2019 paris21 board meeting...caricom ms philomen harrison director, regional statistics 31/03/2020...

2019 PARIS21BOARD MEETING

3 April 2019

OECD Boulogne Conference Centre

OECD Boulogne Conference Centre

Room: BB1 46 Quai Alphonse le Gallo

92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Document package for the 2019 PARIS21 Board Meeting

Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21)

2 | PARIS21 Annual Meetings 2019

LIST OF DOCUMENTS

4 | List of Documents

2019 PARIS21 Board Meeting | 5

LIST OF DOCUMENTS

# DOCUMENT TITLE STATUS PAGE

I Board Membership & Terms of Reference For Information 7

II Executive Committee Membership & Terms of Reference For Information 15

III Annual PARIS21 Progress Report (2018) For Information 19

IV Secretariat Programme of Work & Budget (2019) For Approval 49

V e-PRESS: the Partner Planning Tool on Support to Statistics For Approval 71

VI Update: PARIS21 Governance arrangements For Approval 75

VII Update: PARIS21 Foundation For Information 79

VIII Update: NSDS Guidelines For Information 83

IX Appendix I: Financial Statement of the PARIS21 Secretariat (2018)

For Information 87

* Notes 93

6 | List of Documents

I

BOARD MEMBERSHIP & TERMS OF REFERENCE

8 | Board Membership & Terms of Reference


I. PARIS21 Board Membership: 2018-2020

# Representing1 Member Title Mandate Expiry Date

1. Developing Country

West Africa Mr Osvaldo Rui Monteiro dos Reis Borges (Cabo Verde)

Director General, National Statistics Institute

31/03/2020


East Africa Mr Abdirahman Omar Dahir (Somalia)

Director General, Department of Statistics

31/03/2020


Central Africa Ms Elsa Maria Da Costa Cardoso Cassandra (São Tomé and Príncipe)

Director General, National Institute of Statistics

31/03/2020


North Africa Mr Abdella Zidan Amhemad Allag (Libya)

Chairman, Bureau of Statistics and Census

31/03/2020


Southern Africa

Mr Maluleke Risenga (South Africa)

Statistician-General and Head of Statistics, Statistics South Africa

31/03/2020


Western Asia Mr Qasem Alzoubi (Jordan)

Director General, Department of Statistics

31/03/2020


Southern Asia Ms Aishath Shahuda (Maldives)

Chief Statistician, National Bureau of Statistics

31/03/2020


East Asia & Pacific

Ms Ariunzaya Ayush (Mongolia)

Chairwoman, National Statistical Office

31/03/2020


South East Asia

Ms Lisa Bersales (Philippines)

National Statistician, Phillipine Statistics Authority

31/03/2020


Central America

Ms Alexandra Izquierdo Méndez (Dominican Republic)

General Director, National Statistics Office

31/03/2020


Caribbean Mr Iwan A. Sno (Suriname)

Director, General Bureau of. Statistics

31/03/2020


South America Mr Santiago Frajat Bascon (Bolivia)

Director General, National Institute of Statistics

31/03/2020


Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Mr Akylbek Sultanov (Kyrgyzstan)

Chairman, National Statistics Committee

31/03/2020

14. Regional Banks

African Development Bank

Mr Charles Lufumpa Director, Statistics Department

31/03/2020

15. Regional Bank

Asian Development Bank

Mr Kaushal Joshi Principal Statistician, Development Economics and Indicators Division

31/03/2020

1 Developing countries represented in each seat are defined below.


16. Regional Bank

Inter-American Development Bank

Ms Lea Gimenez Chief, Institutional Capacity of the State Division

31/03/2020

17. Regional Bank

Islamic Development Bank

Mr Areef Suleman

Director, Economic Research and Institutional Learning Department

31/03/2020

18. Regional Bank

Caribbean Development Bank

Mr Justin Ram Director, Economics Department

31/03/2020

19. Regional Commission

UNECA Mr Oliver Chinganya Director, African Centre for Statistics

31/03/2020


UNESCAP Ms Gemma Van Haldern Director, Statistics Division

31/03/2020


UNECLAC Mr Xavier Mancero Director, Statistics Division

31/03/2020


UNESCWA Mr Juraj Riecan Director, Statistics Division

31/03/2020


UNECE Mr Steven Vale Senior Statistician 31/03/2020

24. Regional Institution

AFRISTAT Mr Cosme Vodounou Director General 31/03/2020


ASEAN Mr Puguh Irawan Senior Officer, Statistics Division

31/03/2020


CARICOM Ms Philomen Harrison Director, Regional Statistics

31/03/2020


SPC Ms Ofa Ketu'u Director, Statistics for Development Division

31/03/2020


AUC Ms Leila Ben Ali Head, Statistics Division

31/03/2020


CAN Mr José Antonio Arróspide

Director General 31/03/2020


COMESA Ms Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe

Secretary General 31/03/2020

31. Donor Country

Canada

Mr Alexander McGill Senior Project Officer, Global Affairs Canada

31/03/2020 Ms Jackey Mayda

Director, International Coooperation, Statistics Canada

32. Donor Country

Germany Mr Gottfried von Gemmingen

Head of Division 300, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

31/03/2020


Mr Thomas Wollnik Head of P4R Programme, German Development Cooperation (GIZ)

33. Donor Country

France

Mr Jean-Francois Almanza

Head of Governance Division, French Development Agency

31/03/2020

Mr Jonathan Thebault

Economist/Statistician in charge of ODA, Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, France

34. Donor Country

Korea Mr Kido Seong Director, International Cooperation Division, Statistics Korea

31/03/2020

35. Donor Country

Norway Mr Jon Lomoy Director General, Norad

31/03/2020 Ms Ellen Kiosterud

Senior Advisor, Statistics Norway

36. Donor Country

Italy Ms Marina Gandolfo

Head of Division for International Affairs, National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)

31/03/2020

37. Donor Country

Switzerland

Mr Christoph Lang

Deputy Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

31/03/2020 Ms Miryam Rordorf Duvaux

Head of Statistics Unit, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Mr Benjamin Rothen

Deputy Head, International Affairs Unit, Swiss Federal Statistical Office

38. Donor Country

United Kingdom

Mr Neil Jackson

Chief Statistician, Department for International Development (DfID) 31/03/2020

Ms Kerstin Hinds Senior Statistics Adviser, DfID

39. Multilateral FAO Mr Pietro Gennari Chief Statistician 31/03/2020

40. Multilateral UNDP Mr Pedro Conceicao Director, Strategic Policy

31/03/2020

41. Multilateral UIS UNESCO Ms Silvia Montoya Director 31/03/2020


42. Multilateral UN Women Mr Papa Seck Chief Statistician 31/03/2020

43. Multilateral UNICEF Mr Mark Hereward Associate Director, Data & Analytics

31/03/2020

44. Multilateral Eurostat Ms Mariana Kotzeva Director General Standing Member

45. Multilateral IMF Mr Louis Marc Ducharme Director, Statistics Department

Standing Member

46. Multilateral OECD Ms Martine Durand Chief Statistician and Director, Statistics and Data Directorate

Standing Member

47. Multilateral UNSD Mr Stefan Schweinfest Director, Statistics Division

Standing Member

48. Multilateral World Bank Ms Haishan Fu Director, Development Data Group

Standing Member

49.

Foundation/ NGO / Private Sector

Open Data Watch

Ms Shaida Badiee Co-Founder and Managing Director

31/03/2020

50.


CEPEI Mr Philipp Schönrock Director 31/03/2020

51.


Flowminder Mr Erik Wetter Chairman 31/03/2020

52.


Royal Statistical Society

Mr Graham Eele Member 31/03/2020

53.


World Data Lab

Mr Kristofer Hamel Senior Financial and Operational Adviser, WDL Vienna

31/03/2020

54. Ex Officio PARIS21 Secretariat

Mr Johannes Jütting Manager Standing Member


Country Groupings

Board Seat Countries Represented

West Africa Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

East Africa Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

Central Africa Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe

North Africa Algeria, Egypt, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sahrawi Republic, Tunisia

Southern Africa Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Western Asia Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Yemen

Southern Asia Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Eastern Asia & Pacific

Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Korea DPR, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

South-eastern Asia Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam

Caribbean Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago

Central America Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama

South America Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine

Note:

1) The grouping of countries is based on the United Nations Classification except for Africa where the Classification of the

African Union Commission is used.

2) Suriname has been moved from South America to the Caribbean based on its adhesion to the Caribbean Community

3) The Dominican Republic has been moved from the Caribbean to Central America based on its membership in SICA.

4) CIS grouping has been replaced by Central Asia.

5) IDA and OECD countries have been removed.


PARIS21 Board Members 2018-2020: Terms of Reference Board members have a responsibility to oversee the design and implementation of PARIS21’s work. They are expected to be ‘champions’ of the aims of PARIS21 and advocate for and publicise PARIS21 activities within their constituencies. They will consult and report back to their constituencies about Board discussions and the work of PARIS21 more broadly.

The Board meets once a year to discuss general issues relating to the development and use of statistics, to review the strategic direction of PARIS21 and to review the medium-term operational work programme of the Secretariat, including the work of Task Teams and special initiatives. In particular, the Board is responsible for:

Setting the strategic direction for PARIS21 and advising on how it is organised and co-ordinated based on expertise and experience

Reviewing the work of PARIS21 as a whole and advising on priorities for future action

Championing the aims of PARIS21 and advocating for and publicising PARIS21 activities within

constituencies, including sharing outcomes of PARIS21 meetings and activities

Using influence to advocate for the allocation of adequate resources both for the better

availability and use of statistics in development and for PARIS21 activities

Reviewing and advising on the Secretariat’s medium-term work programme, which includes

the work of Task Teams and special initiatives

Participating in Task Teams on various issues, on a voluntary basis

Reviewing and providing inputs into the terms of reference and reports of the periodic

evaluations of PARIS21

Providing overall guidance to the Secretariat when appropriate

Developing countries’ representation on the Board is determined by (sub) regional groupings. Developing country representatives are therefore expected to consult other countries in the (sub) regions, speak on their behalf and report back regarding any major developments of PARIS21.

II

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP & TERMS OF REFERENCE

16 | Executive Committee Members & Terms of Refernce


II. PARIS21 Executive Commmittee Members: 2018-2020

# Representing Member Title Mandate Expiry Date


South Africa Mr Maluleke Risenga Statistician-General and Head of Statistics, Statistics South Africa

31/03/2020


Philippines Ms Lisa Bersales National Statistician, Phillipine Statistics Authority

31/03/2020

3. Bilateral Donor

United Kingdom

Mr Neil Jackson

Chief Statistician, Department for International Development (DfID)

31/03/2020

4. Bilateral Donor

Canada Ms Jackey Mayda

Director, Statistics Canada

31/03/2020 Mr Alexander McGill

Senior Project Officer, Global Affairs Canada

5. Multilateral European Commission/ Eurostat

Ms Mariana Kotzeva Director General Standing Member

6. Multilateral IMF Mr Louis Marc Ducharme Director, Statistics Department

Standing Member

7. Multilateral OECD Ms Martine Durand Chief Statistician Standing Member

8. Multilateral UNSD Mr Stefan Schweinfest Director, Statistics Division

Standing Member

9. Multilateral World Bank Ms Haishan Fu Director, Development Data Group

Standing Member

10. ex officio PARIS21 Secretariat

Mr Johannes Jütting Manager Standing Member

18 | Executive Committee Members & Terms of Refernce

Executive Committee Members: Terms of Reference Between Board meetings the activities of the Partnership and Secretariat are guided and monitored by an Executive Committee with a small number of members selected by the Board. Where required, the Executive Committee may set up Task Teams to carry out specific tasks or to deliver specific outputs. The role of the Executive Committee is to provide an accountability mechanism and guidance to the ongoing work of the Secretariat. In particular, it provides a policy direction to activities and is a decision-making body when required. Preference is generally given to decision-making by consensus, but if a vote is required, each member has one vote, decisions being made by a simple majority. The specific roles of the Executive Committee are:

Championing the aims of PARIS21 and advocating for and publicising PARIS21 activities within

their constituencies, including the sharing of outcomes from PARIS21 meetings and activities

where relevant

Using their influence to advocate for the allocation of adequate resources both for the better

availability and use of statistics in development generally and for PARIS21 activities in

particular

Monitoring progress of the regular work programme of the Secretariat and reviewing the

progress of Special Initiatives from time to time, subject to the special arrangements put in

place for each such programme

Reviewing and approving annual work programmes and budgets, annual reports and other

important documents as required

Reviewing and approving the agenda and papers for the annual Board meetings

Reviewing the Secretariat’s budget situation on a regular basis

Briefing and engaging with the Board throughout the year as necessary, to ensure effective

consultation on key operational and administrative issues as they arise

Participating in the appointment of the Manager of the PARIS21 Secretariat when required and

in line with OECD arrangements

Reviewing nominations for new Board members

Communicating reports and decisions to the Board

Contributing to fundraising efforts for the Secretariat

III

ANNUAL PARIS21 PROGRESS REPORT (2018)

20 | Annual PARIS21 Progress Report (2018)


III. PROGRESS REPORT: 2018

Point for Information

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS ................................................................................................................................... 22

1. KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND INNOVATION INCUBATOR ............................................................................. 24

1.1 IMPROVING NSS EFFICIENCY ...................................................................................................................... 24 1.2 INTEGRATING INNOVATION IN OFFICIAL STATISTICS.................................................................................. 25 1.3 GUIDELINES/BEST PRACTICES ISSUED ......................................................................................................... 26

2. ADVOCACY ................................................................................................................................................. 29

2.1 ENGAGING WITH NEW ACTORS .................................................................................................................. 29 2.2 MAKING DATA AVAILABLE AND UNDERSTANDABLE ................................................................................... 30 2.3 GLOBAL ADVOCACY .................................................................................................................................... 30 2.4 PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL FORA...................................................... 34

3. CO-ORDINATION & MONITORING .............................................................................................................. 37

3.1 NSS PEER REVIEWS ..................................................................................................................................... 37 3.2 NSDS/RSDS ................................................................................................................................................. 37 3.3 NSDS STATUS .............................................................................................................................................. 39 3.3 GLOBAL MONITORING ................................................................................................................................ 39 3.4 SDG READINESS .......................................................................................................................................... 40 3.5 COUNTRY REPORT ON SUPPORT TO STATISTICS ......................................................................................... 40 3.6 PARTNER REPORT ON SUPPORT TO STATISTICS .......................................................................................... 40 3.7 STAKEHOLDER CO-ORDINATION ................................................................................................................. 41 3.8 LOGFRAME: PARTNERSHIP PROGRESS ....................................................................................................... 42

4. TECHNICAL SUPPORT ................................................................................................................................. 45

4.1 IMPROVE DATA ACCESS .............................................................................................................................. 45 4.2 SUPPORT TO STATISTICAL LAWS ................................................................................................................. 45

5. PARTNERSHIPS ........................................................................................................................................... 46

6. OVERALL MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................................... 47

6.1 WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA ..................................................................................................................... 47 6.2 PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIALS .................................................................................................. 48 6.3 PARIS21 BULLETIN, NEWS FLASHES AND BLOGS ......................................................................................... 48


Reporting period: 2018

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS

This progress report outlines the Secretariat activities in 2018 and is structured around the four pillars of PARIS21’s 2016-2020 Strategy: Knowledge Sharing and Innovation Incubator, Advocacy, Co-ordination and Monitoring and Technical Support. While the activities outlined below refer to those completed by the Secretariat, the outputs are the fruits of partnership efforts and close collaboration with various entities. National statistical offices (NSOs) and other actors within the national statistical systems (NSSs) remain the main partners of PARIS21’s work, in collaboration with others such as regional institutions, development banks, commissions and institutions, bilateral donors, multilateral organisations, foundations, and the private sector.

