How to use the VSS to design a National Strategy for the Development of Statistics

(NSDS)

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Paris 21 and the Roadmap to a NSDS

• Paris 21 advocates the design of a process that will lead to a national strategy to improve statistics.

• The roadmap is a process that describes a number of steps and actions that can be considered.

• In this presentation we will focus on how the VSS can be used to reflect on and create the content of such a strategy.

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Strategies need to be aligned with national decision making processes

• It is important to understand and study relevant decision making processes.

• Strategies, business plans, work programs, etc. have to fit into these for of decision making.

• Decision making processes can be subdivided into different phases and steps.

• The NSDS documents must meet these different steps.• Each country needs their to create their own roadmap

to draw up their NSDS.• Recommended is to start a step by step process that

build on the national method of decision making.

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Designing a national strategy to improve official statistics

• Strategies can be short or long. • Short strategies deal with main issues and priorities.• Long strategies too, but may look like work plans.• A strategy should provide: - assessment of strengths and weaknesses- set priorities- list the proposed changes and motivate why

• Activities and Themes on the VSS website offer checklists with topics for consideration to be included in a strategy.• The roadmap to a strategy is a different issue.• In a separate lesson the roadmap will be presented.

VSS

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Starting with strategies• Assessments: start looking at the issues/problems.• Make a distinction between generic and specific issues. Are they

linked?• Generic means: have we right automation policy? Survey methods?• Generic issues can be addressed with general policy measures:

improve survey methodology. • Specific issues need tailor-made solutions: design new LFS

questionnaire • Generic and specific topics can be related. In that case both,

general policies and tailor-made, are needed.

• To assess your problems please go to Activities on the VSS website • Define which building blocks are relevant and why• In a separate lesson the roadmap will be presented.

VSS

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More on the strategy

• The strategy should describe how a system will change from one situation to a very different situation.

• The initial assessment describes the major changes and explains why they are needed.

• The strategy document should consider a period of about five years.

• The strategy should mention the general objectives of change, the motivations and some specific objectives of proposed projects.

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A strategy expresses choices

• For each proposed strategic change it should be mentioned which choice has been made.

• One major choice is between starting from scratch with a new activity or to copy a successful approach from others.

• Developing countries can profit a lot from copying existing examples.

You will find examples in the tab ‘country experiences’ for most of the Themes’ topics

VSS

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To implement a strategy it takes planning

• A strategy describes necessary changes and general objectives of what is to be achieved.

• A strategy is NOT an action plan.• A plan for action is a work plan.• A work plan informs about what will be done, when

(time) and by whom it will be done.• An Implementation plan tells HOW it will be done and

with how many staff and budget, when it starts and when it ends.

• Implementation is defining the specific activities that need to be done.

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Info on the VSS about the Strategy, Planning and Programming

Go to Activities 2. Internal and Management Issues

VSS

• Refer to course on Management of Statistical Systems• See also course on Business Statistics and Registers

VSS eLearning

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Three types of plans

• Three types of plans exist:- multi annual work plan (three to five years)- annual work plan, topic by unit- short term work plan (monthly/quarterly)

• The topics of the work need to be well defined.• The topic needs to be formulated in detail.• It needs to be defined in separate specific

activities or steps to be taken.• These activities or steps need to be sequenced.

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Match existing problemswith VSS building blocks

Analyzing Problems and issues• Start making lists of problems and issues and label them.

• E.g. Problems regarding :A. Improvement of management

in statistics.B. Improvement of relations with

users.C. Modernization of the ICT

tools.D. Improved application of house

hold surveys.

1. Institutional Issues2. Internal and Management Issues3. ICT4. Registers, Frames, Censuses5. Surveys6. Methods7. Integration Frameworks8. Dissemination9. Use of Statistics10. Data Quality

Match with VSS Activities’ Building Blocks

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1. Topic: Improvement of management in statistics

Relevance• Under activities and sub-

activities we find a number of headings that present us with information on the topic.

• Under eLearning we find the Courses on Management of Statistical Systems and Project Management in Statistics.

