The work programme for STEP includes a number of trainings, study visits, workshops/seminars, pilot surveys, regional publication, virtual groups and technical assistance missions. The mix of proposed activities is carefully balanced based on consultations with the partner countries during the first six months of the programme.
Most activities are programmed at regional level which means they include all six partner countries. STEP is a regional programme fostering regional coherence and building networks among the participants at a personal and institutional level. Both representatives from the national statistical institute and other producers of official statistics such as central banks and line ministries are invited to the activities when relevant.
As a starting point, most activities will be offered to all countries, but some countries may choose not to participate for various reasons, for example financial reasons or because they participate in other projects in that statistical area. In addition, some of the activities may only be relevant to some of the countries either because they have a different level of political association with the EU or because the countries choose not to focus on these topics at this stage. A sub-regional approach may be chosen if it is not possible to find a level for the activity that suits all countries. This could be the case for the training in statistical software (R and STATA) as some countries have already started implementing these software packages while other countries are at the beginning. All technical assistance missions will be at national level.
The Work Programme is developed along 4 components:
