TOP 10 SUCCESS STORIES2016/2017

SUMMARY

1 Leadership Training in Africa: Q&A with DG of INSAE Benin

2 Using ADAPT to monitor Equatorial Guinea’s NSDS

3 Tanzania undergoes Second NSS Peer Review

4 Improving Libya’s National Statistical System

5 Myanmar’s NSS Peer Review: Promoting South-South Learning in Asia-Pacific

SUMMARY

6 Exploring Big Data for Official Statistics in the Philippines

7 Monitoring NSDS progress in the Andean Community

8 Monitoring 3 SDG indicators

9 Measuring Statistical Literacy with a New Indicator

10 PISTA: Matching statistical innovations to country demands

02

What are the main challenges you encounter in your work in relation to leadership?

I had not considered just how useful and how relevant “leadership” as a concept would be fora Director General. As far as Benin is concerned, the three major challenges I’ve encountered while managing the INSAE include:

Ensuring the production of quality-driven statistics which respond to the demands of national and international strategies and end-users in general

Responding to the systematic distribution of data Financing statistics as a government sector priority

The principles of leadership, including notably the notion of “DAE” (Direction, Alignment and Engagement), were indispensable in order to convey to our stakeholders (INSAE staff, end-users, the government) the necessity of addressing these three challenges.

Before this workshop, had you ever received leadership training?

This workshop was really the first opportunity for me to become familiar with the concept of leadership. Its tailored approach to teaching allowed me to quickly discover the different aspects of this very wide-ranging topic.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING IN AFRICA: Q&A WITH DG OF INSAE BENIN

Alexandre Biaou, Directeur General, INSAE Benin

03

How would you describe your experience during the regional training in Dakar?

Each participant was asked to complete a questionnaire exploring his or her understanding of the different themes. Each teaching point was set out clearly through group work and individual work. I remember we played a blindfold game as part of an exercise to understand how to be a leader, engage people and bring a team into alignment. Overall, the training was interactive, in-depth and good fun.

What are your key takeaways from the training?

Several elements caught our attention, including: Recognising different aspects of leadership How does one provide positive feedback? What should be avoided?

Active listening: practical cases helped show how to put this into practice A self-evaluation exercise around emotional intelligence

Types of change management: how to situate oneself (conservative, pragmatic, creative)? How to create one’s social identity? A necessary exercise in an environment where different cultures coexist. How to be aware of these differences at a management level.

How have you put into practice the skills you learned during the workshop?

Putting into practice the competencies developed during the training began by recreating the workshop with colleagues at the INSAE. There was clear enthusiasm for this type of training.

On a personal level, I apply the principal of «Direction, Alignment and Engagement» to everything I do in order to maximise its chance of success. I strive to share the objectives and the expected result, and insure that everyone is engaged. Motivation, staff problems and diverging areas of interest are the stumbling blocks which we are working to overcome.

The other point which I am actively putting into practice is the question of feedback. It’s touching to know when we have succeeded with a team member by reaching out like this. It is a simple but essential tool when it is properly used.

04

In June 2016, Equatorial Guinea launched its second National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) in Malabo.

One of the main outcomes of the first NSDS (2003-2008) was the lack of a proper mechanism to monitor progress towards achieving its objectives.

Following this launch, support from the World Bank enabled PARIS21’s participation in the implementation of the first NSDS monitoring exercise with the Advanced Data Planning Tool (ADAPT).

The 58 strategic statistical activities outlined in Equatorial Guinea’s 2016-2018 NSDS will use the ADAPT to facilitate the costing and monitoring process. It assigns activities to key department heads who will be responsible for budgeting and monitoring the results. The ability to assign NSDS activities to key departmental focal points not only allows for direct ownership but it has also led to a full revision of the strategy. Furthermore, ADAPT provides the functionality to monitor the activities’ progress through aggregated completion rates.

So far, department heads have provided inputs for consolidated financial reports, one of which was presented to the national budget committee, and advocated for the inclusion of NSDS funding within the country’s 2017 budget.

Enthusiasm for the tool can be summarised by Mr. Agustin Ndong Eseng, Head of the Planning Department of the statistical office, who, following the workshop, said that the ADAPT would be his “bible for planning” going forward.