FIGURE 1: Breakdown of PARIS21 activities by

region, 2018 (as % of total activities)

Over the last three years, the most pronounced trend has been the increase in

the global activities from 9% in 2014 to 49% in 2018 (Figure 1). While the budget has remained stable, this increase in global activities is largely due to a number of global discussions and initiatives on statistics. These include the adoption of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the increase in global working groups; the involvement with the High Level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development (HLG-PCCB); the launch of new tools such as ADAPT (Advanced Data Planning Tool); and the work on the Statistical Capacity Outlook and Monitor.

The majority of PARIS21’s country and regional activities benefitted African countries, accounting for 23% of all activities in 2018 (Figure 1). Engagement in the Asia and Pacific region stood at 19% in 2018, while about 9% of activities were conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean. These shares reflect the global reach of PARIS21’s support to statistics (Figure 2).

The Secretariat recognises the importance of continuously and sustainably building the capacities of statistical institutions and learning from their good practices for replication in other countries. The strategy aims to create synergies among various activities so as to increase impact and value-added in countries. To achieve this, a number of activities have been launched in the same country. For instance, in Zambia the

Africa23%

Asia and Pacifc19%

Global49%

LAC9%

Global outreach

Directly engaged with 29 countries

Reached 63 countries through national and regional activities

Supported 8 fragile states and 12 small island developing states (SIDS)


Secretariat ran a training course on statistical data and metadata exchange (SDMX) and led the final evaluation of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics, to be followed by the preparation of the new one. It also organised an SDMX training in Ghana and helped the country to design a communications strategy, thereby providing a strong basis for better sharing of data. Working towards better-functioning national statistical systems (NSSs), ADAPT helps to

bring statistics and policy and planning closer through collaboration between NSOs and government planning agencies, who are now direct users of ADAPT in a number of countries, such as Bhutan (Gross National Happiness Commission) and Mongolia (National Development Agency).

FIGURE 2: Location of PARIS21’s activities in 2018


1. KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND INNOVATION INCUBATOR

1.1 IMPROVING NSS EFFICIENCY

PARIS21 is committed to strengthening statistical institutions and improving the efficiency of national statistical sytems in responding to increasing data demand. In 2018, the Secretariat continued its focus on strengthening soft skills in NSOs, in particular building the managerial and leadership capacity of heads of NSOs to lead and guide the co-ordination of their NSS. PARIS21 organised the 2nd Statistical Leadership Training in Asia in March 2018, focusing on the role of managers as lead co-ordinators of the statistical system and how they engage with multiple partners, as well as their future plans to address new and emerging demands for statistics at global, regional and national levels. The training, organised by PARIS21 in partnership with the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), with the Center for Creative Leadership as resource institute, implemented new modules introduced in 2017 to include more statistical issues confronting statistical leaders, taken from real NSO/NSS stories. These modules included introducing innovations in statistics; use of new data sources for official statistics; SDG bottlenecks at country level affecting statistical systems; horizontal and vertical engagement (particularly with ministers/high level political figures, media); working with external parties, especially private data providers (as new players in the data ecosystem); and new skills for leaders to better handle/implement change management. The training was attended by NSO heads from six countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia,

Iran, Lao PDR, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). It should be noted that leadership skills are recognised in the first Strategic Area3 of the Cape Town Global Action Plan adopted in January 2017.

3 https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/hlg/cape-town-global-action-plan/

Key highlights

Developed human resources strategies for NSOs in Philippines and Senegal to assist in attracting talent and retaining staff

Started the “Making Every Woman and Girl Count” project on improving gender statistics gaps identification at country level and mainstreaming gender statistics into NSDSs

Adapted NSDS guidelines to small island developing states, providing a faster process for these capacity-constrained countries.


The lack and/or inadequate capacity of human resources in statistics remain critical issues for NSSs in developing countries and are one of the on-going concerns for PARIS21. In Africa, PARIS21 organised a regional workshop on Human Resources in NSOs in partnership with Afristat and Statistics Canada. It focused on attracting and retaining suitable staff, in particular through offering training

in preparing job descriptions; managing promotions and transfers; career planning; and developing, implementing, managing, monitoring and evaluating continuing education plans and programmes. It was also an opportunity to provide information on the best strategies for motivating staff. Eight countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, CAR, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger) participated in the training.

Going deeper into a country, a Statistics Human Resource Assessment strategy was developed in Senegal. Its objectives were to improve the organisational set up, staffing patterns, and systems and procedures, as well as to identify skills gaps to enable it to respond to new statistical demands and fulfil its mandate, vision and goals. This support was also intended to help the NSO retain talent through better career development.

Building on their close relationship, PARIS21 and Statistics Canada were hosted by the NSO (Oficina Nacional de Estadistica – ONE) in the Dominican Republic to carry out a workshop on data quality. The workshop focused on multi-dimensional approaches to data quality using the Statistics Canada workshop content, as well as other relevant regional practices such as the Mexican HECRA (Tool for the Evaluation of Administrative Records). Participants developed data quality road maps for application in their countries. The workshop was attended by 13 countries (Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Peru).

1.2 INTEGRATING INNOVATION IN OFFICIAL STATISTICS

In 2018, the Secretariat worked on further understanding and defining how innovations work in official data agencies, and how to make these agencies more innovation friendly for greater efficiency. PARIS21 expanded its work on innovation through specific activities – both at country and global levels.

Practical guidelines on “innovation in official statistics” were drafted in 2018 and will be released in 2019. The conceptual framework part is already available, and draws parallels with existing literature such as literature produced by the OECD-hosted Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI). It will be complemented by practical case studies on how some of the leading NSOs are transforming into innovation-friendly agencies in different country contexts. A special training session on this

Statistical Leadership Training, Chiba, Japan, 27-28 March 2018


subject was conducted at the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (UNSIAP) in November 2018, in the context of the 5th NSDS-ADAPT Training for Asia-Pacific countries. This generated a lot of interest and shall be scaled up next year.

The Secretariat also brought several innovations to individual countries. In Nepal, for instance, a hands-on workshop on new data sources was organised jointly with the Central Bureau of Statistics, the National Planning Commission and two local NGOs to better understand the availability and use (including new analytics) of new data sources, such as mobile data (call detail records - CDRs) and geospatial/remote sensing products. How these data sources can inform current policy priorities by augmenting traditional data sources (eg. surveys in the Nepal case) was discussed and evaluated using ADAPT in a back-to-back workshop. This pilot activity was organised jointly with Flowminder/ Worldpop, through a nascent collaboration on new data sources with the Asian Development Bank.

The Secretariat also conducted some innovative activities with Open Data Watch on measuring the use of statistics, and users’ behaviour, on partner countries’ websites. This study generated some interest from partner countries wanting to gain new skills and capacities in monitoring such aspects; currently too few countries are actually embarking on monitoring their websites.

PARIS21 also organised an Expert Meeting in June 2018 to discuss new labour market data sources and a Digital Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Tender, in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The Secretariat continued to develop and update its online data innovation catalogue, the Platform for Innovations in Statistics (PISTA).4

1.3 GUIDELINES/BEST PRACTICES ISSUED

The cross regional learning exercise continued at PARIS21 with the organisation of the Cross Regional Forum on Making National Statistical Systems Fit for the New Data Ecosystem in the Digital Era.5 The forum brought together NSOs, the private sector, international organisations, development agencies and academia from around the world to enhance mutual learning and co-operation. This year’s forum shed light on how digital technologies and the adoption of the SDGs have given rise to new data demands, sources, skills, analytical methods and actors. Presentations and discussions revolved around how this new data ecosystem will play a key role in complementing, rather than replacing, traditional statistical approaches, and the fact that NSSs still possess many gaps in their ability to identify, adopt and leverage these new opportunities. The objective was to bring together countries and development partners to discuss and identify what emerging roles NSSs should play in the new data ecosystem. It identified the specific needs of NSSs, available resources provided by development partners, and opportunities for synergies. It also offered the opportunity to identify new roles/models for NSSs in the new data ecosystem, to showcase examples of NSSs successfully adapting to these new challenges and opportunities, and to apply CD4.0 to improve national statistical systems’ fitness in the new data ecosystem.

4 http://pista.paris21.org

5 http://paris21.org/news-center/events/cross-regional-forum-making-national-statistical-systems-fit-new-data-

ecosystem

http://pista.paris21.org/


After more than a decade of NSDS experience and over 100 NSDSs implemented, PARIS21 revisited

the NSDS Guidelines in 2018.6 The aim was to enhance and adapt the framework and process to

the context of small island developing states (SIDS), taking into account the experiences of countries

with small NSSs and making practical recommendations for their data users and producers. The

institutional challenges facing SIDS NSSs, which are both a cause and consequence of low NSDS

uptake in many SIDS, provided the rationale for adapting the existing NSDS Guidelines to fit the SIDS

context. The resulting NSDS Guidelines for SIDS 20187 still adhere to the core processes advocated in

the NSDS Guidelines, but with pronounced emphasis on six areas aimed at facilitating greater

national commitment to the formulation and implementation of NSDSs: greater political advocacy;

shorter NSDS process time-frame; strong links between NSDS and national development strategies

and international agenda; focus on regional statistical integration; use of common NSDS templates;

and need for risk analysis in design and implementation.

6 https://nsdsguidelines.paris21.org

7 https://paris21.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/SIDS-NSDS-Guidelines_final_web_0.pdf

Cross Regional Forum, Paris, France, 3-4 December 2018


The Secretariat continued to develop, maintain and disseminate its ADAPT tool.8 Version 1.1 has

been successfully released, with improved functions to identify data and capacity gaps, as well as to

assess the alignment of current data plans and strategies to fill these gaps. About 20 webinars have

been organised at the request of interested countries (mostly for NSOs and planning commissions)

to demonstrate and provide basic training in the tool. A full manual9 and training package has been

released, in response to growing demand.

PARIS21 also released its NSS assessment guide10 to help NSSs to better assess their ability to

respond to new development priorities arising from the changing national, regional and global

development agenda. In anticipation of the need to upscale NSSs’ statistical capacities, PARIS21

documented various existing assessment tools and prepared the guide for developing countries to

help them identify and select an appropriate assessment framework that fits their particular needs

and requirements. The Open Assessment Repository (OAR) of PARIS21 complements the guide as it

allows for a web-based comparison of existing assessment tools to identify overlaps and gaps in

measurement benchmarked against the Capacity Development 4.0 framework. A specific report was

produced based on the finding of the OAR.11 In June 2018, PARIS21 and UNWOMEN signed a Letter

of Agreement for implementing activities in the context of the UNWOMEN “Making Every Woman

and Girl Count” initiative. The project aims at strengthening

statistical systems to produce gender statistics that are

aligned with national priorities and the 2030 Agenda on

Sustainable Development, and that are consistent, of high

quality, timely and relevant to policy makers, academics and

civil society. Preliminary project implementation activities

started in September 2018.

As part of the inception and outreach activities, PARIS21

participated in some gender statistics meetings, including

the 7th Global Forum on Gender Statistics, held in Tokyo,

Japan. Preliminary work towards developing an assessment

framework to identify gaps in gender statistics at the

national level was also undertaken, including the

establishment of an Expert Task Force to inform the

framework. In the context of PARIS21’s publication PRESS

(Partner Report on Support to Statistics),12 global support to

gender statistics via official development assistance was also

analysed and published for the first time.

8 https://paris21.org/advanced-data-planning-tool-adapt

9 https://paris21.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/ADAPT-User-Manual_Final.pdf

10 https://paris21.org/news-center/news/release-new-nss-assessment-guide

11 http://oar.paris21.org

12 Page 22, http://paris21.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/PRESS2018_V3_PRINT_sans%20repres_OK_0.pdf

The new NSS assessment guide


2. ADVOCACY

2.1 ENGAGING WITH NEW ACTORS

The Secretariat pursued its work on youth, introducing young and future statistical leaders to strategic planning and emerging issues. This activity includes undertaking a statistical school survey to draw the views of young statisticians – the potential stakeholders and future leaders of NSSs – into the debate on statistical development. The survey focuses on the students’ views of the statistician profession and its role in the economic and social development of their country. The survey is also an opportunity to get young statisticians’ opinions on new areas that official statistics should focus on. Finally, current topics related to Open Data, Big Data and the Data Revolution, SDGs and CRVS are discussed. The 2018 survey covered:

Francophone Africa: three Regional Statistical Schools: Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; ENSAE in Dakar, Senegal; Institut Sous-régional de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ISSEA) in Yaoundé, Cameroon

Anglophone Africa: two regional schools: the Eastern Africa Statistical Training Center (EASTC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and the Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (ISAE) in Makerere University, Uganda

The Pacific: the University of South Pacific (USP)

Latin America – for the first time: INTEC in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia; Universidad Autónoma Tomás Frías in Potosi, Bolivia; Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru; and Universidad Nacional de Asunción in Asuncion, Paraguay.

The Secretariat also gave an International Development Lecture at the University of Passau in Germany on the SDGs and data for the development ecosystem.

In Latin America (Guadlajara, Mexico), the Secretariat partnered with a Social Entrepreneurial group known as Sparkup and a civil society group called Jalisco Como Vamos as an alternative approach to developing statistical capacity through civil society. This is part of a sub-national pilot that will study the effectiveness of citizen-generated data at the municipal level in 2019.

PARIS21 attended both the 4th and 5th Partners for Review (P4R) Network meetings to give insights into the new data ecosystem and how to strengthen statistical systems for effective monitoring of the 2030

Key highlights

Drafted a chapter on “Data and diagnostics to leave no one behind” in the OECD Development Co-operation Report 2018: Joining Forces to Leave no One Behind

Played a leading role in the second UN World Data Forum, with five sessions organised or co-organsed by PARIS21

Signed MOUs with the World Data Lab and the Royal Statistical Society to widen co-operation with new stakeholders


Agenda. The Secretariat also presented the first results of the joint PARIS21 & P4R paper on the same topic. The paper is the first phase of a collaboration between P4R and PARIS21. Both meetings were opportunities for the Secretariat to reach out to a new audience composed of government institutions in addition to the NGOs, CSOs, and private sector which will become important players in the SDG implementation framework.

2.2 MAKING DATA AVAILABLE AND UNDERSTANDABLE

The Secretariat is currently updating its guidelines and training materials on “communicating data”. The first module is already available (“data viz”- drawing data); while the other modules are being finalised (“speaking data” and “writing data”) and will be made available in April 2019.

As communication is a key part of the statistical process to inform on the progress of society, PARIS21 supported the design of a communications strategy in Ghana following the development of Guidelines for Developing a Communications Strategy12 for NSOs in 2017.

The Secretariat also conducted a training in communications in Namibia based on the findings of an analysis of Namibia materials.

For the second year in a row, PARIS21 supported the Rwanda Data Journalism Awards,13 a competition for best data story by journalists in Rwanda. This support follows previous interventions in Rwanda, including the Africa Statistics Day Info-graphic Competition for Data Journalism and the training of journalists and statisticians in communication and public relations.

The Secretariat was also involved in piloting .Stat Suite in Cambodia – a joint exercise conducted under the auspices of the Statistical Information System Collaboration Community (SIS-CC). This activity was done in close collaboration with the OECD and UNICEF. The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) was also involved in the initial mission. The activity resulted in more and better quality data being made available by the National Institute of Statistics in Cambodia, providing a way ahead for SDG dissemination while improving data modelling and related statistical processes.

The Secretariat is finalising its Data Flows Assessment Framework (DFAF), which comprises practical guidelines to assess the quality (and therefore bottlenecks) of data flows in a given national data ecosystem, primarily looking at the National Statistical System as a whole.

