPS). Birks Sinclair & Associates Ltd. are responsible for the management of the HSPS with technical advice and support being provided by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex, UK. The aim of the panel survey is to provide longitudinal data through re-interviewing approximately half the LSMS respondents for two years following the LSMS, in the autumn of 2002 and again in 2003. The LSMS constitutes wave 1 of the panel survey so there will be three years of panel data available for analysis under current funding plans. For the purposes of this document we are using the following convention to describe the different rounds of the panel survey: Wave 1 LSMS conducted in 2001 forms the baseline survey for the panel Wave 2 Second interview of 50% of LSMS respondents in Autumn/Winter 2002 Wave 3 Third interview with sub-sample respondents in Autumn/Winter 2003 The panel data will allow the analysis of key transitions and events over this period such as labour market or geographical mobility and observe the consequent outcomes for the well-being of individuals and households in the survey. The panel data will provide information on income and labour market dynamics within FBiH and RS. A key policy area is developing strategies for the reduction of poverty within FBiH and RS. The panel will provide information on the extent to which continuous poverty is experienced by different types of households and individuals over the three year period. And most importantly, the co-variates associated with moves into and out of poverty and the relative risks of poverty for different people can be assessed. As such, the panel aims to provide data, which will inform the policy debates within FBiH and RS at a time of social reform and rapid change.
