The Government with OPHI assistance has been working on this national MPI since last year. Professionals from different offices and Ministries of the Government have been trained by OPHI. Data for the MPI will be collected by the National Institute of Statistics and the data analyzed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The Ministry of Social Development has led this whole project and acts as coordinator of the Social Cabinet of Panama.

On March 15th, the Social Cabinet approved the dimensions and indicators of the Panama MPI. John Hammock of OPHI was able to be present for both these important meetings that help establish the MPI as an official measure of poverty to complement the existing income measure.