WMO

Social and Economic Benefit Studies

Why should we conduct these?

Gerald FlemingChair, OPAG/PWS

Zagreb, Croatia, Monday, June 29th 2015

WMO - Public Weather Services, WDS

test footer 2

The presentation will cover

Broad types of Socio-Economic Benefit Studies

Target Audiences for Socio-Economic Benefit Studies

Reasons to carry out Socio-Economic Benefit Studies

CBS-Ext.(2014) Asuncion Paraguay 3

Types of Socio-Economic Study Non-Economic types of study

Assessment and/or verification of Service Quality

How Services are taken up be user communities

Customer Satisfaction Surveys Focus Group Interviews

Two-way process of communication Provide a greater understanding of user

experience Can reveal much information on the value, to

users, of Met and Hydro services

4

Types of Socio-Economic Study Non-Economic types of study

Can examine capacity of users to incorporate weather information into decision-making

Can identify “blockages” in the flow of information (and value) from NMHS to end user

Non-Economic methods are an important complement to Economic methods Can provide context and background

Can help improve the design of services to make them more valuable to users.

5

Types of Socio-Economic Study Economic types of study

Can be used to best decide how to allocate scarce resources

Many different types of Economic Study – to be examined in detail during this week

Need to be more than one-off studies

Part of the ongoing effort to improve Service Delivery and strengthen the NMHS

6

Audience for Socio-Economic Study

Who are these aimed at??

Start with the purpose to be met

Who are the Stakeholders??

7

Directly Directly ControlledControlled

Directly Directly ControlledControlled

Departmental Unit Contract Agency Public BodyState-Owned

EnterprisePrivatized Company

Type of task

Own legal personality

Legal Basis

Finances

Control Mechanism

Ministerial Responsibility

Indirectly ControlledIndirectly Controlled

Public Service provision

Public Service provision

Public Service provision

Public Service provision

Public Service provision

No No Yes YesPartially or fully separate

Public law Public law Public law Private law Private law

State budget

State budget; own revenues possible

State budget and own revenues

Own revenues Own revenues

Direct political Framework document

Statutes, law Market Intervention

Regulation

Yes Yes Partial Type of task No

Greater Autonomy

Audience for Socio-Economic Study Governing Decision-Makers

Politicians

Senior Departmental or Finance Officials

Board of Directors

The general public

Communicate through the media

Websites etc

Emergency Management Agencies

9

Audience for Socio-Economic Study NMHS Staff

Most people want to know that their work is valued

Supports and promotes morale

Improves institutional confidence

Raises self-esteem – both personal and corporate

10

Reasons to carry out a Socio-Economic Study

Impetus may come from inside or outside the organisation

Each NMHS will have its own unique set of circumstances

Think about the communication to the target audience before you start!

Framing of the study will have a significant bearing on how useful it is.

11

Reasons to carry out a Socio-Economic Study

1. Validating the basic provision of Meteorological and Hydrological services

a) Demonstrating value to government

b) Assessing how to maximise the total value of Met and Hydro services to the community

2. Validating past investments in specialised Met and Hydro services

a) Was the money well-spent?

12

Reasons to carry out a Socio-Economic Study

3. Justifying new investment in Meteorological and Hydrological services

a) Expansion of observing network

b) New computing facilities

c) Investments in staff (new staff, training etc)

d) New services or activities

13

Reasons to carry out a Socio-Economic Study

4. Determining the value of NMHS services to larger strategic / user goals

a) Safety and security of citizens

b) Food and nutrition

c) Change to patterns of fishing

d) Public health

e) Climate adaptation

14

Reasons to carry out a Socio-Economic Study

5. Reallocation of existing resources

a) What allocation of resources provides the best services to the end-user?

i. Space-based or ground-based observing systems?

ii. Instruments or computers?

iii. Tangible assets or capacity-building (training etc)?

iv. Improvements in forecast quality or forecast presentation?

15

www.wmo.int

Thank you for your attention

Exercise in SEB Study Motivation

What kind of SEB Studies? All current Met/Hydro services provided

Individual or a group of current Met/Hydro services

Possible new Met/Hydro services

17

Exercise in SEB Study Motivation

What kind of Motivations? Validating basic provision of Met/Hydro

services

Validating past investments

Justifying new investments

Determining the value of Met/Hydro services to larger strategic goals

Reallocation of existing resources

18

Exercise in SEB Study Motivation

Participants work in pairs Discuss the type of study that is most

appropriate for your own country

Review the list of reasons for conducting SEB studies and select the more appropriate reason(s) for your own situation.

Develop a statement on the purpose of your study (Objective). You will use this statement in preparing the Concept Note (Exercise 5)

19