national statistical coordination board r.a.virola 29 june 2007 building statistical capacity to...

NATIONAL STATISTICAL COORDINATION BOARDr.a.virola 29 june 2007

“BUILDING STATISTICAL CAPACITY TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES”

DISCUSSION

By

Romulo A. VirolaSecretary General

National Statistical Coordination BoardPHILIPPINES

Istanbul, Turkey27-30 June 2007

1

OECD’S 2ND WORLD FORUM ON STATISTICS, KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY


OUTLINE OF DISCUSSION

I. Some Comments and Questions on the Forum, Topic and Presentations

II. Developing Country/Philippine Perspectives on Monitoring Progress and Statistical Capacity Building


ABOUT THE FORUM Forum is relevant and responsive to the need for

National Statistical Systems (NSS) to be recognized and to be proactively involved in monitoring progress of societies

Forum is an excellent venue for interaction between

official statisticians and policy makers – they need each other

Need for more fora, such as the World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy where statisticians and users of statistics meet and hear each other’s needs

I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations


ON MONITORING PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES

Many indicator sets to monitor progress are generated outside of the National Statistical Systems (NSS), are disconnected/ad hoc and may not be sustainable

Lower levels of data disaggregation ( sectoral, geographical) are becoming more imperative in development planning at subnational level (L. da Silva)




National Statistical Systems (NSS) should play a big and proactive role in monitoring the progress of societies –

Monitoring progress should be mainstreamed in the NSS

Mandate of NSS should expand beyond traditional functions ( to include measuring democracy, human rights and governance as advocated by METAGORA)

Official statisticians should not be afraid to produce indicators on possibly controversial issues




Countries, both developed and developing, should formulate an NSDS (National Strategies for the Development of Statistics) as advocated under PARIS21, that highlights the strategic role of statistics in development planning and rationalizes statistical development efforts, including SCB at the country level(Stansfield)

The private sector must also help in funding the efforts of the national statistical system to monitor progress of societies



ON STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING(SCB)

Efficient coordination of national statistical systems is needed to optimize use of limited resources, particularly on SCB

Serious attention must be given to implementation of SCB initiatives to ensure that target beneficiaries actually benefit from the initiatives



ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS

I agree with messages of the presentation (L. da Silva)

Presentations highlight the importance of statistics but not of the national statistical systems and their needs (budget)

Presentations demonstrate (L. da Silva) the use of

statistics but no mention of role of National Statistical Systems (NSS) in monitoring progress of societies – no mention of the requirements and expectations of policy makers from NSS



ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS

No mention of actual policy uses of official statistics – official statisticians appreciate examples of how official statistics have been converted into knowledge and policies – in the five areas cited in background paper of Mr. Simonpietri –but could be an indication of the gap between official statistics and policies that certainly need to be addressed



SOME QUESTIONS Are official statistics appreciated and used at the country

level

In practice orOnly in rhetorics?

Amidst resource constraints, especially in developing countries do users of statistics want

more and disaggregated data on various concerns but which possibly are less accurate or

more accurate data but possibly addressing fewer concerns?



SOME QUESTIONS Do users of statistics help in advocating for greater

budgetary priority to statistics? Or do they only know how to ask for statistics they need?(HMN, Stansfield)

On the other hand, do official statisticians actively reach out to policy makers and other users of statistics? Or do official statisticians continue to sit in ivory towers?

Do governments respect and appreciate the independence of the Chief Statisticians?



What role does the private sector have to play in monitoring progress of societies? Does it cooperate with national statistical agencies in the provision of data?

Does the international community seriously and genuinely take into consideration national constraints, concerns and priorities in transacting business with national statistical systems?



Who should be the target of statistical capacity building?

Producers of statistics (official statisticians of the entire national statistical system, not just of the national statistics office) – not only on statistics but also on concepts of various areas of concern of society

Users of statistics ( policy-makers, politicians, media, etc.) – many are statistically-illiterate

Producers and users not only at the national level but more importantly those at the subnational levels



II. DEVELOPING COUNTRY/PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVES ON MONITORING PROGRESS & STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (SCB)

National statistical systems generally lack capacity to provide meaningful data support to monitor progress of societies and therefore SCB is a must!

Assistance from the international community on statistical capacity building should be

Well-coordinated (L. da Silva) Be consistent with and cognizant of national priorities

and absorptive capacities Include capacity building on ICT


Statistical capacity building should be strategic – may need to deal with entire educational system to enhance appreciation for statistics by the public in general

Donor community should recognize need of countries for statistical development assistance that goes directly to statistical offices instead of requiring that they be piggy-backed on some socio-economic development programs

II. DEVELOPING COUNTRY/PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVES ON MONITORING PROGRESS & STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING(SCB)


There is need for bilateral technical assistance from developed countries with developed statistical systems towards a functioning and useful global statistical system

Donor fatigue setting in and funds are drying up



Governments should have the political will to invest in statistics; statistical capacity building should be mainly the responsibility of governments

International community’s assistance might go a longer way if, instead of going into funding of specific statistical activities (e.g. conduct of surveys and ad hoc compilation of internationally comparable statistics), they went into greater advocacy for governments to allocate greater budgetary priorities to statistics – for governments to recognize that statistics is part of the infrastructure necessary for development!



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OECD’s 2ND WORLD FORUM ON STATISTICS, KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY“BUILDING STATISTICAL CAPACITY TO MONITOR THE

PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES”

national statistical coordination board r.a.virola 29 june 2007 building statistical capacity to...

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