USING ADAPT TO MONITOR EQUATORIAL GUINEA’S NSDS

9 1

2

3

Department 1

Department 2

Department 4

Department 5Department 6

Department 7

Department 8

Department 9

Department 3

4

56

7

8

MONITORING OUTPUTS CREATED BY ADAPT

ACTIVITY COUNT BY DEPARTMENT

COST BY YEAR

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USING ADAPT TO MONITOR EQUATORIAL GUINEA’S NSDS

2017 2018

1 Refuerzo del

2 500M

265 035 600

25244 400 000

34 008934 008 900

2 132 398 100

566.5831

1565.815

132.5178

2 000M

1 500M

1 000M

500M

2 Desarrollo de 3 Diffusión regular 4 Refuerzo de

06

Nine years after its first NSS Peer Review, Tanzania undertook its second such exercise in November 2016.

This marks the first time a country has completed two Peer Reviews in the space of a decade. Representatives from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics and Statistics South Africa assessed the quality of statistical governance in Tanzania with assistance from the African Union Commission, PARIS21, East Africa Community, Southern African Development Community and Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management.

PARIS21 provided support to the evaluators during the interview process and helped prepare the assessment report.

The focus of the review centred around five main dimensions of statistical governance:

Organisation and management of the national statistical system

Statistical process management

Quality statistical output assurance

Statistical dissemination, communication and use

Physical infrastructure

TANZANIA UNDERGOES SECOND NSS PEER REVIEW

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As well as identifying challenges and formulating 11 recommendations, the review highlighted 14 major achievements since 2007.

In particular, the adoption of a new statistics act in 2015 and the implementation of the Tanzania Statistical Master Plan have enabled the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to effectively structure co-ordination efforts within the NSS.

Collaboration between the NBS and development partners has also allowed for many improvements including the increased production of quality data, strong dissemination efforts through the establishment of a new website, the creation of a national data centre and improved data literacy amongst data users thanks to a strong working relationship between the bureau and the media.

THE TANZANIA STATISTICS ACT, 2015

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Statistical production in Libya has been severely affected by political instability following the uprising in 2011. Most data series were suspended from 2012 to 2014 and, despite recent efforts, collection of some data series have yet to resume. As the fragile state enters the rebuilding process, data and statistics will be particularly important for the formulation of strong, transparent and evidence-based public policies.

Because of these difficulties, the Libya Bureau of Statistics and Census (BSC) decided to undertake an assessment that could provide a basis for drafting the country’s first NSDS. PARIS21 joined forces with UNFPA to provide Libya with the technical and financial support needed to assess and ultimately rebuild the country’s National Statistical System.

This NSS assessment analysed the system’s  regulatory framework, statistical processes, programmes and methodologies, as well as capacity building efforts and cross cutting activities. The assessment unveiled several recommendations that will allow the BSC to assist in statistical modernisation efforts and oversee NSS activities.

IMPROVING LIBYA’S NATIONAL STATISTICAL SYSTEM

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PARIS21 will provide support to the following recommendations:

Design a NSDS that would include a work plan for a comprehensive household survey programme and the production of economic statistics for a five-year period

Establish co-ordination mechanisms between data producers and users in compliance with national law and administrative settings

Design a monitoring process for the UN Sustainable Development Goals

SWOT ANALYSIS OF LIBYA’S NSS

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SWOT analysis Analysis of the above current situation in Libya provides a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats likely to affect the performance of the statistical system in the country (SWOT analysis) to focus and build on the strengths, minimize the threats, and take advantage of the existing opportunities.

Helpful to achieving the objective

Harmful to achieving the objective

Inte

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(att

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es o

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syst

em)

Strengths Existence of a legal framework that

establishes the BSC to produce official statistics in the country

Dedicated leadership and management at the Bureau of Statistics and Census

Good relations with international agencies specialized in statistics

Existence of some expertise and competences in statistics within the BSC

Availability of some ITC infrastructure at the BSC as well as few other ministries

Weaknesses Lack of statistical coordination across

sectors Low visibility of the Bureau of Statistics

and Census at the national level Outdated legal framework Inadequate financial resources Insufficient infrastructure in terms of

premises and ICT equipment at the Bureau level

Inadequate human resources and capacity building.

Lack of statistics units in many sectors Institutional setup not well established to

enhance statistical act Lack of data sources in different areas

of statistical programs Lack of documentation of statistical

products Lack of central registers Insufficient budget to cover the

statistical program and the reform

Exte

rnal

orig

in

(att

ribut

es o

f the

env

ironm

ent)

Opportunities Strong will by the BSC leadership and

management to bring institutional and organizational changes.

