Claussen normally works at Statistics Norway, where she is involved in business cycle statistics.
Through her deployment to the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS), she was able to work with entirely different contexts, as the Joint IDP Profiling Service supports different partners in gathering data and producing statistics from refugee and displacement settings all over the world. JIPS often works in contexts where there is little to no access to registers and official numbers, and with a population that is often on the move.
Thinking outside the box
“It was a great learning experience for me as a statistician to work in such a setting. When you have no updated registers from which you can pull out information, you must think outside the box to develop methods that will result in reliable data”, Marte Claussen says.
During her mission, Claussen contributed to planning a household survey on internally displaced people in Ukraine. Among other things, she helped develop the questionnaire and method for sample selection. This also included a visit to Kyiv, to meet and collaborate with project partners, including the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Useful experiences to take home
“I was able to use my competencies from my work at home to a large extent. Although the type of statistics was different from what I usually work with at Statistics Norway, a lot was transferable to the tasks I had at JIPS. At the same time, I’ve learned more about collaborating across technical sectors and cultures, and the challenges of data collection in displacement contexts. These are great experiences that I take home with me”, she says.
Statistics Norway has partnered with NORCAP since 2010 and several experts have been deployed to organisations such as JIPS, UNHCR, UNFPA and WFP on missions lasting from three months to a year. The experts have contributed to strengthening data collection methods, developing statistics and supporting registration of stateless ethnic groups.