2.3 GLOBAL ADVOCACY

PARIS21 continued to advocate for national statistics at the regional and international levels through engaged membership in various high-level working groups, as follows:

Standing issue partner of the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-

Building for the 2030 Agenda (HLG-PCCB)

Co-chair of the NSDS Guidelines Reference Group

Co-chair of the Global Strategy to improve agricultural and rural statistics (GSARS) Task Team

(FAO)

Member of the Programme Committee of the 2nd UN World Data Forum (Dubai, UAE)

12 https://nsdsguidelines.paris21.org/node/896

13 http://www.statistics.gov.rw/about-us/rwanda-data-journalism-award/rdja-2018

https://nsdsguidelines.paris21.org/node/896


Founding member of the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST)

Member of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA)

Member of the Friends of the Chair Group (FOC) on Broader Measures of Progress

Member of the Steering Committee for the Praia City Group on Governance Statistics

Member of the Africa CRVS Regional Core Group

Member of the Regional Steering Group for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific

Member of the Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV)

Member of the UN Global Working Group (GWG) on Big Data for Official Statistics

Member of the Working Group on Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX)

Member of UNECE Task Group on Capacity Development (TGCAP)

Observer of the Friends of the Chair (FOC) group on the Implementation of the Fundamental

Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS)

Observer of ECA-AUC Statistical Commission for Africa and Committee of Directors-General of

National Statistics Offices (StatCom-Africa/CoDG)

Observer of the ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Committee Meeting

Observer of the Meeting of Heads of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

Statistical Organizations (SAARCSTAT)

Observer of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCS)

Observer of the Pacific Statistics Steering Committee (PSSC) Statistics

Observer of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)

Member of the Expert Group on Refugee and IDP Statistics (EGRIS)

PARIS21 is working on developing a flagship report on statistical capacity development, to be called the

Statistical Capacity Development Outlook, which will assess trends in statistical capacity, and present

recent developments on the subject. Building on PARIS21’s partners’ knowledge, the report will

analyse drivers of statistical capacity, the evolving conceptual frameworks to assess and understand

capacity for statistics, and the importance of statistical capacity to improve the use and value of data.

Alongside the report, PARIS21 is developing a data portal, the Statistical Capacity Monitor, which aims

to be a centralised knowledge tool to support countries in their efforts to improve statistical

capacity. The Statistical Capacity Monitor will make available a group of relevant indicators on

statistical capacity at the country level, covering a range of different areas. It will provide a one-stop

resource for countries, donors and service providers through which they can access and analyse

countries' statistical capacity. The portal and the PARIS21 Statistical Capacity Development Outlook will

be presented at the PARIS21 Board Meeting in early 2019.

In 2018, PARIS21 supported the creation and implementation of an informal work group on

Development Data within the OECD Development Assistance Committee. PARIS21 has capitalised on

this strategic relationship by contributing to the OECD Development Co-operation Report,14 the

OECD’s main flagship publication on development co-operation. The theme of the 2018 report is “leave

no one behind”, and follows up on the collaboration in 2017 for the same report on data for

14 OECD (2018), Development Co-operation Report 2018: Joining Forces to Leave No One

Behind, https://doi.org/10.1787/dcr-2018-en.

https://doi.org/10.1787/dcr-2018-en


development. The report has raised awareness amongst the development co-operation community of

critical data challenges.

The Secretariat contributed to the second UN World Data Forum in Dubai in October 2018 as a member of the Programme Committee and was active in advocacy for the event. The Secretaraiat participated in 9 different panels and co-organised 5 sessions. Session TA2.01 “New data sources for policy action: from dreams to reality” was recorded and can be watched on the UNStats YouTube account.15 Several side meetings were organised to follow up on key PARIS21 activities in preparation for the 2019 programme of work.

The broad consensus reached at this forum was that NSOs must keep their relevance in an evolving data

ecosystem comprising a booming number of data actors and stakeholders outside of the traditional national statistical system. NSOs’ role is likely to continue to evolve towards less data collection and more data compilation from other sources, and greater co-ordination of various stakeholders – trust will continue to be the watchword, both to secure data funding and to foster data use. New skills – co-ordination, leadership and management, innovation, promotion of data use – are required to enable NSOs to take on this new and wider role. Several declarations from donors and partners insisted that resources will be made available to leave no one behind. It is worth noting that the forum recognises the great divide between data availability and data use in developing countries. There is a proliferation of data and knowledge which hardly penetrates the policy sphere in many low-income countries (for example, a United Nations Development Programme survey shows that 70% of countries used fewer than four maps to design their diversity policies).

The Secretariat helped a number of countries participate in important global statistical discussions as a means to promote capacity building and give them a voice in global fora. For example, NSS representatives were supported by PARIS21 to attend the 49th United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and PARIS21 Board Meeting. The UNSC meeting was also the opportunity for PARIS21 to hold its Executive Committee Meeting and organise relevant side events and meetings with regional partners from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and SIDS. The PARIS21 side event on “3 years on: what have the SDGs done for NSSs?” was particularly well attended. A Round Table Meeting of SIDS was launched at the 2018 UNSC, co-organised by PARIS21 and the UN DESA SIDS Unit. The meeting will be convened annually to take stock of various SIDS initiatives in statistics; provide perspectives of SIDS representatives on statistical issues they face in implementing the Agenda 2030 and SAMOA Pathway;

15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq55gzZNIlQ&t=1s

PARIS21’s Statistical Capacity Monitor


and propose ways forward and forge agreement to ensure a stronger and united voice of SIDS in statistics development.

The Secretariat participated in the 2018 Statistical Information System Collaboration Community (SIS-CC) workshop: “Building national data backbones – empowering countries through capacity development and technology”. The workshop was an opportunity to explore how the paradigm which has emerged at the international level could possibly be applied at the national level through the national data backbone concept, as a means to achieve both national and international agendas. Days one and two of the workshop were open to non-members, and were attended by a total of 93 participants representing 38 interested or partner organisations.

PARIS21 also attended the Data for Development Festival in Bristol. This event for the partners and friends of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) focused on driving action and fostering strong links for improved outcomes. It provided an opportunity to participate in numerous thematic events, network with the global data community, meet representatives of GPSDD’s new Board of Directors and Technical Advisory Group, and contribute to shaping the partnership's future.

The Secretariat also attended the 2018 High-level Political Forum (HLPF) in July in New York. This year’s forum, under the theme “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies,” concluded with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration. Forty-six countries presented their Voluntary National Reviews on their efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The forum also reviewed in depth 6 of the 17 SDGs: water and sanitation for all (SDG 6); sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7); cities and human settlements (SDG 11); sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12); sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (SDG 15); and global partnership for sustainable development (SDG 17). PARIS21 participated in the “Better Financing for Development Data” Side Event during the HLPF, during which the results of the PRESS were used to guide discussions. The Secretariat was also invited to make a presentation during the Annual Meeting of the National Focal Points of the Least Developed Countries on the Implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPOA). PARIS21’s presentation focused on “Monitoring the implementation of the IPOA and SDGs: A Focus on data challenges”, and our proposal to harmonise reporting and focus on headline indicators was accepted.

The Secretariat continued its engagement in the Praia City Group on Governance Statistics. It organised a meeting in September 2018 in Paris to discuss progress on the production of the Governance Handbook. The meeting brought together chapter lead authors to discuss the way forward and how to structure the work, and was critical in unlocking a two-year deadlock in partners’ commitment to developing the handbook.

Finally, the Secretariat organised the Experts Meeting16 around a Global Fund Study for Development Data. The study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and risks of setting up a Global Fund on Development Data. The study provides new estimates of the funding needs for SDG monitoring and implementation, and ensures co-ordination with the GPSDD working group on funding needs. Drawing on existing examples, it explores the feasibility of setting up a Global Fund on Development Data, considers opportunities and challenges, and makes recommendations for pushing the initiative forward. Following a recommendation by PARIS21's Executive Committee, the Secretariat

16 https://paris21.org/news-center/events/experts-meeting-assessing-prospects-global-fund-development-data


also commissioned a discussion paper17 to assess the prospects of establishing a Global Fund on Development Data. The study feeds into the HLG-PCCB process in which members are reflecting on a funding framework to underpin the implementation of the Cape Town Global Action Plan. The main findings were presented at the UN World Data Forum in Dubai in October.

2.4 PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL FORA

PARIS21’s participation in key international, regional and national events is summarised in Table 1.

TABLE 1: PARIS21 Secretariat participation in partner events, 2018 (selected highlights18)

Event (Partner) Location Date

International Development Lecture, University of Passau

Passau, Germany January

UNSD conference on national reporting platforms for the reporting of the SDGs indicators

New York, USA January

Data for Development Festival Bristol, UK March

High-Level Seminar on Strategic Partnerships in Official Statistics, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Conference of European Statisticians

Geneva, Switzerland April

UNECE Second Expert Meeting on Statistics for SDGs

Geneva, Switzerland April

7th meeting of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)

Vienna, Austria April

4th Partners for Review Network Meeting Tiflis, Georgia April

Friends of Gender Equality Plus Paris, France April

Eurostat Meeting of the Management Group on Statistical Cooperation

Luxembourg April

7th Session of the Statistical Commission of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-StatCom) organized by the SESRIC

Ankara, Turkey April

9th SAARCSTAT Meeting Dhaka, Bangladesh April

11th Meeting of HLG for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLG-PCCB)

Rabat, Morocco May

3rd UNSD regional workshop of the Development Account project on strengthening capacity for post-2015

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia May

Expert Meeting “Friends of high ambitions for the UNDS and HLPF reforms”

Berlin, Germany June

Presentation “New approaches to capacity London, UK June

17 https://paris21.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/Mobilising%20Data%20for%20the%20SDGs%20(DP15)_0.pdf

18 For a full list of partner events, see Annex 1 at the end of this report


development” at the Royal Statistical Society

UNECLAC Regional meeting on statistical laws and reviewing legal frameworks in support of statistics

Bogota, Colombia July

Task Team of the 2nd Global Action Plan at FAO Rome, Italy July

13th National Statistics Conference of ISTAT Rome, Italy July

High Level Political Forum (HLPF) New York, USA July

Expert Group Meeting on Statistical Development in Africa organized by UNECA

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia July

World Data Lab Retreat Vienna, Austria August

International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) Conference

Paris, France September

DIE/Exceed Conference Bonn, Germany September

Presentation at a workshop at the Swiss Federal Statistical Office with DEZA (Development and Cooperation)

Neuchatel, Switzerland September

Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA)

Vienna, Austria September

International Open Data Conference (IODC) Bueno Aires, Argentina September

OECD DAC informal group on Development Data Paris, France October

Africa StatCom 2018 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia October

6th Session of the Committee on Statistics, UNESCAP

Bangkok, Thailand October

SIDS National Focal Points Network Meeting organized by UNOHRLLS

Apia, Samoa October

5th Partners for Review Network Meeting Berlin, Germany November

Global Gender Statistics Conference and Inter-Agency Expert Group on Gender Statistics

Tokyo, Japan November

UNECLAC workshop of the Ecuador NSS on data quality management

Quito, Ecuador November

Using ADAPT for monitoring SDGs for Social Entrepenneurs in Guadalajara, Mexico (Sparkup Innovation Incubator)

Guadalajara, Mexico November

Final conference of the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics

Rome, Italy November

8th meeting of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs)

Stockholm, Sweden November

Commonwealth Leadership Conference London, United Kingdom November

6th OECD World Forum on “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”

Incheon, South Korea November

In 2018, the Secretariat funded 141 NSO representatives and participants to attend the regional and global events listed in Table 2, some of which were organised by PARIS21 and others co-organised by partners. The aim was to introduce them to international processes and foster networking opportunities, as well as to enrich the discussions with national perspectives and provide countries with opportunities to share their challenges and successes.


TABLE 2: Regional and Global Events Funded by PARIS21 Secretariat

Event Location Date No. of funded participants

Finalisation of the Somalia NSDS Workshop Nairobi, Kenya January 11

2nd Statistical Leadership Training for Heads of NSOs in Asia-Pacific in partnership and collaboration with UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific

Chiba, Japan February 7

49th United Nations Statistical Commission and related special events

New York, USA March 5

2nd Asia-Pacific Statistical Leadership Training

Tokyo, Japan March 5

Training of Trainers on ADAPT Paris, France April 3

NSDS Central African Republic Workshop Yaoundé, Cameroon

May 12

PARIS21 Advanced Data Planning Tool Workshop

San Salvador, El Salvador

July 4

Workshop on Human Resources Management for statistical agencies

Cotonou, Benin September 14

2nd NSDS Central African Republic Workshop

Yaoundé, Cameroon

September 12

Laos PDR Peer Review Vientiane , Laos September 3

UN World Data Forum Dubai, UAE October 1

Global Fund Experts Meeting Paris, France October 2

5th NSDS-ADAPT Training Course for Asia Pacific in partnership and collaboration with UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific

Chiba, Japan November 18

Andean Community support for the development of NSDS in 4 community countries (Article 736)

Lima, Peru November 14

Regional Admin Data Quality Workshop Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

November 15

Workshop on NSS Modernization in Iran Tehran, Iran November 2

6th OECD World Forum Incheon, Korea November 1

Regional workshop in relation to PENDES draft and setting up regional ADAPT for monitoring country activity plans

Lima, Peru November 6

Cross Regional Forum Paris, France December 20


3. CO-ORDINATION & MONITORING

3.1 NSS PEER REVIEWS

PARIS21 conducted an NSS Peer Review in Lao PDR. As part of this exercise, PARIS21 used its own recently developed statistical capacity self-assessment tool, the Statistical Evaluation and Progress (STEP), to complement the existing tools used for the peer review. In addition, PARIS21 participated in the African Union Commission-led peer review of Mauritius.

The STEP tool was also translated into Spanish and used as a self-assessment tool in the November workshop reviewing the NSDS of the Andean Community (Table 2).

3.2 NSDS/RSDS

In March 2018, the Secretariat organised the fourth meeting of the NSDS Guidelines Reference Group. The group, co-chaired by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the PARIS21 Secretariat, comprises experts from countries and organisations from all regions and aims to guide the annual updates of the NSDS Guidelines.19 The Reference Group discussed and approved proposals on the following issues: the creation of an e-NSDS, which is a digitialisation and monitoring tool for the implementation and costing of NSDSs, as an ADAPT module; the adoption of a new NSDS lifecycle; development of RSDS Guidelines; and enhancing the financing section based on the Country Report on Support to Statistics (CRESS). In addition, new examples of recently finalised NSDS and RSDS documents and roadmaps were added to the guidelines. The guidelines are currently available in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.

Figure 3: Countries receiving NSDS support in 2018

19 https://nsdsguidelines.paris21.org


Regional training courses are aimed at helping countries prepare their NSDSs in a way that mainstreams SDG concerns into the strategies on sectoral statistics, subnational statistics, use of other data sources, and open data. PARIS21 conducted the 5th NSDS-ADAPT Regional Training Course for Asia-Pacific countries in November, a regular training course organised in partnership and collaboration with the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific. This year the training was attended by 18 senior officials from NSOs and planning agencies in 10 countries (Fiji, Lao PDR, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Vietnam). The training module included an introduction to the conceptual framework on innovations developed by PARIS21 and a hands-on exercise on the use of ADAPT to allow participants to familiarise themselves with the tool’s functions and to build their own sandboxes to input national logframe and indicators information.

A regional NSDS training course was also organised in Africa in partnership with AFRISTAT and AfDB.

PARIS21 has developed NSDS Guidelines for SIDS20 at the request of these countries. These aim to shorten the development period taking into account the specificities of their very small NSOs (see Section 1.3 above).

The Secretariat continued its support to countries in the development of statistics through NSDS activities in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean (Figure 3). In Africa, PARIS21 undertook an NSDS Mid-Term Review in Sierra Leone and NSDS preparation in Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau and Zambia. The Secretariat continued its work on strengthening the NSDS framework by updating the methodological guidelines for the African Center for Statistics (ACS) and the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA) in NSDSs in collaboration with the African Union Commission.

In Asia-Pacific, the Secretariat supported the development of NSDSs in Bhutan and Jordan. PARIS21 likewise provided technical support to the NSDS process in Indonesia, including discussing the possible establishment of a subnational statistical system in local governments. It assisted in developing Mongolia’s NSDS monitoring and evaluation framework, and facilitated an assessment of sector statistics in Maldives and Sri Lanka as part of the NSDS process in both countries. Finally it conducted a rapid assessment of the NSS in Kyrgyzstan as part of the

initiatives to introduce the ADAPT tool in the country.