Launch of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations which will require more and accurate statistics

Increased availability of technological innovations

Availability of partners in the national statistical system

Room to re-build a new, modern and effective national statistical system learning from others experience

Existence of partners willing to support statistical development in the country

Threats Statistics are currently not prioritized due

to socio-political uproars Continued political uncertainty Reliance on other data sources at the

national and international level Economic slump at national as well as

international level restraining availability of resources for statistical development

Absence of mechanisms to coordinate the national statistical system

10

Myanmar became the second country in the Asia-Pacific region to undergo a Peer Review. Facilitated by PARIS21 and undertaken by the Malaysia Departmentof Statistics, Philippine Statistics Authority, and ASEANStats Unit, the Peer Review exercise identified critical bottlenecks across four thematic areas:

NSS organisation and management

Statistical process management

Quality assurance of statistical outputs

Data dissemination, communication and use

The process also provided concrete suggestions to improve statistical governance in the country, promoted south-south learning as part of the “ASEAN help ASEAN” programme through the sharing of best practices and advocated for quality data and statistics to the country’s High Level Committee.

The six-day mission uncovered the need to strengthen co-ordination in the NSS, create wider demand for data across all levels of government through statistical advocacy activities, link statistics with policy and development planning and identify key indicators to monitor development targets for the country’s second five-year plan.

MYANMAR’S NSS PEER REVIEW: PROMOTING SOUTH-SOUTH LEARNING IN ASIA-PACIFIC

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MYANMAR’S NSS PEER REVIEW: PROMOTING SOUTH-SOUTH LEARNING IN ASIA-PACIFIC STATISTICAL CAPACITY INDICATOR

SCORES OF NSS IN MYANMAR, MALAYSIA, PHILIPPINES AND ASEAN

Source: World BankNote: ASEAN Average does not include NSSs of Singapore and Brunei Darussalam

The Central Committee for Data Accuracy and Quality of Statistics agreed to follow-up on the implementation of these recommendations.

12

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and PARIS21 organised a two-day workshop to examine the potential of harnessing data from non-traditional sources such as Big Data for use in official statistics.

Bringing together nearly 100 representatives from various government agencies, private telecommunications companies, academic institutions, and international agencies involved in Big Data, the workshop served as a venue to advance discussions on the possible incentives, applicable business models, and protocols for future possible partnerships between private companies and the Philippine Statistical System. It also explored the Philippines’ ability to generate timely and regular indicators for the SDGs.

Major recommendations from the workshop include:

Organise learning communities that would increase understanding of Big Data

Review appropriate business models for Big Data in the Philippines, including examples from international agencies

Explore use of Big Data to monitor SDG indicators (i.e. health, environment and natural resources)

Setup Public-Private Partnerships to leverage Big Data for official statistics

Uphold PSA’s central role in the country’s Big Data activities and enforce its mandate as custodian of trustworthy statistics

The PSA has already implemented one of the recommendations of the workshop and has established a Task Force on Big Data, which includes UP School of Statistics and two telecom companies, Smart/PLDT and Globe Telecom. The Task team is currently working on a policy framework and standards setting for big data.

EXPLORING BIG DATA FOR OFFICIAL STATISTICS IN THE PHILIPPINES

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“An exciting thing about transforming our world by 2030, is the engagement of all voices in

pursuing the Sustainable Development Agenda, specifically the private sector”

Dr. Lisa Bersales, National Statistician of the Philippine Statistics Authority.

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In 2017, the four countries of the Andean Community (CAN) - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru - will be finishing their NSDSs, which started in 2013. While the creation of these strategies was largely seen as a success, their scope of execution and implementation encountered several roadblocks including a lack of high-level political support, outdated statistical laws and the inability to properly monitor and track progress.

PARIS21 and the CAN Secretariat hosted a regional workshop for NSO officials to carry forward lessons learnt from the 2013-2017 NSDSs and to promote the next round of strategies, as well as to start theprocess of strengthening capacities in the production of statistics. Key to this is the proper planning of economic and social development information for public policy use. The ADAPT was presented as a tool with which CAN and member countries could better visualise and compare NSDS progress. The cost and completion rate of these different strategies could be reviewed on a regular basis and easily communicated with policy makers and partnering agencies.