2. Internal and Management Issues2.1. Structure of the Organization2.2. Resources (Staff and Budget) 2.2.1. Budgeting 2.2.2. Human Resources2.3. Management 2.3.1. Processes 2.3.2. Inputs 2.3.3. Quality2.4. Programming 2.5. Priority Setting

VSS Activities

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1. Topic: Improvement of management in statistics

5. Strategy and Managerial Issues of Official Statistics 5.1. Institutional Framework and Principles 5.2. Statistical Programs; Coordination within Statistical Systems 5.3. Quality Frameworks and Measurement of Performance of Statistical Systems and Offices 5.4. Management and Development of Human Resources

Overview of selected Themes

5.5. Management and Development of Technological Resources 5.5.1. Sound IT Project Management 5.5.2. Staffing for IT Support 5.5.3. Communications Technology5.6. Coordination of International Statistical Work 5.7. Technical Cooperation and Capacity Building

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2. Topic: Improvement of relations with users

Relevance:• It helps to know who the

users are and most importantly who the most relevant users are.

• A classification of users helps. With the classification a listing should be made.

9. Use of Statistics 9.1. Government 9.2. Businesses 9.3. Media 9.4. Public 9.5. Science/Research 9.6. International 9.7. Internal

List of user groups on the VSS (Activities)

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3. Topic: Modernization of the ICT tools, using Activities

Relevance• The VSS offers a lots of

information on ICT tools.• Task is to consider these

texts and look for relevance in the context of the country.

• Matching is important between perceived problems and information at hand.

3. ICT 3.1. Hardware 3.2. Software 3.2.1. Office Productivity 3.2.2. Data Collection 3.2.3. Data Management 3.2.4. Statistical Analysis 3.2.5. Data Dissemination & Presentation 3.2.6. Dissemination 3.3. Communications 3.4. Design 3.5. Security

ICT tools on the VSS (Activities)

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4. Topic: Improved application of household surveys with Activities

Other classifications of surveys:• Annual vs quarterly, or structural (yearly) vs short

term• Foreign Financed vs

National Financed• Single Issue Surveys vs

Integrated surveys • Traditional data collection

methods vs other data collection methods.

5. Surveys 5.1. Household Surveys 5.2. Business Surveys 5.3. Use of Administrative Records

VSS Activities: Types of surveys

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5. Topic: Survey Design

1.2. Labor with the tabs:• Introduction• Methods• Indicators• Tools•Training• Country Experiences• Documents

VSS Themes

Course: Labor Market and Survey Design

VSS eLearning

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VSS is a source for reflection for a strategy, not a prescription

• The Activities and Themes of the VSS website offer checklists for consideration.

• Only by matching the lists of issues of the organization with the checklists their relevancy can be examined.

• The strategy formulates answers about the best way in which the issues can be addressed.

• In order to be effective the strategy needs to be approved and supported by all stakeholders.

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The Statistical System and its parts (1)

• We define the national statistical system as the total of units that are engaged in producing national statistics.

• Each unit can be an organization like the Central Statistical Office, or a unit that is part of another organization: e.g. a unit in a line-ministry or an agency linked to a ministry.

• Each unit is responsible for their own data or performs task on existing data sets.

• Units may assist each other.• All this is part of the division of work in the national

statistical system.

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The Statistical System and its parts (2)

• The work plan will need to map out which units of the system are responsible for what part of the work plan.

• And when they will work on it.• Next step is the implementation of the strategy.• The implementation of the work will be done by the

unit which carries that responsibility.

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The Statistical System and its parts (3)

• Most systems and organizations have re-organizations at regular intervals.

• However, when a re-organization of the system is considered this has to be comprehensively discussed before implementation

• A re-organization demands careful preparations, involving many of the staff.

• Re-organizations may be small or large scaled.

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Large Re-organizations

• A large re-organization is like a super-project.• The reorganization project may need to be

broken down in sub-projects.• The sub-projects can be considered as

separate quasi independent projects.• A steering committee is needed for the

cooperation and supervision of all sub projects.

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Steering Committee

• A steering committee makes decisions about the progress of large projects, and supervises.

• The members are competent managers of relevant organizations, mostly of the reorganization’s home organization.

• Project management rules apply. Start and end dates are defined. Intermediate outputs requested and clear responsibilities allocated.

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