Framework for Mainstreaming Agricultural …Make more efficient use of resources ( with 5 strategies) Improve the productivity of data management (with 2 strategies) Increase the availability

Framework for Mainstreaming Agricultural

Statistics into the NSDS Process

Fifth International Conference on Agricultural Statistics - ICAS V Kampala, 12-15 October 2010

Outline

1. Background: NSDS Process must integrate Sectors 2. General principles and Framework of mainstreaming

sectors into the NSS

3. Possible obstacles for mainstreaming the sectoral

systems into the NSS

4. Mainstreaming the Agricultural Statistical System

into the NSS

5. Plan of Amelioration for the constraints and the

obstacles encountered

6. Conclusions and Recommendations



Statistical development has often focused

on the NSOs

Need for a holistic development of statistics

to cover sectors and sub national levels

Need for the NSS to be more effective in

delivery of statistical products

I. Background: NSDS Process

must integrate sectors

• a lot of development data are collected/compiled by sectors (Agriculture, Health, Education, Labour, etc.)

• sectoral issues and concerns not been given

sufficient attention in national statistics

• statisticians from line ministries have been largely isolated & inadequately involved in discussion on capacity building

• sectoral component of NSS tended to be under-

resourced & is in need of more voice in sectors and in

NSS

Slide 4 Fifth International Conference on Agricultural Statistics - ICAS V Kampala, 12-15 October 2010



What is NSDS?

Framework to strengthen statistical capacity across the entire

National Statistical System

A medium to long-term vision for Statistical Capacity Building

responding to key user needs

A robust, comprehensive and coherent framework to:

address data limitations

mobilize & prioritise the use of resources

integrate statistics within national policy &

development processes

manage change




Phases of the design process include:

Launching the process starting with the decision for the

strategy being taken at the highest level of authority; intensive

advocacy;

Assessment of the current status of the NSS/SSSs/S-nSSs

with respect to availability of data and user needs; quality of

statistical outputs; methodologies and standards; existing

capacity (infrastructure; technical capacity; resources (human

and financial); legal and institutional and organizational

structures;

Agreeing on Mission and developing the vision and

identifying strategic options;

Preparation of implementation plan; and

Execution, monitoring and evaluation stages.




Bottom-

up

approach

to NSDS

NSDS

SSPS

(Health)

SSPS – Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics

SSPS

(NSO)

SSPS

(Educat.)

SSPS

(Agric)




Partially

coordinated

National

Statistical

System

Labour Transport

etc

Agriculture

Health

NSO

Education




Fully

coordinated

National

Statistical

System

Labour

Education

Transport

etc

Agriculture

Health

NSO

Slide 9




DIFFERENT SHADES OF STATISTICAL

PLANNING – WHERE ARE WE?

• Stages

Stage I – Sectors not mainstreamed

Stage II – Sectors partially mainstreamed

(in a decentralized NSS)

Stage III – Sectors partially mainstreamed

(in a centralized system)

Stage IV – Some sectors fully mainstreamed

Stage V – All sectors fully mainstreamed

• Stages IV & V are within best practice

• Stage IV, however, is realistic and practical!

• How to make other stages better, next steps have been suggested (last col. of

table)

Table depicting the stages and suggested actions

(Stages in Developing an Integrated NSDS)

NEXT SLIDE

Stages in Developing an Integrated National Strategy

for the development of Statistics

Row Degree of

Mainstreaming

Type of

System

Approach to

NSDS Design

Outcome of NSDS

Design

Next Steps

1 Sectors not

Mainstreamed

Centralized or

decentralized

NSO does not

consult or

involve sectors

NSDS document

that does not take

account of sectoral

strategies

Conduct an

integrated NSDS

using this guide

2

Sectors Partially

Mainstreamed

Decentralized

NSO consults but

does not involve

sectors

NSDS document

that caters for

sectors but does

not include sector-

owned strategies

Review the NSDS

document and

mainstream

sectoral strategies

using this guide

3 Centralized NSDS document

that includes

sectoral strategies

that are not owned

by the sectors

Review and update

the NSDS document

with the sectors

using this guide

4 Some Sectors

fully

Mainstreamed

Centralized or

Decentralized

NSO consults

and involves

some sectors

NSDS document

that includes some

sector-owned

strategies

Sequence in more

sectors in repeated

stages of NSDS

design using this

guide

5 All Sectors fully

Mainstreamed

Centralized or

Decentralized

NSO consults

and involves all

sectors

NSDS document

that includes

sector-owned

strategies

Monitor and

evaluate NSDS

implementation

Mainstreaming sectoal statistical systems: A guide to planning a coordinated national statistical system. Version 1.0

