Ghana Living Standards Survey GLSS 8 Overview

The Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS)

• The eighth round of the nationwide household survey, GLSS 8, will span twelve months from August 2024 to July 2025.
• Data will be used for a Poverty Profile Report, as well as reports on education, health, economic activity, housing, non-farm enterprises, and household consumption and expenditure.

GLSS 8 Objectives

• The survey aims to gather data to examine socio-economic conditions and track progress toward national development goals, including the Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Specific objectives include estimating monetary and non-monetary poverty, identifying new weights for consumer items to re-base consumer price index, and assessing health status, literacy levels, and housing conditions.

GLSS 8 Modules

• The survey will cover a wide range of topics, including demographics, education, health, economic activity, migration, ICT, mortality, housing, household agriculture, income, consumption, expenditure, food and water security, non-farm enterprises, savings, assets, credit, insurance, investment, governance, peace, security, and gender and assets ownership.

GLSS 8 Field Officers Responsibilities

• Interviewers are expected to use the provided manual as a reference material to ensure the accuracy and quality of data collection.
• They must be conscientious and honest and report any doubts or uncertainties to their Field Supervisor.

The Project Directorate

• Comprised of the Government Statistician, who is the National Project Director, and the Deputy Government Statistician, who serves as the Project Technical Director. Other members include the Project Implementation Team (PIT) and the GLSS 8 Secretariat staff.

GLSS 8 Ethical Guidelines for Field Officers

• Field Officers are required to treat all respondents, particularly children, with dignity and respect and obtain consent from both the child and their parent/guardian before conducting interviews.
• They must avoid any form of stigma, discrimination, or leading questions, and refrain from offering gifts or carrying children during interviews.
• Field officers must ensure that conversations avoid politics or religion, and they must not disclose any information received during their duties to unauthorized individuals.

Field Supervisors Responsibilities

• Field Supervisors are responsible for all clusters assigned to them and have specific roles before, during, and after fieldwork. Responsibilities include: collecting necessary materials, developing an itinerary, identifying the boundaries of assigned clusters, assigning households to interviewers, ensuring the interviewers adhere to the survey protocols, monitoring data collection and quality, and providing support and guidance to the team.

GLSS 8: Child Protection Policy

• The survey acknowledges the importance of child protection and outlines specific guidelines to ensure their safety and well-being during data collection.

Field Officer Ethics and Rules

• Field officers must ensure that all Field Officers engage in acts consistent with the child protection policy of Ghana.
• Specific instructions include treating every child with dignity and respect, interviewing only children who have been pre-selected, obtaining consent from both the child and their parent/guardian, and avoiding any form of stigma or discrimination against children. Field officers must also refrain from offering gifts or carrying children.