20 https://nsdsguidelines.paris21.org/node/715

NSDS launch in Guinea-Bissau, 17 May 2018

https://nsdsguidelines.paris21.org/node/715


In the Caribbean, PARIS21 conducted an NSDS training in Guyana and a strategic planning workshop in Jamaica. PARIS21 continues to remain engaged with the Andean Community, a partnership that dates back to 2003 and which established a regional directive known as Article 736 that requires countries to develop NSDSs every five years. PARIS21 supported two workshops in Bolivia, which were key inputs into the NSDS development. These included a national assessment of the NSS and a data supply and demand workshop. It also supported a dissemination workshop for the NSDS in Peru, which included the promulgation of the presidential decree promoting the NSDS and establishing a monitoring system for it. PARIS21 also assisted Ecuador in reviewing their NSDS.

3.3 NSDS STATUS

The 2018 NSDS Progress Report21 gives an overview of NSDS development in countries that have engaged in the process. The latest report covers a total of 119 countries, comprising International Development Association (IDA) borrower countries, low and lower-middle income countries, and all African countries. The report’s key findings include:

Of the 75 IDA countries, 32 are currently implementing their strategies.

85% are currently engaged in an NSDS process. In Africa, 33 of the 40 IDA countries are designing or implementing a statistical strategy.

Of the 30 lower-middle income countries and remaining African nations, 20 are designing or implementing strategies.

Of the 119 countries covered by the report, 15 are without a strategy and are not currently planning one.

The NSDS Progress Report 2018 was made available on the PARIS21 website in March 2018 and was used as part of the reporting on SDG indicator 17.18.3 on statistical plans.

3.4 GLOBAL MONITORING

PARIS21 continued to expand its NSO database, systematically collecting information during country missions. This information is useful for developing the Country Prioritisation System. The system was developed to improve the preparation of the Secretariat’s Programme of Work, allowing it to target countries most in need so that it optimises its limited resources while managing the large demand for country support. The data collected from the NSO database will be integrated in 2019 to provide as much information as possible on NSO status and to inform the Statistical Capacity Development Monitor.

PARIS21 has launched and is maintaining the Open Assessment Repository (OAR), an open access web tool that allows existing statistical capacity assessment tools to be compared to detect overlaps and gaps in measurement. Fourteen of the most popular international tools were benchmarked against the Capacity Development 4.0 framework developed by the Task Team on New Approaches to Capacity Development. The analysis found that most of them focus on detecting the application of international standards and assessing current statistical production processes, but overlook the capacity of employees – their technical and soft skills – and of the system itself, e.g. knowledge sharing among institutions.

The Secretariat developed and released new Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS) indicators on statistical literacy. At the global level, PARIS21, as custodian agency of the SDGs indicators on statistical

21 http://www.paris21.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/NSDS-Progress-Report-2018_0.pdf


legislation (17.18.2), statistical plans (17.18.3) and funding for statistics (17.19.1), contributed to the SDG Report 2018 of the UN Secretary General by providing data and storylines on progress made by countries and donors to build strong statistical systems.

3.5 SDG READINESS

The Secretariat continued to expand its ADAPT activities to support countries in planning statistical activities and aligning data production with priority policy data needs. This is particularly helpful in the context of designing NSDSs. In Asia, follow-up work on ADAPT was undertaken in Mongolia to strengthen data and indicator assessment of the country’s Sustainable Development Vision 2030 and SDGs. Support was also provided to Bhutan in using ADAPT as a data assessment tool to map data gaps in its national development framework and subnational development plans. The results of the assessment served as inputs into the preparation of Bhutan’s NSDS. ADAPT country workshops were also organised in Kyrgyzstan to introduce the tool for possible use in mapping national development frameworks with SDGs. ADAPT continued to be used in the Philippines and in Cambodia, as part of now mainstreamed NSO activities. Further technical assistance was provided to these countries as well.

In Africa, the Secretariat provided ADAPT support to Rwanda and Tanzania to finalise the gap analysis and SDGs readiness assessment. In Latin America and the Caribbean, PARIS21 supported the Central American Integration System (SICA) at regional level, and introduced the ADAPT Tool to Jamaica as part of the NSDS process. The Secretariat organised about 20 ADAPT webinars, some of them in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank and UNSD.

3.6 COUNTRY REPORT ON SUPPORT TO STATISTICS

The Secretariat pursued its efforts to further deploy the Country Report on Support to Statistics (CRESS), which aims to provide information on the level and source of financing for statistics in order to improve investment in NSSs. The tool establishes baseline information on government funding for statistics, as well as funding received by the NSS from external sources. In 2018, the tool was used in Liberia, Mauritania and Zambia.

3.7 PARTNER REPORT ON SUPPORT TO STATISTICS

Since 2008, PARIS21 has conducted an annual exercise — the Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS) — to gather information from financial and technical partners on their support to statistical development. The PRESS 2018,22 published in October 2018, updated the results from the previous PRESSs for calendar years 2006 to 2015, using a revised methodology and introducing new data for 2016 from the Creditor Reporting System (CRS). The revised PRESS methodology uses a new text

22 http://www.paris21.org/press2018

NSDS preparation workshop, Bhutan, June 2018


mining technique to identify statistics projects in the CRS database that are not currently labelled as support to statistics. This approach avoids double counting projects as it uses the CRS as the only data source for the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members. To ensure comparability over time, this methodology has been applied retrospectively for all years.

The 2018 report draws on three distinct data sources:

1) The CRS, which records data from DAC members and some non-DAC donors, and provides a comprehensive accounting of official development assistance (ODA). Donors report specific codes for the sector targeted by their aid activity. Statistical capacity building (SCB) is designated by code 16062.

2) Project description searches in the CRS for terms indicating a component of SCB when SCB is a component of a larger project and is not identified by code 16062. This approach allows PARIS21 to reduce the downward bias caused by the CRS figures underestimating actual levels of support for international aid.

3) The PARIS21 Secretariat supplements this data with an online questionnaire completed by a global network of reporters. The questionnaire covers a subset of the variables collected in the CRS and some additional variables specific to statistical capacity building.

In order to improve the accuracy of data from the first two sources, PARIS21 has proposed new definitions and classifications for purpose codes in the CRS. The proposal will be reviewed, discussed and validated by DAC in 2019. Starting from 2019, the CRS will also allow reporters to assign multiple purpose codes to one project. This extra information is expected to help the PRESS identify more projects related to statistical capacity development.

Support to statistics amounted to USD 623 million in 2016. The share of ODA focused on data and statistics was 0.33% in 2016, a slight improvement on last decade’s average (0.30%).

For this year’s edition, PARIS21 introduced a gender questionnaire to track the statistical support towards this sector. It will be part of the gender statistics project with UNWOMEN.

By combining with the OECD’s Survey on Global Private Philanthropy for Development, PARIS21 was also able to identify private foundations’ contributions to development in statistics for the first time in the PRESS. During 2013-15, USD 573.7 million from philanthropic foundations could be associated with statistics and data. This figure, however, largely relates to the use of data as a means to achieve other objectives, particularly medical and agriculture research. Focusing on statistical capacity building only, the number remains very low (around USD 40 million).

3.8 STAKEHOLDER CO-ORDINATION

PARIS21 continued its promotion of the development of statistics by extending its expertise and engaging with different stakeholders. The Secretariat participated in the 9th SAARCSTAT Meeting and the 6th Session of the Committee on Statistics of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), presenting specific PRESS analysis for the region in a panel on “Partner Support to Advance Official Statistics for Agenda 2030”. It also participated in the Committee of DGs (CoDG) of Africa to present the work of PARIS21 and organise a side event to discuss leadership training with NSOs’ DGs; and also took part in a meeting about promoting statistical capacity building in African SIDS. The Secretariat also participated in AfDB, AUC and UNECA meetings to continue its high-level advocacy for statistics and the regional co-ordination of activities.


3.9 LOGFRAME: PARTNERSHIP PROGRESS

This section presents progress on the PARIS21 key logical framework (logframe) indicators during 2018. To measure progress towards PARIS21’s goals, the Secretariat established a Task Team to define PARIS21’s logical framework indicators. Its work was broken down into two subsections: Part I measures the progress of the partnership, while Part II measures the Secretariat’s progress. In 2010, the Task Team agreed on baselines, milestones and targets. Since 2011, the Secretariat has been collecting data annually to measure baselines and milestones on a yearly basis.

The designation of PARIS21 as the Secretariat for the Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS) led to the development of a new logical framework to monitor progress against the BAPS objectives and actions. The Task Team for Defining Implementation Arrangements for the BAPS completed its work on the logical framework in the first quarter of 2014. It maintains the light, low response-burden process requested and mirrors the BAPS’ targets with three outcome indicators, one for each of the BAPS objectives, and ten additional indicators for the five BAPS actions. Eleven of these thirteen indicators are the same or similar to indicators in the PARIS21 logframe, including eight of the ten key BAPS indicators. Given the overlap between the two logframes, and the request to transition towards a light, low-response burden process, the PARIS21 Secretariat has exclusively reported on the BAPS logframe since 2015. The Secretariat has also developed methodologies for three new indicators around statistical understanding and use, which have been used in evaluation and reporting exercises and as indicators for monitoring progress on the BAPS. These indicators were piloted in 2015-16 and have been reported since then, as indicated below.

For the BAPS logframe, the following ten are considered as key indicators.

BAPS outcome indicators:

0a: Fully integrate statistics in decision making (average score on the use of statistics in policy making process)

0b: Promote open access to statistics (number of target countries signed up to Open Government Partnership)

0c: Increase resources for statistical systems (global estimated commitments to statistical development in target countries over a rolling, three year period)

BAPS output indicators:

1a: Share of countries whose government has adopted an NSDS which is currently being implemented

2a: Number of online survey catalogues published by Accelerated Data Program (ADP) countries or others, using the International Household Survey Network (IHSN) cataloguing tool

2b: Number of countries that have an Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA) with World Bank support

3a: Share of MDG indicator series for which the majority of data are "country data"

5a: Share of annual aid to statistics (as reported in the PRESS) relative to total ODA

5b: Share of aid to statistics (as reported in the PRESS) that is aligned with NSDS

5c: Annual commitments (in millions) to statistical development

As illustrated in Table 3 and Table 4 below, seven of the ten key indicators for the BAPS logframe have been achieved.


TABLE 3: Progress on BAPS logframe outcome indicators

In the graphs, red lines indicate targets and blue lines give the measured values.

Indicator Trend: increasing or decreasing?

Milestone: achieved or

not?

Indicator value (2018)

Deviation from

milestone (2018)

0a: Fully integrate statistics in decision making (average score on the use of statistics in policy making process)

Increasing Achieved 75 0%

0b: Promote open access to statistics (number of target countries signed up to Open Government Partnership)

Increasing Achieved 47 +17.5%

0c: Increase resources for statistical systems (global estimated commitments to statistical development in target countries over rolling, three year period)

Decreasing Achieved USD 1.85 billion

+9%

TABLE 4: Progress on BAPS logframe output indicators In the graphs, red lines indicate targets and blue lines give the measured values.

Indicator Trend: increasing or decreasing?

Milestone: achieved or

not?

Indicator value (2018)

Deviation from

milestone (2018)

1a: Share of countries whose government has adopted an NSDS which is currently being implemented

Decreasing Achieved 68% +13%

2a: Number of online survey catalogues published by ADP countries or others, using the IHSN cataloguing tool

Unchanged Achieved 86 +8%

2b: Number of countries that have an Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA) with World Bank support

Increasing Achieved 30 +20%

3a: Share of MDG indicator series for which the majority of data are "country data"

NA1 NA NA NA


5a: Share of annual aid to statistics (as reported in the PRESS) relative to total ODA

Increasing Achieved 0.33% 0%

5b: Share of aid to statistics (as reported in the PRESS) that is aligned with NSDS

Increasing Not achieved

80% -8 %

5c: Annual commitments (in millions) to statistical development

Increasing NA USD 623 million

NA

Note: 1From 2016 onwards: Indicator SDG for target 17.18: "Proportion of sustainable development indicators with full disaggregation produced at the national level." The data are not yet available in the SDG database.

The main conclusion to be drawn from this monitoring exercise is that the trend in most indicators is increasing and most milestones have been met ahead of time. There are two indicators that deserve more detailed discussion:

0c. Increase resources for statistical systems: The indicator achieved the goal in 2018. The

total number has decreased since the last period (2013-2015) because the peak in 2013 is not

included in this period. Commitments usually span over several years and can fluctuate. When

looking at the overall trend, one can observe that the share of aid to statistics in all official

development assistance has increased from 0.25% to 0.33% over 2012-16.

5b. Share of aid to statistics that is aligned with NSDS: This share (80% in 2018) doesn’t meet

the previous target of 86% because many respondents, who are not the managers of the

projects, chose “not sure” when asked about the alignment. If we exclude the “not sure”

answers, the share of alignment rises to 95% and the target is achieved. The adoption of the

Cape Town Global Action Plan, which calls for development partners to align their statistical

development efforts with the NSDS, will help in this regard as well.

In conclusion, the level of ambition, though high, remains within reach for most of the targets. The failure to meet some targets is valuable in the long run because it highlights the problems we are facing.


4. TECHNICAL SUPPORT

4.1 IMPROVE DATA ACCESS

PARIS21 continued the pilot of .Stat Suite in Cambodia in partnership with the OECD. It also contributed to the SDMX Standard Development as a member of the SDMX Statistical Working Group and conducted SDMX Training in Ghana and Zambia to help the country pilots to use SDMX for reducing their reporting burden and enhancing data dissemination.

4.2 SUPPORT TO STATISTICAL LAWS

As a follow up to the PARIS21 regional workshop on the adequacy of statistical laws in 2017, PARIS21 partnered with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) Working Group for Capacity Building. UNECLAC has a biennial work programme in which the Capacity Building working group reviewed the region’s statistical laws in 2018. PARIS21 activities seek to integrate fully with the work programmes that are established by these broader groups. As such, PARIS21 participated in the July regional workshop in Bogota which reviewed the national statistical laws in Latin America and the Caribbean.

4.3 STRENGTHENING STATISTICAL INSTITUTIONS

As part of its continuing support to strengthening national statistical insitutions, the Secretariat organised and facilitated a Change Management Workshop in Grenada as part of preparations for a proposal to transform the Central Statistics Office into a Statistics Institute, as recommended in the proposed updated statistical law. PARIS21 also facilitated the NSS Modernisation workshop in Iran to discuss ways to strengthen the use of registries in the NSS and to learn from practices of other countries and regions in using register-based data.

PARIS21 was invited to the Philippines to provide a presentation on the data ecosystem – specifically the new data actors and what needs to be considered in preparing for the Philippine Statistics Authority’s sectoral statistical activities to address data gaps in its NSS.