o Situational analysis of the current status in the

sector

o Sector Strategy Development

o Dissemination of Sector Strategic Plans

o Building Partnerships among Sectors

o Integration of Sector Strategies into the NSDS

document

o Production of the SSPS Report


II. Framework for Building a Coordinated


Mainstreaming for a Coordinated NSS To mainstream sectoral statistical systems (SSS) into the National Statistical System (NSS) adopting best practice

Need to define what objectives to be achieved; and What strategies to adopt to achieve them

Four key objectives have been identified, namely: Make more efficient use of resources ( with 5 strategies) Improve the productivity of data management (with 2 strategies) Increase the availability of quality data (with 4 strategies) Raise the public profile for statistics (with 1 strategy)

A total of 12 strategies Could be put and be better understood in a FRAMEWORK


II. Framework for Building a Coordinated


NEXT SLIDE

Mainstreaming sectoral statistical systems: A guide to planning a coordinated national statistical system. Version 1.0

Framework for Mainstreaming Sectoral Statistics

Objective Strategies to Mainstream Sectoral Statistical Systems into a


Make more

efficient use of

resources

1 Common institutional procedures for coordination, collaboration and

cooperation across the NSS

2 Legal and institutional framework that takes into account the

requirements of all stakeholders in the NSS

3 NSS-wide financing strategy

4 Comprehensive human resources strategy with uniform training,

recruitment and promotion for all staff working in the NSS

5 Rational use of physical infrastructure and ICT across the NSS

Improve the

productivity of data

management

6 Coherent management information system across the NSS

7 Common data warehouse for the NSS

Increase the

availability of

quality data

8 Common metadata dictionary across the NSS

9 Common standards for data quality across the NSS

10 Harmonized data production schedule across the NSS

11 Comprehensive dissemination policy for the NSS

Raise the public

profile for statistics

12 Coherent advocacy strategies across the NSS

Poor channel of communication among the sectors

and between the sectors and the NSO;

None or poor incentives for the sectors to work together and to work with the NSO as a result of:

Fear of loss of independence on the part of the sectors; and

Fear of increased responsibilities on the part of the NSO


III. Possible obstacles for mainstreaming

the sectoral systems into the NSS

Perceived concerns that mainstreaming sectors could weaken already scarce resources with NSO not willing to spend on

growth of the sectors while sectors fear that there might not be

enough resources to execute their plans plus unwillingness to

share with others the resources obtained from development

partners;

Unwillingness on the part of the sectors and the NSO to coordinate responsibilities with respect to sources of data for

production

♦However, the five phases of the NSDS design process provide excellent opportunities to build long-term relationships to

address these issues using cross-cutting strategies.


III. Possible obstacles for mainstreaming

the sectoral systems into the NSS

●Developing countries’ experiences, particularly in Africa,

are that ASS has not been integrated into the NSS leading

to poor agricultural statistical outputs;

●A number of constraints are responsible for this appalling

situation, some of which are:

Low level of statistical capacity with respect to

organization inadequate infrastructure w.r.t. physical,

statistical and ICT and low or no funding for data

production and management;

Weak NSO’s due to the same reasons as those for the

ASS leading to poor coordination and inability to give

technical support to the ASS;


IV. Mainstreaming the Agricultural

Statistical System into the NSS

Lack of coordination even within the ASS particularly

among the sub-sectors (live-stock, fisheries, forestry)

of agriculture;

Lack of awareness, understanding and failure to

adopt international standards and practices;

Lack of integration in the use of the data sources

(censuses, surveys and administrative records)

through which agricultural statistics are produced due

to non-mainstreaming of the ASS into the NSS;

Absence of interaction between the ASS and the NSO

is one major reason why consistency of data cannot

be achieved among produced data from the various

data sources;




Weak application of statistical legislation of the

NSO/NSS which assigns responsibilities to NSO to

undertake coordination of the sectors including

agriculture;

Overly presence of international agencies (dp’s) who

have over-bearing influence in the development of

agricultural statistical system making national

statistical coordination for agricultural statistics near

impossible; the authority for coordination by the NSO

is inadvertently undermined; and

Absence of a strategy to develop agricultural

statistics at the sector level.




