Building Statistical Capacity UNSD perspective

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Building Statistical CapacityUNSD perspective
Consultation session Statistical
capacity-building in South Asia

• United Nations Statistics Division
• Colombo, 21 July 2008

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Statistics Division Mission
UNSD TCP
National level
International level
Result-based Management and Policy
Decision-making In a Sustainable Manner
Solid Global Statistical System
Strong National Statistical Systems
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UNSD Technical Cooperation (1)

• Long history of successful TCP
• Integral part of the Divisions work programme
• Related to UNSD work on setting international
  statistical standards
• Positive feedback from Member states

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UNSD Technical Cooperation (2)

• Statistical Commission has repeatedly emphasized
  that technical cooperation efforts need to be
• Nationally owned
• Demand driven and tailored to the local needs
• Effectively coordinated among the various
  international donors

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UNSD Technical Cooperation (3)

• Monitoring of MDGs has increased the demand for
  official statistics
• Attention to shortcomings in the availability of
  statistical data
• Urgency for statistical capacity-building efforts

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Sources of assistance to support statistical
development

• Regular programme for technical cooperation
• Interregional Advisers
• Fellowships
• Training workshops
• UN Development Account
• External budgetary projects and trust funds

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Regular Programme for Technical Cooperation

• Interregional advisers
• Environmental-economic accounting
• Population and housing censuses
• Fellowships
• 2007 22 fellowships in the area of Organization
  of NSS, energy, environment, economic statistics,
  MDGs, etc.
• 2008 13 fellowships in the area national
  accounts, IT, informal economy, etc.
• Training workshops
• Workshops about 20 per year for 2007 and 2008
  (planned) in all statistical domains
• Meetings of the UN Expert groups on MDGs, NA,
  Industrial and DTS statistics, Tourism
  statistics, Merchandize statistics,
  Classifications, Population and housing census

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UN Development Account (1)

• Integral part of the technical cooperation
  activities of the economic and social entities of
  the UN under the umbrella of the Executive
  Committee for Economic and Social Affairs
  (EC-ESA)
• DA projects aim at capacity-building through
  sub-regional, regional and interregional economic
  and technical cooperation among developing
  countries
• Projects serve as a natural extension to the
  normative and policy activities of the
  implementing agencies in their follow-up the
  United Nations conferences and summits in
  economic and social affairs
• The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and
  Social Affairs acts as Programme Manager of the
  Account

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UN Development Account (2)

• The General Assembly established that Development
  Account projects should
• Demonstrably strengthen national development
  capacity ensuring project sustainability
• Use information and communications technology
  and networking of expertise
• Use partnerships and South-South cooperation

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UN Development Account (3)

• DA projects sustainability
• Ensured through consistent and proactive
  involvement of stakeholders in project design and
  implementation
• Promoted through the co-financing of pilot
  activities by partners
• Information and communication technologies
• Core of many DA projects because of their
  multiplier potential and adaptability to
  development activities beyond the project scope

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UN Development Account (4)

• Networking
• Importance of building knowledge networks
  supported by information and communications
  technologieswhich allow countries directly to
  access information on good practices
• Capacity-building through networking of local
  expertise offers collaborative opportunities,
  often beyond those originally envisioned by
  project designers
• Can create additional regional and interregional
  links conducive to capacity-building in specific
  fields, thus leading to requests for further
  networking and technical assistance

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UN Development Account (5)

• Partnership and South-South Cooperation
• The DA supports the creation and strengthening of
  development partnerships between the United
  Nations and outside institutions
• 80 of projects are executed by more than one
  entity and often in collaboration with other UN
  entities
• Many projects engage regional organizations and
  local, regional, and/or international
  non-governmental organizations
• All projects emphasize exchange of experience and
  cooperation activities among developing countries
  within and outside the region

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Building Statistical Capacity -the challenges

• Ensuring the availability of necessary statistics
  and indicators for monitoring progress towards
  the Internationally Agreed Development Goals in
  the short-term
• Nationally monitoring reports as important
  advocacy tool for strengthening statistical
  capacity
• Internationally indicators are available to
  promote and inform the debate on MDGs and the
  International Goals
• Developing sustainable statistical systems in
  countries

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Building Statistical Capacity -the way forward

• The responsibility for building national
  statistical capacity primary lies with the
  national governments
• Building and sustain the statistical capacity in
  the long run
• Institutional context
• Human and capital resources
• External support in the form of coordinated
  bilateral or multilateral agreements can make an
  important strategic contribution towards the
  long-run goal
• Temporary in nature
• For highest possible impact should be focused on
  specific achievable objectives
• Sharing of best practices
• Transfer of technical expertise to strengthen the
  knowledge

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• Thank you