Key highlights

Developed the Data Flow Assessment Framework (DFAF) to help countries improve their digital dissemination environment

Assisted Grenada in change management at the NSO as part of its establishment as an independent authority

Implemented effective rollout of the Advanced Data Planning Tool, while supporting its further development to include new functionalities such as comparison of data supplies against data demands, feasibility assessment, data plans and reports


5. PARTNERSHIPS

In its country work, PARIS21 has pursued collaboration with a number of entities including:

African Development Bank (AfDB)

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Observatoire Économique et Statistique d’Afrique Subsaharienne (AFRISTAT)

African Union Commission (AUC)

Andean Community (CAN)

Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL)

Department for Internaional Development (DFID)

European Union (EU)

Eurostat

Flowminder / WorldPop

Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD)

Institut National de la Statistique (INS) du Cameroun

Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE)

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) Mexico

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Open Data Watch (ODW)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Overseas Development Institute (ODI)

Pacific Community (SPC)

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)

Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)

Central American Integration System (SICA)

Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP)

Statistics Canada

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA)

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC)

University of the South Pacific (USP)

World Bank

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https://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiblpOQ25zLAhVJfhoKHek3Aj8QFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unfpa.org%2Ffr&v6u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-v6exp1-ds.metric.gstatic.com%2Fgen_204%3Fip%3D78.41.129.14%26ts%3D1456739383790073%26auth%3Dsmctn3bam73zzcnx6aikw6d3ykerqlu7%26rndm%3D0.9982080527115613&v6s=2&v6t=556108&usg=AFQjCNF0z5Ng2c-tsSC0Btn14YGsSmd_Ew&sig2=-3tYntmEp0oI8jTbPzu9-A&bvm=bv.115339255,d.d24


6. OVERALL MANAGEMENT

In 2018, the Secretariat held its Annual Meetings from 4-5 April 2018 in Bern, Switzerland, in collaboration with the Swiss Government. The first day was dedicated to a public conference on “Truth in Numbers: The role of data in a world of fact, fiction and everything in between”, which focused on the role of the data community in regulating the new data ecosystem, educating citizens and limiting the misuse of data and information.23 The second day focused on the board meeting24 and welcomed new and returning board members. The Secretariat also organised two Executive Committee meetings in March and December.

To reach out to its partners more and more effectively, the Secretariat has strengthened its communications strategy as described in the sections below.

2019 PARIS21 Annual Meetings, Bern, Switzerland, 3-4 April 2019

6.1 WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

In 2018, PARIS21 saw a significant increase in users and engagement with its website (www.paris21.org) following its redesign in 2017:

Total visits increased by 39% from 26 768 in 2017 to 37 284 in 2018

Total number of users increased by 35% from 15 965 in 2017 to 21 480 in 2018

Aside from the homepage, the most popular pages on the website in 2018 were the conference on “Truth in Numbers” and the Knowledge Database.

The majority of website visits (15.86%) originated in the United States, followed by France, Switzerland, the UK and Germany.

Throughout 2018, traffic was largely driven to the website via Google searches, at 47.61% of visits in 2018 (57.53% in 2017). Social media played a significant role in driving website traffic in 2018, with 5.18% (3.27% in 2017) of total visits originating from Twitter.

23 http://www.paris21.org/news-center/events/conference-truth-numbers-role-data-world-fact-fiction-and-

everything-between

24 http://www.paris21.org/2018-paris21-board-meeting

http://www.paris21.org/

http://www.paris21.org/news-center/events/conference-truth-numbers-role-data-world-fact-fiction-and-everything-between

http://www.paris21.org/news-center/events/conference-truth-numbers-role-data-world-fact-fiction-and-everything-between

http://www.paris21.org/2018-paris21-board-meeting


Social media has continued to play a significant role in PARIS21’s online communications. The number of followers on Twitter has grown (2 140 at the end of 2017, rising to 2 875 at the end of 2018). Many of these followers are of high quality and tweets have high engagement rates. Peak stories in 2018 included the “Beyond the Numbers” webinar series, the “Truth in Numbers” conference and the launch of the NSS Assessment Guide.

In 2018, PARIS21 continued to interview national statistical offices and other data actors for the Data Talk podcast on SoundCloud.25 This monthly podcast gives a voice to data and statistics and tells stories from different National Statistical Offices and on various themes. The six podcasts produced in 2018 were listened to around 250 times in total.

6.2 PUBLICATIONS AND PRINTED MATERIALS

PARIS21 continued to provide communications support to countries, through the design, layout, and printing of advocacy materials.

Within its discussion paper series,26 PARIS21 published reports on measuring statistical capacity development, financing of national statistics, and emerging labour market data sources. Additionally, PARIS21 assisted in the creation of advocacy materials for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and São Tomé and Príncipe, amongst others.

6.3 PARIS21 BULLETIN, NEWS FLASHES AND BLOGS

The PARIS21 Bulletin27 (previously known as the newsletter) continued to be an important point of contact between the Secretariat and its partners. Two bulletins newsletters (one spring and one autumn edition) were sent out in 2018 to nearly 4 000 individuals, generating significant website traffic and feedback.

News Flashes remained a central part of PARIS21’s communication outreach and provided an effective way to promote events, new publications and online editorials.

In 2018, PARIS21 started blogging on Medium. This platform allows PARIS21 to reach a wider audience (nearly 60 million visitors per month) and share data, statistics and development-related news with the general public. One blog post28 was published in 2018 and focused on data protection. Additional blogs were published on data for development in Canada29 and the need for strong official statistics in an attention-seeking society.30 The Secretariat also launched a five-part webinar series “Beyond the Numbers: Harnessing Data for the SDGs”31 with Open Data Watch (ODW) and Cepei.

25 https://soundcloud.com/paris21-datatalk

26 http://paris21.org/paris21-discussion-and-strategy-papers

27 http://paris21.org/news-centre/newsletter

28 https://medium.com/@jo.jutting/making-data-protection-work-why-we-need-to-get-paid-for-our-data-

e90fc719a3bb

29 https://www.idrc.ca/en/resources/perspectives/oecds-development-co-operation-report-highlights-critical-role-

data-achieve

30 http://paris21.org/news-center/news/trust-numbers-why-we-need-strong-official-statistics-attention-seeking-

society

31 http://paris21.org/webinar-series-beyond-numbers-harnessing-data-sdgs

IV

SECRETARIAT PROGRAMME OF WORK & BUDGET (2019)

50 | Secretariat Programme of Work and Budget (2019)


IV. PROPOSED PARIS21 SECRETARIAT PROGRAMME OF WORK &

BUDGET (2019)

Point for approval

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................... 56

1. PROGRAMME OF WORK .......................................................................................................................................... 56

1.1 BUILDING ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PARTNERS.................................................................................................... 56 1.2 SELECTING COUNTRIES .............................................................................................................................................. 58 1.3 PILLAR 1: KNOWLEDGE-SHARING AND INNOVATION INCUBATOR ............................................................................ 59 1.4 PILLAR 2: ADVOCACY ................................................................................................................................................. 62 1.5 PILLAR 3: CO-ORDINATION AND MONITORING ......................................................................................................... 63 1.6 PILLAR 4: TECHNICAL SUPPORT .................................................................................................................................. 65

2. COMMUNICATIONS ................................................................................................................................................. 66

3. MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET .................................................................................................................................. 66


PARIS21: HEEDING THE CALL TO CHANGE

The year ahead: towards impact, influence and visibility

Since its founding, PARIS21 has never worked in a more dynamic or challenging environment. We are witnessing a declining trust in government, evidence-based decision making and official statistics. The “post truth” phenomenon is taking hold in citizens’ minds. Official statistics are fighting for airtime amongst the slew of instantaneous digital data from social media and the 24-hour news cycle. There are more data producers in the data ecosystem than ever before, and new actors who are as eager as we are to advance the data for development agenda. At the same time, new technologies and innovations are creating exciting opportunities.

These rapid and dramatic changes, both external and internal to our organisation, are generating challenges and opportunities alike. The need to modernise national statistical systems (NSSs) is clear and urgent, as is our need to adapt as an organisation to continue thriving. We are committed to developing our own capacities in this sense – we are changing frameworks, using our Country Prioritisation System to focus efforts where the need is greatest, and revisiting our working methods and the way we share our progress.

PARIS21 has already amassed much of what is needed to execute this current push for impact, influence and visibility. After twenty years of strengthening statistical systems in developing countries, we have developed deep knowledge and expertise on data for development nationally, regionally and globally. We have seen important advancements in the sector that, along with partners and other actors, we have had a hand in achieving. This is encouraging, even though we acknowledge that developing countries still suffer from a lack of resources for statistical systems and therefore from a limited statistical culture. Considering these needs, the operational backdrop described above and an overall reduction in donor budgets, this programme of

work commits us to transformation, innovation and bettering our already solid past performance.

Making the case to both decision makers and citizens for more support to and trust in statistics will be critical. This requires PARIS21 to adopt a more robust and integrated communication approach that can better capture the value of official statistics in the development landscape as well as the threats, and that can highlight what is needed to achieve national and global targets through better data. We will create compelling messaging, narratives and content that draw on our presence at all levels of the system — nationally, regionally and globally – and showcase our unique impact and perspective. Over time, this will carve out a singular space within the data for development landscape that PARIS21 can claim. From there, we can showcase our knowledge, promote our impact, attract new partners, advocate, and create a sense of urgency around the work we do.

What will we be doing in 2019?

Following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, data became a source of hope for the development community. The Millennium Development Goals were plagued by data shortfalls and consequent monitoring challenges. The expectations of achieving the SDGs are rooted in the availability of more and better data: the more the international community is able to measure progress, the easier it will be to identify gaps, target interventions and

“After twenty

years of

strengthening

statistical systems

in developing

countries, we

have developed

deep knowledge

and expertise on

data for

development

nationally,

regionally and

globally.”


therefore achieve success. The pressure is on to deliver data that can help achieve the goals.

Our response to this call is to introduce several new flagship activities in 2019:

A “Data Scientist” pilot project will provide national statistical offices (NSOs) with innovative data science solutions for nagging data issues, to augment available data files, and to improve how data is curated and disseminated.

An e-learning platform will amplify our knowledge sharing and capacity building by putting critical knowledge online, including content and access for the SDMX & Data Flows Assessment Framework (DFAF), ADAPT, and content on innovation, NSDS, communication and other learning tools.

A flagship report, the Statistical Capacity Development Outlook will be launched. Using a thematic chapter based on analytical work and an open repository, the Statistical Capacity Monitor, the report will gather, curate and disseminate PARIS21’s knowledge base to key stakeholders.

A new online Data Journalists Network will boost their ability to use statistics in reporting in developing countries as well as to improve data literacy among reporters, and by extension, the general population. Starting with journalists trained over the years in Africa, the programme will eventually widen to other regions.

A new statistical literacy programme to be piloted in Grenada following the country’s request to measure and improve statistical literacy in schools. This will deepen and inform future work in the area.

PARIS21 will continue to support countries and partners with NSDSs, using our advanced planning tool, ADAPT. To date, more than 90 developing countries are currently implementing an NSDS. Nonetheless, additional funding, instruments and approaches are needed to help countries manage challenges emerging from both national and international agendas. According to our most recent Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS), despite the increased focus on data, financial support to the development of statistical systems has stagnated at USD 623 million (2016), equivalent to 0.33% of official development

assistance (ODA). This has changed little since last decade’s average of 0.30%.

Through the PRESS, which in 2019 will feature an enhanced chapter dedicated to gender data, PARIS21 will continue to monitor resource flows and engage with new partners in our work programme to advocate for more financial resources for data systems. We will also work with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to improve reporting on statistical capacity funding.

We also plan to work with academia on big data and innovation and with civil society organisations (CSOs) on citizen-generated data. These new actors from academia, CSOs, foundations and the private sector are already contributing to the expansion of the data ecosystem and can also help generate interest and investment. In addition, they bring skills, infrastructure and capacities that fill important data gaps. They are introducing alternative data sources, and innovative processes and technologies to complement traditional ways of producing and disseminating data.

One positive development in the sector is the adoption of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data in 2017, a global strategy to address statistical capacity building needs such as data disaggregation for planning, and for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development implementation. PARIS21 will be a key player in these highly influential and visible activities, as well as through our work as a permanent issue partner of the United Nations High-Level Group on Partnership, Co-ordination and Capacity Building (HLG-PCCB).

How are we going to deliver these initiatives?

The data ecosystem has changed. There are a plethora of new, unstructured data sources and

“Despite the

increased focus

on data, financial

support to the

development of

statistical systems

is stagnant at

USD 623

million.”


demands from emerging actors and data users (NGOs, civil society, citizens). This, in turn, requires a new business model for official statistics. The data for development community needs to rethink the way data is perceived and explore innovative ways of fortifying statistical systems – with both technical and soft skills. This calls for building bridges between new and traditional actors of the NSS using trust earned through win-win co-ordination and collaborations, advocacy, national and international dialogue, and legal frameworks and procedures. For PARIS21, in particular, this means we will consolidate and improve on our methodologies to ensure greater results for NSSs.

In 2019, our Country Report on Support to Statistics (CRESS) will update its methodology based on what we have learned from implementation over recent years. With a goal of reaching more users, the improved methodology will be made publicly available and an analytical implementation report will be added so more partners can take advantage of the tool. It will also be rolled out in five new countries: Bangladesh, Gabon, Lao PDR, Madagascar and Mongolia.

With SDG data demands and the data ecosystem shifting, we have committed to help design and cost NSDSs using ADAPT in 19 countries across 3 regions. This goes some way towards improving our cumulative impact by helping countries develop better NSDSs that take into account the true cost of the SDGs. ADAPT will also benefit from methodological improvements: a Task Team will design and set up the first data unit cost database for conceptualising and operationalising costing, budgeting and funding within the tool.

This year, we also plan to improve the way we communicate to increase the reach and relevance of PARIS21’s activities. We will aim to better leverage recurring events to position PARIS21 as a thought leader and convener around the most pressing issues for official statistics today. Our 2019 Cross Regional Forum, for example, will look into the central question of trust in data and its implications in today’s societies. Ideally, this more deliberate approach to positioning the Secretariat and its ideas will yield dividends in terms of visibility, fundraising and relevance. In fact, as proof of our growing relevance, PARIS21 is asked to join more and more expert groups, the latest of which is the Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics (EGRIS) to

build on its NSDS capacity and improve NSS co-ordination around this critical, ongoing issue.

To ensure trust in traditional data and assume a co-ordination role in the data ecosystem, NSOs need more resources, capacities and leadership. Through leadership training and human resource strategies, PARIS21 will support NSOs as they face these challenges. In 2019, our data communication and statistical literacy programmes will continue to engage journalists and, for the first time, high school students, thus aiding NSOs in fostering dialogue with citizens, media, policy makers, and CSOs. These same programmes will help ensure that data are produced following sound methodologies and that users are able to differentiate between false and trustworthy numbers.

Who will be involved?

Global problems require multilateral actions. As a global partnership, the PARIS21 Secretariat is well placed to respond to data challenges, especially by forging partnerships with other influential players. This year, with a view to engaging emerging actors and forces in the data ecosystem, PARIS21 will produce a paper on citizen generated data (CGD) and investigate the integration of citizen-generated and big data in NSO activities. We have committed to gathering the various data producers and providing NSOs with guidelines for fostering innovation. Our work with new actors will allow us to more holistically control and contest emerging issues around fake news, information mistrust and a general misunderstanding of statistical concepts that have put official statistics at risk. This places us at the centre of one of the most influential and visible conversations, with some of the most influential and visible players.

In collaboration with other development partners, PARIS21 will continue to provide targeted support to countries through: the development of guidelines on NSS co-ordination and statistical legislation; advocacy (most prominently through the Statistical Capacity Development Outlook); our

“To ensure trust

in traditional

data and assume

a co-ordination

role in the data

ecosystem, NSOs

need more

resources,

capacities and

leadership.”


data portal - the Statistical Capacity Monitor; new measurements on the use of data and governance statistics through the work of the Praia City Group; innovations in data production, analysis and dissemination; knowledge- and experience- sharing at our regional and cross-regional events; and technical support. The 2030 deadline is looming large and demanding domestic support for an internationally collaborative approach to national data ecosystems. PARIS21 and partners must deliver support for both agendas and at both levels. The Study on a Data Acceleration Facility should contribute to advancing these efforts.

Following the approval of PARIS21’s 2016-2020 Strategy at the 2015 Annual Meetings, the Secretariat structured its work programme around the strategy’s four pillars: knowledge-sharing and innovation incubator, advocacy, co-ordination and monitoring, and technical support. This integrated and holistic work programme aims to improve the efficacy and efficiency of our work strengthening systems and developing capacity across NSSs in developing countries. Implementation guidelines for Capacity Development 4.0 will be developed helping us identify approaches for the new strategy whose building blocks we will start discussing with partners this year to ensure a robust, targeted and collaborative approach.

