In 2022 The World Bank decided to run the Tonga High-Frequency Phone Surveys in a series of six rounds to monitor the socioeconomic effects of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic in the South Pacific region and support an evidence-based response to the crisis. Given the underwater volcano eruption near the coasts of Tonga in January 2022, The World Bank decided to focus the survey first round on the socioeconomic impacts of the eruption and the subsequent tsunami that hit some of the Tongan islands.

The survey’s first round was conducted in April 2022 and interviewed over 2,500 households nationwide, collecting data on livelihoods, loss of household assets, food security, access to public services, and coping strategies. A Random Digit Dialing (RDD) sample of mobile phones was used, covering all numbers under the national phone numbering plan.

Sistemas Integrales Consulting was in charge of the survey design and implementation with the local support of 3SMT.

Data collection was done with TELSIA (Telephone Survey Integrated Application), an all-in-one application for phone surveys using tablets or cell phones, developed by Sistemas Integrales Consulting. TELSIA was used to manage the electronic questionnaire, automatically administer the sample and calls, monitor compliance with rigorous calling protocols, and perform ongoing online supervision.

The Quality Control system over the entire data collection period featured an online dashboard to monitor a set of survey-specific quality indicators based on data and paradata and supervision back-calls to interviewed households.

The survey anonymized final data will be publicly available soon.