DR living standards measurement The IDF funds will be used to contribute to an institutional innovation already started by the Government. The Government is committed to create a national (and international) consensus on the measurement of the level and trends of poverty in the Dominican Republic. To achieve this objective it has started a process that involves three main actors in the production, monitoring and evaluation of poverty in the country: the National Statistical Office (Oficina Nacional de EstadÃ­stica), the Central Bank and the Secretary of Economy, Planning and Development (SecretarÃ­a de Estado de EconomÃ­a, PlanificaciÃ³n y Desarrollo). The Government has already established an inter-institutional committee and has begun inviting multilateral organizations to participate (ECLAC, UNDP, WB amongst others); besides, it has financed a new household survey which has already been completed and it is in its stages of final processing. The IDF will be used to support this complex process of institutional reform in the forms described below: 1) Strengthening the technical and inter-institutional committees for poverty assessments The objective (clearly stated by the Government) is to create national (an international) consensus on the measurement of poverty levels and trends in this country. The IDF will support these activities by financing  national and international consultants. These will work on the design and work-plan of both technical and institutional committees in charge of production and dissemination of official poverty and inequality figures. 2) Supporting the process of establishing poverty lines and poverty measures. The IDF will be used to finance international consultants whose main task will be to transfer capacity to the DR Government about the different methodologies used to build consumption baskets (Food and Non-Food, basic needs), from which poverty lines can be estimated. In a first phase, the consultant will draft a report describing the methodology used to estimate poverty statistics in the DR in the last decade, comparing it to international experiences and including recommendations for both the inter-institutional and the technical committees (see 3 below). In a second phase, the consultant will participate in the meetings of the committees to support the implementation of the recommendations and to draft a final report on the methodology adopted for the DR. In all this work the consultants will work in coordination with the World Bank team of experts (lead by the TTL). 3) Developing analytical capacity for assessing both the recent trends of the poverty statistics and the poverty and income distribution impacts of structural and macro economic policies. The IDF will be used to finance a group of local and international consultants who will initially work on an exhaustive evaluation of the comparability of the various household surveys available in the country. The consultants will then draft a report on these issues of comparability and provide recommendation to the inter-institutional committee. In parallel, and responding to the Government's request of enhancing its Monitoring and Evaluation capacity, the consultants will identify best practice methods to assess poverty and income distribution effects of macro economic policies. The consultants will also produce a report with an application of these methods to a specific reform case. The development objective of this grant is to build capacity of the National Statistical Office (Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas - ONE), the Secretary of Economy, Planning and Development # SEEPyD, and the Inter-institutional Technical Committee for the Income and Expenditures Survey (made up of ONE, the Central Bank and the SEEPyD) to coordinate, manage and implement updated official poverty measures and welfare studies. This should increase the effectiveness of social policies via improved monitoring and evaluation systems. More specifically, the Grant will support the creation of formal institutional arrangements that provide reliable, comprehensive and regular measures of living standards, particularly for gauging poverty, inequality and welfare.