Informal Sector Enterprise Survey 2023
Central African Republic, 2022 - 2023
Get MicrodataIdentification
CAF_2023_ISES_v01_M
Informal Sector Enterprise Survey 2023
ISES 2023
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Central African Republic | CAF |
Enterprise Survey [en/oth]
The Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys are products of the Enterprise Analysis Unit that measures the characteristics and activities of unregistered businesses. These informal businesses are everywhere in the world, though they are almost always missing from official records, listings of active businesses, or business-level surveys. The Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys are rigorous surveys that use an adaptive, geographically based sampling method to fill this data gap.
The 2023 Central African Republic Informal Sector Enterprise Survey was conducted by the World Bank Group's (WBG) Enterprise Analysis Unit (DECEA) in several cities in the Central African Republic. The survey covers the following cities: Bangui and Berberati. The fieldwork was implemented by TNS RMS Senegal partnership with a sub-contractor company named Pongsong Research Consulting (PORECO) S.A.R.L., and the data was collected between December 2022 and May 2023.
The primary objectives of the Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys are to: i) understand demographics of the informal sector in the covered cities, ii) describe the environment within which these businesses operate, and iii) enable data analysis based on the samples that are representative at each city level.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Informal business
Scope
The 2023 Central African Republic Informal Sector Enterprise Survey covered the following topics:
- Listing
- General information of a business
- Location and infrastructure
- Sales and supplies
- Business practices
- Finance
- Labor
- Registration
- Assets
Coverage
Cities in the Central African Republic: Bangui and Berberati
The Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys cover all informal businesses within a well-defined geographic area, typically a city. All eligible businesses are considered as forming the universe of inference for the survey. Informality is defined as all businesses that are not legally registered with the government and, therefore, are excluded from taxation. The exact details of these criteria vary by country. For the 2023 Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys in cities in the Central African Republic, a business is considered informal if it is not registered with the Guichet Unique de formalité des Entreprises (GUFE). Thus, the universe of the survey includes all businesses that meet the above definition of informality, including all sectors of activity of any size. The universe excludes, however, any illicit or illegal activity.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank Group (WBG) |
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| World Bank Group | WBG |
Sampling
A challenge to conducting a representative survey of informal sector businesses is the lack of a proper sampling frame since these businesses are not registered and, therefore, they are almost always absent from official registries or any other potential sampling frame. The Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys follow an area-based sampling methodology. Each city is overlayed with a spatial grid, dividing the area into squares of equal size.1 In the case of the 2023 Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys in cities in the Central African Republic, these squares measured 150 meters by 150 meters. This spatial grid is prepared using GIS software. Often, the boundaries of the city match a set of administrative boundaries.
Note: Detailed sampling methodology can be found on the Enterprise Surveys website under the Informal Businesses section, Methodology page (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/informal-businesses/methodology).
To estimate population parameters, weights are applied to survey samples. In survey designs following standard SRS, the selection probability of all units is known before the actual data collection. Hence, weights can be derived as the inverse of the probability of selection. A similar process is followed for ACS, with the probability of selection (within stratum) adjusted to account for the adaptive selection process.
Note: Refer to Sampling Weight section in "The Informal Sector Enterprise Surveys in Cities in the Central African Republic, 2023" document for further details on sampling weights.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2022-12 | 2023-05 |
- Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]
This survey was fully implemented using the World Bank’s Survey Solutions CAPI software. The selection for interviews was conducted in the field and in real-time, via a random algorithm programmed in the CAPI so that enumerators do not have control over who gets selected. A detailed monitoring protocol was put in place during the data collection to ensure the integrity of the fieldwork and methodology. In addition to supervision through assigned supervisors, every enumerator records his/her path using a tracking software (Oruxmaps) installed on all CAPI tablets. Enumerators submit captured paths to a centralized server at the end of the enumeration of every block. This tracking path is checked to ensure that enumerators have fully covered the block assigned to them. This quality check was done at high frequency. In cases where the tracking path indicated a lower than acceptable level of effort in listing informal business, the enumerator was asked to re-survey the block.
Data Access
The use of this dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the identification of the Primary Investigator (including country name)
- the full title of the survey and its acronym (when available), and the year(s) of implementation
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download (for datasets disseminated online).
Example:
The World Bank Group. Central African Republic - Informal Sector Enterprise Survey (ISES) 2023, Ref. CAF_2023_ISES_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Analysis Unit | World Bank Group | enterprisesurveys@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_CAF_2023_ISES_v01_M_WB
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development Data Group | DECDG | World Bank | Documentation of the survey |
2025-01-28
Metadata version
Version 01 (January 2025)
2025-01-28