Institutional cooperation between National Statistical Institutes

1
Institutional cooperation between National
Statistical Institutes
7.1

• Jan Byfuglien
• Statistics Norway

2
Introduction

• The topic of this contribution will be
• Regional cooperation between NSIs
• Twinning/bilateral cooperation as seen from a NSI

3
International statistical cooperation in
Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics

• Principle 10 - International statistical
  co-operationBilateral and multilateral
  co-operation in statistics contributes to the
  improvement of systems of official statistics in
  all countries.The sharing of information and
  practices, as well as co-operation in the joint
  development of statistical standards,
  international statistical activities etc is an
  essential ingredient for continuous improvement
  of the quality and range of official statistics
  in all countries and the efficiency of their
  production. A lot of this co-operation is
  facilitated by various international activities
  supported by international statistical and other
  agencies and professional associations.Technical
  co-operation , either organized bilaterally
  amongst agencies or organized through
  international organizations and activities, is
  important for the development of the range and
  quality of official statistics in the developing
  countries. Programs and institutions are
  available for statisticians to receive
  statistical training relevant to the production
  of official statistics.

4
Regional cooperation The Nordic cooperation

• History
• Started in 1889 by Norway, Denmark, Sweden.
  Joined by Finland in 1924 and Iceland in 1927.
• A small secretariat in Copenhagen 1969 1996
• Coordinated by the heads of the Nordic NSIs.
  Rotating chair
• Activity
• Annual meetings of the heads
• Open seminars very 3rd year
• Around 40 network groups
• Annual yearbook/statistical database
• Benefits
• Exchange of best practices
• Cooperation on methods and tools
• Harmonization and progress
• Challenges
• The informal structure, small budgets

5
Bilateral cooperation twinning

• Based on experiences from twinning agreements
  between Statistics Norway and National Bureau of
  Statistics, Moldova, and other countries
• Normally based on Norwegian government funding
• Some basic requirements
• Based on specific funding and agreement between
  two (or more) NSIs
• Should be based on a long-term strategy derived
  from Master plan or global assessment?
• Will require clear priorities and an action plan
• Needs continuous follow up and reporting

6
Twinning (cont.

• Responsibilities of receiving NSI
• Analyse the internal situation and formulate
  priorities
• Ensure proper coordination between different
  actors/donors
• Estimate and allocate enough resources for follow
  up
• Prepare good agendas and actions for visits
• Responsibilities of donor NSI
• Supply relevant and necessary expertise
• Take care of reporting and follow up in relation
  to budgetary authorities
• Joint responsibilities
• Formulation of clear and concrete targets
• Follow up and reporting on results

7
The modalities of twinning

• Short term study visits (3-5 days)
• Short term expert consultancies (4-10 days)
• Long term consultancies/resident advisers
• Support of
• seminars/external meetings
• technical infrastructure
• training
• IT software

8
Twinning General issues and challenges

• The need to focus on some strategic issues for
  instance in order to develop general capacity and
  infrastructure and external dissemination and
  trust building
• Lack of organisational and staffing stability on
  both sides?
• External chocks to the system budget cuts,
  relocation, changes in management?
• The balance between long term plans and need for
  flexibility adapting to new requirements
• The need to take into account the long term
  character of the cooperation development takes
  time

9
Benefits of twinning

• For NSI delivering expertise
• Development and motivation of own staff
• Input to own development, better documentation..
• For NSI receiving expertise
• Gets support to adapt to new methods and
  international standards
• Develops its international network and
  capabilities

10
Thanks for your attention!Comments/questions?
Countries with institutional cooperation with
Statistics Norway 2000 2008 (red) and some
minor projects