After three years implementing our strategy, PARIS21 is set to deepen its impact and influence in the data for development landscape under a new mandate and strategic direction. We plan on smarter working, clearer communication, wider knowledge promotion and better prioritisation. All this in addition to delivering on a robust programme of work, as in years past. We have developed critical tools and guidelines for NSSs and, as a result, have become even more of a central player. We know, because demand for our support grows year-on-year and indeed outpaces our capacity. We are seeing more partnerships crop up at country level, and globally there has been an increased interest in our work from new players and the overall data for development agenda. Implementing the POW 2019 will help PARIS21 consolidate those victories, build our unique position and value through better storytelling, and identify new trends and needs to work on in the coming years.

56 | Secretariat Programme of Work & Budget (2019)

INTRODUCTION

Since the approval of PARIS21’s 2016-2020 Strategy at the 2015 Annual Meetings, the PARIS21 Secretariat has structured its work programme on the strategy’s four pillars: knowledge-sharing and innovation incubator, advocacy, co-ordination and monitoring, and technical support.

This document contains the proposal for a detailed work programme of activities for the PARIS21 Secretariat in 2019, based on currently available funding. It starts by outlining the programme of work, organised by the four pillars, before discussing communication, management and budget issues.

1. PROGRAMME OF WORK

Through the implementation of the four pillars of the PARIS21 strategy, the Programme of Wok (POW) aims to help strengthen systems and develop capacity across the national statistical systems (NSSs) in developing countries. These activities have been selected based on several criteria, in particular: follow-up from activities undertaken in the previous year (e.g. institutional strengthening when an NSS assessment was done in the previous year); a firm written request from countries with specific timelines; the secured involvement of other partners; an adequate implementation of the strategy’s four pillars; and the well-balanced distribution of activities among regions. However, in many cases, the activities proposed depend on the level of political advancement underpinning their launch and implementation at the national or regional level and might suffer considerable delays or cancellation due to shifting priorities. Therefore, the POW needs to remain flexible to adapt to these changing realities.

It should be noted that in addition to the EUR 4.26 million already in hand, the Secretariat is currently in the final phases of negotiating an additional contribution from the UK, amounting to EUR 1.65 million (see Table 6 at the end of the report).

1.1 BUILDING ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PARTNERS

The programme activities will be implemented in close collaboration with the following partners.

African Development Bank

Synergies with the African Development Bank (AfDB) on regional events are being established, in particular for the co-organisation of two sub-regional ADAPT trainings. In addition, PARIS21 will continue to collaborate with the AfDB on NSDS developments and evaluations throughout the African continent.

Asian Development Bank

Collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) involves the piloting of big data in selected Asian member countries.

Eurostat

Eurostat provides co-funding for several activities and is a close partner in the implementation of peer reviews in Africa. Eurostat is also contributing to a peer review with Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC).


Global Affairs Canada

Through funding from Global Affairs Canada, the Secretariat will collaborate with Statistics Canada to identify common areas of intervention and resource personnel for ad-hoc interventions in countries, provide expert review of documents, and develop joint events in regional and international fora. Collaboration on citizen generated data and quality assurance frameworks will be enhanced at the regional level in both Africa and potentially Asia.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF is a regular contributor to the PRESS report and provides support for the production of the Statistical Capacity Development Outlook 2019, featuring the experience of the Data for Decisions (D4D) fund and insights from IMF indicators on capacity and capacity development centres. As founding member of PARIS21, the IMF also contributes actively to the partnerships efforts in advocating for more and better funding for development data.

Inter-American Development Bank

Collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) involves the development of selected NSDSs in the Caribbean region. Further and wider collaboration will be considered in a specific meeting in March 2019.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in addition to hosting PARIS21, provides guidance to the Secretariat, expertise in the development of various tools and information on commitments from partners, which feeds into the Partner Report on Support for Statistics (PRESS). In addition, the work of the Development Assistance Committee Informal Group on Development Data will be heavily informed by PARIS21. The Secretariat is also expecting to contribute a chapter on data in the next Development Co-operation Report. Finally, PARIS21 will work with the OECD Development Centre on upcoming Multidimensional Country Reviews (MDCRs) in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic (the latter subject to confirmation from the country). As a follow up to its contribution to the MDCR of Paraguay, PARIS21 will undertake further activities to support DGEEC (Paraguay’s NSO) to strengthen its institutional framework.

Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP)

Long-standing collaboration with SIAP will continue in 2019 – not only to involve the organisation and co-financing of regional trainings on NSDS and leadership, but also to extend to fostering innovation, and data communication and visualisation for selected member countries.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Following its funding of the Study on a Global Fund for Statistical Capacity, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will be funding core activities of the programme of work. In addition, PARIS21 collaborates closely with Switzerland over the country’s national advocacy for statistics, over the Capacity Development task team at UNECE and over co-ordination in countries such as the Kyrgyz Republic.


UN Statistics Division (UNSD)

UNSD engagement with PARIS21 takes place at multiple levels. Globally, PARIS21 supports the work of UNSD and the High Level Group on Partnership, Coordination and Capacity Building (HLG-PCCB). PARIS21 is contributing to the Handbook for Statistical Organisations and is a regular contributor to the division’s SDG reports. It also mobilises country representatives every year to participate in the UN Statistical Commission. After collaboration on two global surveys in 2018 (on future NSO capacity needs and NSO compliance to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics), PARIS21 will work with UNSD to expand the coverage of these assessments. UNSD and PARIS21 are collaborating in the deployment of ADAPT in several countries, and ADAPT supports the UNSD SDG readiness assessment methodology. PARIS21 also participates in several UNSD initiatives, including the SMDX group and the Global Working Group on Big Data.

UK Department for International Development (DfID)

In addition to funding, DfID will facilitate interventions for advocacy, and actively contribute to and chair the NSDS Expert Reference Group. The use of Office of National Statistics (ONS) technical experts in selected activities, when available, is under discussion; collaboration on leadership training in Africa with UK ONS staff has also been discussed. PARIS21 will also provide advice to DfID statistical advisers in countries, upon request.

World Bank

Collaboration with the World Bank country offices on their various statistical programmes takes place in the form of technical co-ordination. The collaboration with the Development Data Group advances international advocacy efforts and expert reviews. Further collaboration with the Research Support Budget (RSB) is also under consideration.

Other partners

For new topics, such as Capacity Development 4.0, the Secretariat may team up with new partners including those from the private sector, non-government organisations (NGOs) and foundations. At the country level, the key implementation partners will remain actors from the NSS, often the NSO along with civil society organisations (CSOs). At the regional level, partners include member organisations such as the African Union Commission (AUC), Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Pacific Community (SPC), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC); technical organisations such the Observatoire économique et statistique d'Afrique subsaharienne (AFRISTAT); and UN Economic Commissions, in particular the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC). Although many of the bilateral donor partners may not directly engage with the Secretariat in implementing activities, they have a strong role to play in championing and advocating for the activities of PARIS21.

1.2 SELECTING COUNTRIES

PARIS21’s country level activities are based on direct formal requests from countries, most of them coming from Heads of National Statistical Offices. However, the demand for support is larger than the Secretariat’s funding availability and therefore a prioritisation process for country interventions is used. The Country Prioritisation System uses a set of qualitative and quantitative variables to determine priority countries:


Income group: low-income countries, all African countries, low and middle-income countries

(LMIC) and/or International Development Association (IDA) and blend countries – being a low-

income country increases its likelihood of being selected

Country status: economies that are fragile states, small island developing states (SIDS), or

landlocked developing states increase the likelihood of being selected

The status of the NSS in terms of governance (i.e. statistical legislation, NSS), advocacy and

communication activities (i.e. website, social media), data management and dissemination (i.e.

statistical standards, data platforms), national and international financial support to statistics

(Country Report on Support to Statistics - CRESS).

Additional considerations used to prioritise countries include:

Assessing the opportunities for sustained support, particularly for countries with weak

institutional capacity (ability to continue to engage with the countries in the case of a long

process: e.g. NSDS preparation process; and likelihood of feedback on implementation from

the regional co-ordinators)

Whether the request has been submitted to another development partner before further

engagement

Whether including the country will contribute to the regional balance of the Secretariat’s

activities

Opportunities to leverage the country’s existing partners to accomplish the country activities

to maximise impact and reduce duplication.

This process helps to prioritise countries for PARIS21 to decide on interventions. Currently it covers 167 countries worldwide. Activities planned in 2019 will take place in the highest 10% of priority countries. However, this figure might change once countries have been confirmed, in particular for regional activities.

1.3 PILLAR 1: KNOWLEDGE-SHARING AND INNOVATION INCUBATOR

Integrating innovation

PARIS21 will continue to provide support to the Praia City Group on Governance Statistics and its Steering Committee. In particular, it will contribute to several chapters and lead on the chapter on “openness” in the Handbook on Governance Statistics. This work will be essential in encouraging NSO uptake of this topic. The draft handbook is expected to be finalised by June 2019, at which point it will be subjected to global consultations with the assistance of UNSD.

The Secretariat will continue to promote innovation within NSOs. It will publish its guidelines on “Understanding data innovation in National Statistical Offices” with several case studies. Following a successful pilot in 2018, a corresponding training for high-level NSO managers will be delivered in partnership with SIAP.

PARIS21 will continue its investigation of using new data sources for NSSs, in particular through a regional event on big data for SDGs in Asia, in collaboration with the ADB.

Geospatial data and its use in statistics has gathered importance in recent years. However, there are debates regarding the best institutional model for dealing with geospatial issues at the planning and


strategic level – both political and security considerations come into play. Some NSOs have integrated the geospatial functionality into the NSO, while other countries have separate processes. In close relation with ongoing initiatives, in particular under the auspices of the UN-GGIM, the Secretariat will produce a paper and organise a workshop to look at the considerations for integrating geospatial functions with statistical functions.

Still on new data sources, the Secretariat plans to produce a paper on citizen generated data (CGD) and its use at the subnational level, and will organise a national workshop in the Philippines to discuss the issue. An administrative data seminar is also planned in the Asia and Pacific region at the country level, as a follow up to a paper on case studies on country practices in using administrative data to monitor SDG indicators. PARIS21 will organise a regional Administrative Data Workshop on the same topic in partnership with ECLAC, the CAN region, and the Central American Integration System (SICA). This fits within the adopted priority areas for the South American region and in particular, the CEA work programme for 2018.

PISTA, the Platform for Innovations in Statistics, will receive new content in 2019, and its quality control will be enhanced. Most importantly, PISTA will graduate to a community-based platform through stronger collaboration with think tanks and universities in the developing world to ensure wider use and sustainability. A suite of activities will be implemented in Jalisco, Mexico, to bring together a community of data innovators. Partnerships are being established between local universities, incubators of innovators, and official data agencies to help mobilise innovative thinking and solutions to fix current data problems. In particular, a hackathon on geospatial data will be organised. A localised PISTA with an associated community will be created through these activities.

2019 will see the Secretariat implement a new “Data Scientist” pilot project for the first time, involving two volunteer NSOs. The objective is to bring innovative data science solutions to NSOs to fix long-standing data issues, augment available data files, and improve how data is curated and made available. This will be done by leveraging global and local expertise in five selected areas:

Data preparation: Using data science to improve the efficiency of data collection, transformation and preparation.

Improving current methodology: Using data science to improve sampling and survey methodology.

Revisiting existing data: Mining large micro data sets for new information and better quality. This includes techniques such as text mining, machine learning/image recognition, and future projections.

Creating augmented data: Using big data methods to collect clusters of data to produce new indicators, including using geospatial data for demographic, poverty and environmental statistics, and citizen generated data.

Data visualisation and presentation using new tools, including open source tools such as D3, Python and R.

NSOs will choose from this menu according to their country priorities and PARIS21 will help identify and post mid-term assignments of data scientists. A workshop will be organised at the end of 2019 to discuss lessons learnt and possible replication and/or scaling-up in 2020. Discussions have also started with some regional organisations to sustain their support, should the pilot prove successful.

Finally, the Secretariat will continue its focus on innovation by promoting the use of ADAPT at the global and regional levels to play a pivotal role to help data agencies leverage innovations. The Secretariat will also develop a gender module in ADAPT. The on-going collaboration with UNSD and UNDP will continue – the aim being to use webinars and training sessions to promote the wider use of


ADAPT with more users in more countries, building on each partner’s existing programmes and activities. ADAPT country support is planned in Benin, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malawi, Myanmar Niger, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Zambia. Countries already using ADAPT (including Cambodia, Mongolia, etc.) will continue to receive support as required. Subnational support for ADAPT is also planned in Mexico.

Making data available and understandable

PARIS21 will develop an e-learning platform that includes content for and access to the SDMX & Data Flows Assessment Framework (DFAF). This e-learning platform is an important element for the work of the Secretariat. Building on the successful use of the NSDS Guidelines website, PARIS21 will systematically make its knowledge available on the e-learning platform as soon as the work stream has been used in countries and can be followed remotely. In addition to ADAPT, it will include content on innovation, NSDS, communication and other learning tools. This e-learning feature is expected to play a strong role in the upcoming strategy, and work and feedback on it in 2019 will be essential. In the future, the Secretariat aims to make an increasing amount of material available via e-learning, which will build on partners’ inputs, outputs and processes to avoid duplication and leverage existing resources.

To support NSOs in improving their communication, the Secretariat will further develop its Toolkit on "communicating with data" to help NSO staff and top management speak and write about data and to improve the overall use of data. Unless data are widely and clearly communicated, they will not be used.

The Secretariat will also provide country-specific support by developing a Communications Strategy in Cameroon and Rwanda to help them better manage media and social media and to harmonise communications materials. A user-friendly online advocacy toolkit for both global and regional advocacy on NSSs, as well as for country level use, will also be developed to facilitate scaling up of this activity. Building on past activities focusing on the media, PARIS21 will also develop a Data Journalists Network to enhance data literacy and the use of statistics in the media in developing countries. This online-based network will have a physical launch meeting and will build on partnerships with developed country data journalists, in particular the European Journalism Centre with whom an e-learning course on official statistics will be developed and piloted in Nepal. The network will begin with the journalists trained over the years in Africa and widen to other regions.

Guidelines and best practices issues

PARIS21 will organise a cross regional forum in October 2019 on the use of statistics and their impact, looking into the central question of trust in data and its implications for society today. The cross regional forum will bring together participants from different regions to share perspectives and experiences. Participants will be primarily managers from NSOs, data scientists, the media, government officials and representatives from donor and technical co-operation agencies. Previous cross regional fora have focused on relevant issues for statistical development, including modernisation, subnational statistics, financing and SDG implementation.

The Secretariat will also develop and share guidelines and best practices to facilitate knowledge sharing and mutual learning across countries as indicated in the various activities described in this report.


1.4 PILLAR 2: ADVOCACY

Global advocacy

In its efforts to provide more knowledge and a more comprehensive framework on statistical capacity, in 2019 PARIS21 will produce a flagship report on statistical capacity, the Statistical Capacity Development Outlook. This flagship report aims to become an important resource for designing and disseminating PARIS21’s knowledge base among different stakeholders (beneficiary countries, main financial and technical development partners in statistical capacity, academia, and the private sector). The report will provide a basis for developing knowledge and structuring a variety of the products developed by PARIS21 and its partners into a coherent and accessible form. It will include a thematic chapter drawing on analytical work, and will be complemented by a knowledge base/open repository – the Capacity Development Monitor – that will compile and systematically present the main trends and new developments in statistical capacity development, based on the CD4.0 framework.

The Secretariat will continue, in accordance with its 2016-2020 Strategy, to pay particular attention to fragile states. It plans to update its strategy based on its experience and lessons learned from implementing activities covering countries in fragile situations. The Secretariat will also benefit from the work done by partners and international organisations to consolidate its strategy, in particular the 2019 forthcoming OECD States of Fragility report.

