A national training workshop focused on National Inclusion Accounts (NIA) was held in Kingston, Jamaica from February 24-28, 2025. This event was organized by CELADE - ECLAC Population Division, in collaboration with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and UNFPA. The main objective of the workshop was to strengthen national technical capacity to produce National Inclusion Accounts (NIA) and to analyze the impacts of population aging on inclusive and sustainable economic growth, as well as its subsequent application in public policy.
The national workshop on National Inclusion Accounts is part of the activities of the United Nations Development Account (15th Tranche) “Inclusive and sustainable economic growth in a society for all ages in the post-COVID-19 era in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean”, whose objective is to enhance the capacity of governments to develop evidence-based, intergenerational policies for inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the context of population ageing. This project is coordinated at the global level by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and in Latin America and the Caribbean by CELADE - ECLAC Population Division. The Latin American and Caribbean countries selected for the project are Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Uruguay.
During the workshop, the Jamaican national technical team was introduced to the framework and methodology of the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) and the National Inclusion Accounts (NIA). In addition, they were trained in estimating the National Inclusion Accounts (NIA) using real data and in promoting the use of these accounts through different disaggregations, such as education level, income level and family structure. This disaggregation is crucial to address the objectives of inclusion and sustainability in the context of high inequality and population aging.
The training workshop opened with welcomes from Simone Cecchini, Director of CELADE - ECLAC Population Division, Andre Richards, UNFPA Liaison Officer for Jamaica, and Easton Williams, Senior Director of the Social Policy Planning and Research Division of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).
Throughout the sessions, Iván Mejía, Consultant at CELADE - ECLAC Population Division, and Raúl Holz, also from CELADE - ECLAC Population Division, presented the general concepts and methodology of the National Inclusion Accounts (NIA) and their disaggregations by educational level, income level and household structure. Practical sessions and account processing exercises were also conducted. During the last two days of the training, the national team worked on producing the National Inclusion Accounts (NIA) for Jamaica.