The effect of the constraints could be neutralized by following the

phases of the NSDS design process and also mainstreaming the ASS

into the NSS for improved output of agricultural statistics and by:

† Developing a programme of integration of data sources for the generation of agricultural statistics;

† A well-coordinated NSS under a strengthened NSO plus clear specifications of responsibilities between the agricultural

statistical system, the NSO and other relevant sectors;

† Design of the NSDS for the country and the ASSDS for the agricultural sector involving all stakeholders through all

the five phases


V. Plan of Amelioration for the constraints

and the obstacles encountered

Five phases:

Launching the NSDS/ASSDS design processes;

Assessing the organization of the ASS w.r.t. the

legal framework, structure of the NSS and place of

the ASS in it, users’ needs, financial and human

resources

Assessment of the outputs of the ASS focusing on

standards, methods, data sources leading to the

formulation of a comprehensive agricultural

statistics programme;

Assessment of detailed data requirements;

Implementation plan

Slide 21




FAO CountrySTAT framework along with the guideline for

NSDS design and framework for mainstreaming sector

statistics into the NSDS is available to prepare the ASSDS

within the context of mainstreaming into the NSDS where

factors for collaboration, cooperation and coordination are

built and international agencies giving helpful and

supportive roles for the execution of the ASSDS for the

agricultural sector.




Conclusions:

• For better outputs from the ASS, mainstreaming the agricultural sector strategy into the NSDS is the way to go and paying

attention to this sector should be top priority within the

development of the country’s information system;

• The constraints are removed when the agricultural statistics sector cooperates with the NSO while NSO coordinates

effectively and offers technical back-stopping to the sector. All

these must be within the development of the agricultural sector

strategy which is mainstreamed into the NSDS;

• That the interventions of the DP’s should be coordinated nationally and support given should include the strengthening of

the NSS.

Slide 23


V. Conclusions and Recommendations

Recommendations:

•In the scale of priority, NSDS and SSDSs design processes should be

re-invigorated and be embarked upon in the countries ensuring that the

sector strategies that are mainstreamed into the NSDS are developed in

phases. In this case the agricultural sector must be the first phase in

view of the importance of agriculture to the country economies;

•The NSOs profile must be raised and enhanced through strengthening

of the statistical legislation in order to take lead and provide effective

coordination of the NSS;

•NSO and the sectors should be enhanced in technical capacity in

order that the NSO can adequately give technical support to the

sectors while the sectors as beneficiaries should be prepared to

respond through a programme to strengthen the NSS

Slide 24



Recommendations: (cont.)

•Data for the sectors come through the sources of administrative

records, censuses and surveys; responsibilities should therefore be

assigned to the organizations within the system in line with

comparative advantage. In this respect, NSO apart from its role in the

overall coordination of the data sources and the activities, should lead

in the censuses and surveys for agriculture while the ASS focuses on

data from the administrative records sources;

•For data coming from the administrative sources to have good quality,

there should be a national programme for the re-development and

strengthening of the Management Information Systems (MIS) in the

countries;



Recommendations: (cont.)

•Governments need to give very high priority to the importance of

statistics and ensure that they use statistics to inform policies and to

support results-based agenda by releasing more and adequate

resources for statistical development and helping to build skilled

workforce through appropriate incentives. Focus on improving the

sectoral systems is relevant in this regard;

• Intervention of the development partners should be coordinated ,first

among themselves to ensure coherent support through the NSDS and

secondly from the onset by the involvement of the NSO’s in deciding

which areas of the NSS to give support and what type of support in a

sequenced and orderly manner



…Thank you

Mwebale …

Kampala, 12-15 October 2010 Fifth International Conference on Agricultural Statistics - ICAS V

Documents

Framework for Mainstreaming Agricultural …Make more efficient use of resources ( with 5 strategies) Improve the productivity of data management (with 2 strategies) Increase the availability