As part of its global advocacy and dissemination of its guidelines and knowledge products, PARIS21 will attend and/or support international and regional events such as the 3rd High Level Advocacy Forum on Statistics in the Caribbean, the 44th Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians Meeting; the 9th ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Committee Meeting; the Committee of DGs in Africa; the ESCAP Conference; AfDB, AUC and UNECA meetings; as well as the High Level Political Forum (HLPF). The Secretariat will enhance the exposure of NSO Director Generals to international events such as the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC), the PARIS21 Annual Meetings and other regional platforms, thereby providing a setting in which to voice the realities of NSSs.

Following on from the first brokered meeting in 2017 under the auspices of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, PARIS21 will collaborate with the Pacific Community and CARICOM to strengthen collaboration within UNSC through the establishment of a SIDS co-operation platform. This will be done in co-operation with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) SIDS Unit. It will also support the establishment of regional statistical co-operation in Africa and the Indian Ocean SIDS.

PARIS21 will be involved in the follow-up of the High-Level Bern Dialogue on Financing for Development Data, advocating for more robust and better funding for national statistical systems in low-income countries. As a founding member and a member of two task teams, the Secretariat will continue contributing to the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST). Its goal is to promote a more harmonised approach and identify and address critical capacity gaps among data producers and users by leveraging the expertise of the existing global, regional and national training centres. PARIS21 will also finalise a paper on "Data dissemination in the digital age: are data portals working for official statistics?" to gather insights in order to continue advocating for the better dissemination and use of official statistics. This follows the positive feedback on its 2016 paper “Making data portals work for SDGs: A view on deployment, design and technology”.32

32 https://paris21.org/news-center/news/discussion-paper-data-portals-sdgs.


Communication

In 2019, communication will remain an important part of the Secretariat’s activities, being critical to disseminate its activities and NSS success stories and facilitate advocacy for statistics support. The Secretariat will continue organising side events and webinars as part of its advocacy.

Engaging with new actors

The Secretariat will continue its new Statistics School Survey in Africa, Asia and Latin America on NSDS awareness to make young statisticians more familiar with strategic planning in statistics. In 2019, the survey will also look into the career paths of graduates based on available data for recent years. Discussions are ongoing for the potential presentation of this work at regional and global events. This work will also be an important part of the “youth” focus currently being considered as an element of the future strategy of PARIS21.

PARIS21 will enter the second phase of its collaboration with Partners for Review to develop a CD4.0 roadmap at the country level. The objective of the roadmap will be to develop the capacity of traditional and new actors in the data ecosystem to meet both national and international data demand. Specific country implementation is currently under discussion, potentially in Kenya.

Finally, PARIS21 was asked to join the Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics (EGRIS) to build on its NSDS capacity and improve national statistical system co-ordination on this sensitive issue. PARIS21 will contribute to the Compiler’s Manual based on the International Recommendations for Refugee Statistics (IRRS) adopted by UNSC. The group was established with a mandate from UNSC in response to the growing numbers of forcibly displaced persons worldwide and the persistent challenges of producing statistics on them.

1.5 PILLAR 3: CO-ORDINATION AND MONITORING

Global monitoring

PARIS21 will continue its work on indicators and framework monitoring. The Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS) indicators and DfID logframes will be updated. In addition, PARIS21 will develop a monitoring and evaluation framework with indicators that better reflect the evolving nature of its activities; this will feed into the development of its new strategy.

As part of its statistics advocacy, the Secretariat will work on valuing statistics using an evidence-based methodology to measure the use of statistics in policy making. With regard to statistical literacy, in addition to its global indicator, PARIS21 will pilot work on measuring statistical literacy in Grenada following the country’s request to measure and improve statistical literacy within schools. This pilot will inform this growing area of interest for PARIS21.

PARIS21 will also continue with its SDG reporting as custodian agency for the SDG indicators on statistical legislation (indicator 17.18.2), national statistical plans (17.18.3) and funding dedicated to support statistics in developing countries (17.19.1).

In order to monitor the financial support to statistics, the Secretariat will roll out the Country Report on Support to Statistics (CRESS) in Bangladesh, Gabon, Lao PDR, Madagascar and Mongolia. In addition, the CRESS methodology will be updated based on its successful implementation in several countries in


recent years. In particular, the methodology will be made publicly available and an analytical report of the implementation so far will be drafted so that more partners can use and implement this useful tool.

At the global level, the Secretariat will conduct and disseminate the main findings of the 2019 PRESS. For this year’s edition, the Secretariat will produce a chapter dedicated to gender data. The online questionnaire that facilitates data collection was opened in September 2018 and results will be available in the first quarter of 2019. PARIS21 partners play a key role in providing the source data for this report, with the largest providers of support to statistics sitting on the PARIS21 Board: Canada, the United Kingdom, European Commission (Eurostat), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank. In addition, the PRESS results will feed into the Statistical Capacity Development Outlook.

Stakeholder co-ordination

PARIS21 will organise the annual board meeting and regular executive committee meetings; produce reports relevant to the UNSC, regional organisation meetings, OECD and other partners; as well as undertake outreach missions.

NSS peer reviews

The Secretariat will conduct an NSS Peer Review in Pakistan following the re-organisation of its NSS. In addition, NSS assessments and evaluations (sectoral statistics) will be conducted in Sri Lanka. A further peer review is currently in discussion with SESRIC. Continued collaboration will be pursued with the AUC on the well-established peer reviews in the continent.

NSDS/RSDS

PARIS21 will continue to support countries in this important strategic planning exercise, which is at the core of its activities, especially in an era dominated by the SDGs and an evolving data ecosystem. In 2019, the Secretariat will assist in the design, costing (using ADAPT), review, implementation, evaluation and/or dissemination of NSDSs in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Republic, Comoros, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Honduras, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, Togo and Zambia.

The Secretariat will also conduct gender statistics assessments in Dominican Republic, Egypt, Maldives and Senegal, as part of its UN Women project.

At the regional level, the Secretariat will organise a regional workshop on NSDS in the CAN region (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) to support statistical development in the region with a focus on the use of administrative data.

PARIS21 will conduct the 6th Regional NSDS Trainings in Asia and Pacific as well as a training in the Caribbean Region using ADAPT. The implementation of the SIDS guidelines for a lighter NSDS33 for certain countries will also be used in the Caribbean training and for Pacific participants in the Asia/Pacific training. NSDS costing will also feature prominently in this Asia/Pacific training.

33 http://paris21.org/news-center/news/release-new-nsds-guidelines-sids

http://paris21.org/news-center/news/release-new-nsds-guidelines-sids


In Central America, PARIS21 will organise a SICA-CENTROESTAD NSDS workshop to bring together member countries to discuss the development of the NSDS. The workshop will seek to develop regional guidelines in data dissemination policies and approaches to census planning (relevant to the 2020 round of censuses).

PARIS21 will also support the dissemination of the CARICOM RSDS that it helped develop last year, and will support the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) in evaluating its 2014-2018 strategic plan. The goal is to develop a new country support strategy that fits better with expectations in the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data (CTGAP) and will also feed into the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST) membership held by PARIS21.

PARIS21 will continue to update the NSDS Guidelines following the approval of the NSDS Guidelines Expert Reference Group. The reference group will be shared in 2019 by DfID, which builds on NSDSs in its country activities.

SDG data readiness

PARIS21 will continue its engagement to support countries in SDG implementation and monitoring. The Secretariat will provide ADAPT support for SDG assessments in Benin, Egypt and South Africa.

It will organise a regional workshop to introduce ADAPT in the SICA region and at a subnational level in Mexico, and will also run a regional training in Asia. The Secretariat will continue to provide ADAPT expertise to UNSD in the context of their project to measure SDG data readiness and improve data availability.

1.6 PILLAR 4: TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Strengthening statistical institutions

PARIS21 will organise a regional workshop for East African countries on human resource management, as well as one for West African countries. These workshops will be held in collaboration with partners such as Afristat, Statistics Canada and France’s Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE).

Updating statistical laws

The work of the Secretariat on Legislation and Legal Framework will continue, with the development of Guidelines on Statistical Laws drawing on the experiences and lessons learned on implementing reviews of the statistical legislation in various countries (e.g. Grenada, Somalia). This work is essential as a coherent addition to PARIS21’s work on the SDG indicator on statistical legislation. Supporting the NSS through the strengthening and modernisation of their statistical legislation and other statistical policy frameworks is essential as it enhances the co-ordination role of the NSO, limits misuse of data and ensures citizen access to data. In this regard, PARIS21 will undertake a Statistics Law Review and Revision in Mongolia, in the Asia and Pacific region.

Guidelines on NSS co-ordination will also be developed to improve the inclusiveness of the NSS.

Strengthening statistical institutions

Leadership has been recognised as a priority area in both the CTGAP strategic area and the capacity building survey undertaken by the HLG-PCCB. The Secretariat will therefore conduct Statistical Leadership Trainings in Asia/Pacific as well as in Africa.


PARIS21 will support the mapping of SDG indicators in Lao DPR, Myanmar and Sri Lanka using ADAPT and drawing on the national development plan and input data available in the national data system, as part of the national planning process.

The Secretariat will establish a task team to look at "Costing Data and Statistical Systems" for the conceptualisation and operationalisation of costing, budgeting and funding in ADAPT. The task team will, in particular, design and set up the first data unit cost database. The working modality of task teams – involving a consultative process with experts and country beneficiaries – has proven useful in advancing new concepts while ensuring relevance, feasibility and comprehensiveness.

2. COMMUNICATIONS

In 2019, the Secretariat will initiate important upgrades in its communication programme, in addition to continuing its advocacy efforts and communications support to NSOs and regional statistical bodies. The communications team will work to increase the reach and relevance of PARIS21’s activities with partners and other stakeholders through social media platforms. This will include the complete revamping of the website for the NSDS; creating further PARIS21 Data Talk podcasts; blogging and increasing media coverage; and leveraging its periodic knowledge publication, the PARIS21 Bulletin, which showcases the latest tools, knowledge, results, opinions and information from the Secretariat and its partners. In addition, a series of knowledge briefs will be issued on issues in which PARIS21 has developed expertise and knowledge.

3. MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

Fundraising will continue to play a key role among the tasks involved in managing the day-to-day operations of the Secretariat. The Secretariat will work to bridge the funding gap, in particular by trying to diversify the group of supporters and seeking multi-annual unearmarked support.

The Secretariat will also continue to implement a systematic fundraising campaign to mobilise the financial resources necessary to carry out the directives given to it by the Board and Executive Committee.

In 2019, the Secretariat’s proposed Programme of Work will need a slightly higher budget than the funds available as there are a number of voluntary contributions that are currently under negotiation. The EUR 7 million funding objective agreed in the 2016-2018 strategy proven unattainable in the current economic climate. The overall budget for 2019 has increased from 2018 to EUR 5.03 million (Table 5), which is an increase of EUR 470 000.

The activities planned with this budget are described in Sections 1 and 2. They ensure comprehensive coverage of the strategy’s pillars and types of activities, as well as balanced regional representation. These activities break down into 47% non-staff costs and 53% staff costs, including all funding. Activities under the UN Women-funded project “Gender in statistics: making every woman and girl count” will be underway by the third quarter of 2019, and they are presented as an earmarked project separate to the Secretariat’s core budget activities, although many of the activities are cross-cutting.

In 2018, the Secretariat received funds from Switzerland, Korea, UN Women, Norway, GIZ and Open Data Watch and has confirmed new funding from DfID for 2019-2021. The Secretariat is currently in discussions with the UN FAO, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Sweden, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and GIZ for potential funding. These discussions are at different stages and are not yet concluded, so the mentioned amounts in Table 6 are indicative and not included in the EUR 4.26 million in hand for 2019.


In addition to the funding needed to implement the 2019 Programme of Work, the Secretariat needs to ensure that it has sufficient further funds at its disposal for all the necessary budget commitments for continuing its programme in 2020 (in particular extending staff contracts to the end of 2020). As discussed during the 2018 Board Meeting, DfID is bringing their contribution back in line with their normal contributions, after having increased it to allow PARIS21 to continue operations following a sudden and significant decrease in contributions from other donors. As agreed, PARIS21 has sought out financing from other sources and increased the number of new donors in 2018 and potential new donors in 2019. However, funding is still insufficient to carry out the 2020 work programme or secure staff contracts for that year (Table 6). The Secretariat will continue to actively seek financing for 2020 and beyond from a variety of different donors.


TABLE 5: 2019-2021 Programme of Work Budget

2019 2020 2021

KNOWLEDGE SHARING & INNOVATION INCUBATOR 1,171,852 1,112,589 1,092,488

Improving NSS efficiency 131,926 83,256 96,620

Making data available and understandable 226,933 71,362 50,032

Guidelines/Best practices issued 141,944 378,617 357,658

Integrating innovation 137,398 37,663 785

Overall operational expenditures 32,971 33,882 55,317

P21-STAFF 500,680 507,808 532,076

ADVOCACY 841,653 876,343 1,053,324

Engaging with new actors 581 19,823 9,911

Communication 79,369 93,168 84,339

Global Advocacy 52,924 53,522 192,091


P21-STAFF 685,142 685,540 718,303

COORDINATION & MONITORING 1,523,758 1,675,236 1,694,440

NSS peer reviews 32,627 47,575 54,945

NSDS/RSDS 407,968 501,519 512,408

Stakeholder coordination 144,490 87,221 110,451

Global Monitoring 82,310 57,486 52,238

SDG Readiness 43,504 118,937 57,811


P21-STAFF 764,197 812,492 824,718

TECHNICAL SUPPORT 852,374 857,159 839,434

Strengthening technical skills 296,007 243,821 172,204

Support to quality process 17,795 21,805 23,739

Update statistical laws 13,918 23,787 12,893

Improve data access - 9,911 9,911


P21-STAFF 500,680 533,198 585,284

TOTAL Core work 4,389,638 4,521,327 4,679,686

Work on Gender (confirmed 2019 - 2020 funding) 640,588 273,478 -

Non-staff 441,705 73,983 -

P21-STAFF 198,883 199,495 -

GRAND TOTAL 2019-2021 5,030,226 4,794,805 4,679,686

PARIS21 - Programme of Work 2019-21 (in Euros)


TABLE 6: 2019-2021 Funding Gap Analysis

2019 2020 2021 TOTAL

A Budgeted expenditure 5,030,226 4,794,805 4,679,686 14,504,717Core work 4,389,638 4,521,327 4,679,686 13,590,651UN Women project 640,588 273,478 0 914,066

B Income in hand 1) : 4,260,654 273,478 0 4,534,132

Voluntary Contributions available at 01.01.2019 2) 4,260,654 273,478 0 4,534,132Voluntary Contributions accepted in 2019 0

C = (A-B) Initial funding gap -769,572 -4,521,327 -4,679,686 -9,970,585

D Potential funding 3) 3,198,720 3,517,600 3,142,080 9,858,400

D1VCs accepted - subject to Parliamentary approval or funding

needs

D2 Expected Contributions4)

DFID 1,653,120 1,377,600 1,102,080 4,132,800

Korea 40,000 40,000 40,000 120,000

Switzerland 1,000,000 1,000,000 2,000,000

GIZ 100,000 100,000 200,000

Norway TBC 0

D3 Discussions in progress

FAO UN 45,600 45,600

CDB 360,000 360,000

Sweden 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 3,000,000

Canada TBC 0

E = (C+D) Current funding (gap)/surplus - PER YEAR 2,429,148 -1,003,727 -1,537,606 -112,185Current funding (gap)/surplus - CUMULATED 2,429,148 1,425,421 -112,185

PARIS21 PROGRAMME

FUNDING GAP ANALYSIS 2019-2021

1) Voluntary contributions are subject to an administration charge of a maximum of 7.3% applied to the total contribution amount.

2) This takes into account the 2018 non-staff committed funds carried forward which amount to €375,417 as at 01.01.2019 (see expenditure report).

3) All information as of 31 January 2019.

4) These countries have provided annual contributions in the past and PARIS21 is expecting their continued support in 2018 or negotiations on a grant agreement are in

advanced stages.

70 | e-PRESS: the Partner Planning Tool on Support to Statistics

V

e-PRESS: THE PARTNER PLANNING TOOL ON SUPPORT TO STATISTICS


V. e-PRESS: the Partner Planning Tool on Support to Statistics

Point for approval

Motivation Since 2006, the PARIS21 Secretariat has annually published the Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS) to monitor external financial support to statistical development worldwide. The report presents trends in aid for statistics in developing and emerging economies and advocates for an increase in funding for statistics to better support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After 10 editions, the PRESS has become one of the main references on financing to statistics. Results of the PRESS are frequently used by partners and it is the main data source for SDG indicator 17.19.1.34 Following the release of the 2018 edition of PRESS, it was suggested that the report be expanded into a more suitable tool for donor co-ordination. The report observed a trend towards donor diversification in recent years. It also presented an inbalance of funding across countries and areas of statistics, suggesting some fragmentation in the way statistical support is allocated. As the 2020 round of censuses brings more challenges and opportunities, it is imperative for donors to co-ordinate their actions. Due to the production cycle of data sources that the report relies on,35 the publication of PRESS results usually has a lag of 1.5 years. This delay in reporting limits the usefulness of PRESS results for donor planning purposes. Several donors and partners have repeatedly raised the issue and expressed their interest in making better use of available financing data for this purpose. To address partners’ most urgent needs and deliver the best information on support to statistical development, in 2019 PARIS21 will be testing a new monitoring tool for financing – to be known as the early-PRESS (or e-PRESS).

What is e-PRESS and what does it offer? The e-PRESS is an estimation and planning tool covering the most recent commitments from donors, multilaterals and emerging actors for statistics. PARIS21 will develop the tool using new data sources, such as those from the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI),36 and expanding on the use of the machine-learning methods already implemented in PRESS. Deliverables will include a brief report and an online data repository. The brief report will present recent trends and highlight figures. Users can use the online repository to query and download data for their own analysis.

34 SDG Indicator 17.19.1: Dollar value of all resources made available to strengthen statistical capacity in

developing countries. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/?Text=&Goal=17&Target=17.19

35 The two main sources for the current PRESS report are the OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) on DAC donors and a PARIS21 survey on non-DAC donors (multilaterals, development banks, emerging donors, etc.). PRESS data analysis and production can only start after both sources are updated. Of the two sources, the CRS takes 12-13 months to produce well curated and aggregated data. Therefore the current PRESS has a 1.5-year-lag. Similarly, the Development Co-Operation Report (DCR), which also uses the CRS data, has a 1.5-year-lag in its country profile section. http://www.oecd.org/dac/development-co-operation-report-20747721.htm

36 See https://iatistandard.org/en/.

https://iatistandard.org/

https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/?Text=&Goal=17&Target=17.19


The e-PRESS offers some important advantages over the current PRESS report. It reduces the lag of results from 18 months to 6 months to better support donor planning and interventions at the country level. Introducing new data sources will expand the coverage of donors in both e-PRESS and PRESS. Similar to the PRESS, e-PRESS will also provide information disaggregated by donor, recipient, region and area of statistics. There will be some trade-offs however. The main weakness of the e-PRESS is the lack of availability of some detail on commitments, which goes against the timeliness of the results. The PRESS results contain comprehensive facts on aid commitments, including policy objectives, ODA markers and purposes codes that e-PRESS would not be able to provide. Likewise, the current PRESS data sources are curated more meticulously, using OECD standard statistical methods. An estimation by PARIS21 found that the e-PRESS could identify nearly 70% of activities that would eventually be included in the PRESS later that year. While the precision of the tool would be reduced, its timeliness could have important benefits for the community. The introduction of the new product will also bring communication challenges as some users may find the comparison of results of PRESS and e-PRESS confusing.

What is next? Subject to approval by the PARIS21 Board, the Secretariat will develop a test version of the e-PRESS by June 2019 and incorporate partners for an initial round of feedback. To fit with the calendar of the PRESS report, the official e-PRESS would be launched by the end of each calendar year. The production of the e-PRESS will not interfere with other activities, and the Secretariat will continue to produce the official PRESS report on a yearly basis.

VI

UPDATE: PARIS21 GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

76 | Update: PARIS21 Governance Arrangements


VI. Update: PARIS21 Governance Arrangements

Point for approval

Context

Following the 2018 Board Meeting, the Secretariat was mandated to reflect on the PARIS21 governance structure to determine whether it is still fit for purpose and to suggest areas where possible changes are needed.

Overall, the PARIS21’s current governance structure is found to be appropriate and robust. It serves the partnership notably well, and does not require any significant transformation. PARIS21’s set-up allows it to be flexible and nimble, adapting as necessary to evolving strategic goals – a characteristic which was given high value in both the evaluation and the new strategy, and which is common to most other successful partnerships. Nevertheless, there is room to strengthen PARIS21 governance further by modifying some aspects of the current arrangements – notably reinforcing the inclusiveness, effectiveness and diversity of the Executive Committee; the voice of developing countries and bilateral donors; and the level of members’ awareness of their rights and duties.

Objective: In order to achieve a more inclusive and diverse PARIS21 Executive Committee, the Secretariat proposes making the following modification to its current governance arrangements.

1. Executive Committee composition

Current:

1. The Executive Committee is appointed by the Board. It consists of nine appointed members and the PARIS21 Secretariat Manager ex-officio as the tenth member (without voting rights). The members are appointed based on the following criteria:

two developing country representatives

two representatives of bilateral donors funding the Secretariat

five Board members representing the UN Statistics Division, EC/Eurostat, OECD, IMF and the World Bank, as the founding institutions.

Proposed modification: 26. The Executive Committee is appointed by the Board. It consists of eleven appointed members and

the PARIS21 Secretariat Manager ex-officio as the twelfth member (without voting rights). The members are appointed based on the following criteria:

three developing country representatives

three representatives of bilateral donors funding the Secretariat

five Board members representing the UN Statistics Division, EC/Eurostat, OECD, IMF and the World Bank, as the founding institutions.

Implication: This would increase the size of the Executive Committee, allowing it to become more inclusive and diverse. The two additional Executive Committee members would serve from April 2019-April 2020 as developing country and bilateral donor representatives.

78 | Update: PARIS21 Governance Arrangements

2. Overall timeline for new PARIS21 Executive Committee members

3. Nomination of two new Executive Committee members The Executive Committee has decided to propose two new members to the Board - Switzerland and Jordan. Following approval by the Board, Switzerland and Jordan will join the Executive Committee during the fall meeting.

January/

February

April December

ExCom approves proposed

changes to the governance

structure

2019

Secretariat proposes new

ExCom members

Fall

Board members approve new

ExCom members at Board

Meeting

First ExCom meeting for new

members (2019-2020)

VII

UPDATE: PARIS21 FOUNDATION

80 | Update: PARIS21 Foundation


VII. PARIS21 Foundation

Point for information

The PARIS21 Foundation was initially presented to the Board at the April 2018 meeting under the working title of PARIS21 Advisory Unit. The project received support and interest from Board members, who viewed it as a positive step towards securing more sustainable funding for the PARIS21 Secretariat and its work. The Board agreed that the PARIS21 Secretariat would take steps to advance this initiative and would keep Board members informed.

As a brief recap, the main incentive behind the creation of the PARIS21 Foundation was to allow PARIS21 to expand its donor base, tap into new funding sources and reduce the funding gap that is preventing it from fully executing its programme of work (POW). An external shift in the way that funds are being made available – often through decentralised delegations of international organisations/institutions – requires PARIS21 to be more agile and reactive. It needs to be able to accept other types of funding instruments, and to respond to calls for tender, otherwise it will not be able to compete with other actors and will be excluded from working with important key players who are not able to grant funds via the traditional “grant agreement” process.

In response to these challenges, the PARIS21 Foundation would:

raise funds from a wider variety of donors – including the private sector and individuals – with

the option to donate directly via the PARIS21 Foundation website

reduce the administrative burden on both donors and PARIS21 Secretariat and therefore make

more resources available for implementation

submit calls for tender and accept service contracts that are currently beyond the scope of the

OECD regulations.

OVERVIEW OF 2018 PROGRESS

Following the Board meeting in April 2018, PARIS21 revised the concept note for the PARIS21 Advisory Unit, and changed the name of the project. Board members suggested that PARIS21 should select a more attractive name with a clearer link to its purpose. The PARIS21 Foundation was selected following the model of the UN Foundation: an internationally recognised foundation created and linked to an international organisation, with a mission of raising funds to be used by the international organisation to achieve its outputs.

The PARIS21 Secretariat obtained approval from the Office of the OECD Secretary-General to proceed with the creation of the foundation – this was a formal requirement since PARIS21 is hosted by the OECD. Through a series of meetings and discussions with the Heads of the OECD Legal and Financial Services departments, PARIS21 Secretariat received guidance on the next steps, although it should be noted that the OECD cannot formally advise on this project since the PARIS21 Foundation would be created as a completely separate and external entity.

MOVING FORWARD IN 2019

In 2019, the PARIS21 Secretariat will continue to advance the project, specifically by following the three main steps outlined below, some of which will happen in parallel:

82 | Update: PARIS21 Foundation

1. Defining the PARIS21 Foundation mission statement, governance model and initial business plan, including initial budget with staffing costs,

2. Clarifying the legal aspects and set-up required, hiring a legal advisor for this purpose, and defining the initial funding requirements. Continuing the conversation on the location of the foundation, including exploring an informal offer by Switzerland to host the foundation in Geneva.

3. Refining the business model, conducting a market test or survey with potential donors, and defining the communications strategy for the launch of the foundation.

The PARIS21 Secretariat aims to present a full update on the PARIS21 Foundation at the autumn Executive Committee meeting, and will seek the Board’s approval on the specific governance arrangements, location and funding issues.

VIII

UPDATE: NSDS GUIDELINES

84 | Update: NSDS Guidelines


VIII. UPDATE ON NSDS GUIDELINES

Point for information

On 21 March 2019, the Secretariat organised the fifth meeting of the National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) Guidelines Reference Group. This group is co-chaired by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and PARIS21 and is comprised of organisations and country representatitives from across the globe: Ethiopia, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Palestine, Peru, Somalia, Vanuatu, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Eurostat, the World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA). The reference group discussed and approved updates related to the following areas of the guidelines. Updates will be uploaded onto the NSDS Guidelines website in English one month after the Board Meeting and in the other four languages (Arabic, French, Portugese, Spanish) six to eight weeks after the Board Meeting.

I. New map of the NSDS lifecycle: To provide a better overview and an intuitive understanding

of the NSDS lifecycle with all its compenents, a new map has been created to improve user-

friendlyness and to promote the use of the tool.

II. Website redesign: To make the NSDS Guidelines website more attractive and user friendly,

the website is being redesigned to increase the use rate of the guidelines. The new website

will incorporate the new NSDS lifecycle and will be online during the 2nd quarter of 2019.

III. Establishing consistency throughout the document : The use of different terminologies and

the lack of consistency for the same concepts represented a challenge throughout the

document, and has now been rectified. One example includes: National Statistical System and

Official Statistical System

IV. Enhancing clarity throughout the document: Some concepts in the document lacked clarity

and needed to be further expounded. This was done by further elaborating certain texts. For

example, substantial text was added to the following areas:

I. Definition of Official statistics: This section was enriched with an example from the 1996

Statistics Act of South Africa.

II. NSDS design process: A new paragraph was written emphasising the importance of the

process with special focus on statistical reform, stakeholder participation, ownership of

both the process and the product, and using the process for introspection (questioning

processes, business models, and methods currently in use, etc.).

86 | Update: NSDS Guidelines

III. Sectoral Strategies for the Development of Statistics (SSDSs): The section places

emphasis on the meaning of sector, identification of sectors and the need for sectors to

undertake and own the process has been extended.

IV. Regional Strategies for the Development of Statistics (RSDS): In this section, the

experience in the design of the RSDS, leading to the formulation of a regional statistics

policy and an independent Regional Statistical Bureau has been added.

IX

APPENDIX I: FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE PARIS21 SECRETARIAT (2018)

88 | Appendix I: Financial Statement of the PARIS21 Secretariat (2018)


IX. APPENDIX I : FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE PARIS21

SECRETARIAT (2018)


PARIS21 PROGRAMME

HISTORY OF VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS / GRANTS RECEIVED BY PARIS21 BY YEAR OF ACCEPTANCE BY THE OECD - ALL AMOUNTS IN EUROS

Country / Institution 1999-2007

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Grand Total

Australia 5) 672,354 95,303 415,552 1,183,209

Austria 200,000 200,000

Belgium 1,000,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 2,000,000

Canada 6) 9) 966,370 254,300 38,300 19,187 16,283 150,405 1,454,748

2,899,593

EFTA 80,000 80,000

European Commission 4) 16,226 121,185 108,732 350,000 150,000 250,000 996,143

Finland 6) 200,000 100,000 100,000 100000 70,000

570,000

France 1,424,000 45,000 1,469,000

Greece 200,000 200,000

Germany 12) 13) 57,195 50,651 107,846

Ireland 762,499 100,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 1,062,499

IsDB 44,791 44,791

Italy 200,000 200,000

Japan 68,602 68,602

Korea 36,000 34,000 40,000 37,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 307,000

Netherlands 1,050,000 882,580 1,932,580

Norway 14) 579,262 198,879 618,842 290,193 1,687,176

Open Data Watch 12,090 12,090

Qatar 10) 63,300 63,300

Spain 1,000,000 1,000,000

Sweden 660,519 660,519

Switzerland 3) 10) 15) 16) 597,696 99,445 162,554 457,810 615,334 1,461,514 3,394,352

UN Foundation

8,890

8,890


UN Women11)

1,318,738 1,318,738

United Kingdom 1) 7) 3,904,596 2,221,746 3,249,014 8,114,687 17,490,043

USA - Gates Foundation

2) 8) 1,491,647 282,534 1,774,181

World Bank 9,636,630 3,226,731 2,683,917 2,484,736 2,513,903 1,857,041 1,959,616

24,362,574

Other income 25,050 4,704 5,804 12,488 3,725 4,860 2,558 59,188

On-going multi-year grants/VCs

1) Grant from DFID 3,249,014 € covering the period 2013-2015

2) Grant from Gates Foundation 1,491,647 € covering the period November 2013 - October 2015

3) Grant from Switzerland 457,810 € covering the period 1 January 2015 - 31 December 2016 4) Grant from EUROSTAT 150,000 € covering the period 1 January 2016 - 31 December 2017 and 250,000€ covering hte period from 1 January 2018 - 30 June 2019 5) Grant from Australia 412,638 € covering the period 8 July 2015 - 31 December 2017. This figure includes a reduction of 206,319 EUR of their grant due to DFAT restructuring of financing in the Pacific Region.

6) Grant from Canada 150,405 € covering the period 1 January 2015 - 31 March 2016

6) Grant from Finland 70,000 € covering the period 1 January 2015 - 31 December 2016

7) Grant from DFID 8,114,687 € covering the period 2016-2018

8) Grant from Gates Foundation 282,534 € covering the period 1 January 2016-31 December 2017

9) Grant from Canada 1,454,748 € covering the period 1 January 2016 - 31 March 2019

10) Grant from Switzerland 615,334 EUR covering the period 1 January 2017-31 December 2019

11) Grant from UN Women covering the period 1 June - 31 December 2020 12) Grant from GIZ 57,195 covering the period 1 December 2017 - 31 August 2018 13) Grant from GIZ 50,651 covering the period 1 May - 30 April 2019 14) Grant from NORAD 290,193 covering the period 1 January 2018 - 30 April 2019 15) Grant from Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development for 1,636,637 covering the period 1 December 2018 to 31 December

2019 16) Grant from Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development for 80,581 coverng the period 24 September 2018 to 31 December

2019

*

NOTES

94 | Notes

96 | Notes