MONITORING NSDS PROGRESS IN THE ANDEAN COMMUNITY

Andean Community

Colombia Ecuador PeruBolivia

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PERIODO CIENTO CINCO DE SESIONES ORDINARIAS DE LA COMISIÓN 4 de junio de 2010 Lima - Perú

DECISION 736

Planes Estratégicos Nacionales para el Desarrollo Estadístico (PENDES)

LA COMISION DE LA COMUNIDAD ANDINA, VISTOS: Los artículos 53, 54 y 59 del Acuerdo de Cartagena; las Decisiones 115, 488 y 700 de la Comisión; la Propuesta 239 de la Secretaría General; y, CONSIDERANDO: Que los procesos de modernización del Estado en los Países Miembros buscan una mejor atención del ciudadano, a través de mayores niveles de eficiencia y la gestión por resultados, para lo cual la estadística constituye un instrumento indispensable para apoyar el diseño y formulación de políticas, planes, programas y proyectos públicos, cuya calidad y pertinencia pueden cambiar sensiblemente el desempeño de los países, debido a que se torna en un elemento decisivo en los procesos de consolidación de la democracia, la transparencia de la gestión pública y de sus resultados;

Que la información estadística de los Países Miembros debe producirse en Sistemas Estadísticos Nacionales, relevantes y creíbles, condición necesaria para disponer de un adecuado sistema de monitoreo y evaluación del desempeño y resultados de la gestión pública; Que los Sistemas Estadísticos Nacionales deben tener una visión estratégica de la información estadística que se debe producir para el desarrollo económico y social de sus países; Que la Declaración de Cartagena, por la Estadística Andina, suscrita por los Directores de Estadística el 27 de junio de 2007, solicita a la SGCAN, elaborar un nuevo Programa Estratégico de las Estadísticas de la CAN; Que el Plan Estratégico Nacional para el Desarrollo Estadístico, es una visión de los requerimientos de información estadística de la política pública, similar al Programa Estadístico Comunitario; Que, el Acuerdo de Cartagena establece en su Capítulo IV Armonización de las Políticas Económicas y Coordinación de los Planes de Desarrollo, artículo 54, que “los Países Miembros coordinarán sus planes de desarrollo en sectores específicos y armonizarán gradualmente sus políticas económicas y sociales, con la mira de llegar al desarrollo integrado del área, mediante acciones planificadas”; y artículo 59, que “en sus planes nacionales de Desarrollo y en la formulación de sus políticas económicas, los Países Miembros incluirán las medidas necesarias para asegurar el cumplimiento de los artículos precedentes”;

DECISION 736

The development of new strategic plans is in line with the decision of Andean countries to synchronise the production of national statistics and endorse harmonisation and comparability.

http://bit.ly/2mt8CmP

16

In 2016, PARIS21 was designated as proposed custodian agency for three SDG indicators under Goal 17. This entails collecting, validating and harmonising data, esti-mating regional and global aggregates and making this information available in the form of storylines and statistical annexes for annual SDG progress reports.

SDG Indicator Storyline Highlights:

17.18.2 Number of countries that have national statistical legislation that complies with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics

In 2016, 37 countries had national statistical legislation compliant with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. This number represents 45% of all respondents and is primarily comprised of countries in North America and Europe. In the coming years, developing countries will need to put in place solid and politically backed statistical legalisation that allows the national statistical system to operate in a transparent and independent manner.

17.18.3 Number of countries with a national statistical plan that is fully funded and under implementation, by source of funding

In 2016, 81 countries had national statistical plans under implementation. Among the 17 countries with fully funded national statistical plans, nearly 65% were located in North America and Europe. Many countries, particularly those in developing areas, still lack the

MONITORING 3 SDG INDICATORS

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

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MONITORING 3 SDG INDICATORS

comprehensive strategic vision to effectively carry out statistical operations. More attention will need to be paid to the importance of statistics for development as well as subsequent funding mechanisms in order for the SDGs to be achieved.

17.19.1 Dollar value of all resources made available to strengthen statistical capacity in developing countries

In 2014, developing countries received USD 338 million in financial support for statistics. While this represented an increase of nearly 3% from 2010, it accounted for only slightly less than 0.2% of total Official Development Assistance (ODA). To meet the data needs of the SDGs, developing countries will need an estimated $1 billion in statistical support annually from domestic and donor sources.

ANNUAL CHANGE IN FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO STATISTICS, 2010 TO 2014

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The UN Secretary-General’s report The Road to Dignity by 2030 on the Post-2015 Agenda called for a transformative agenda and stressed that “the world must acquire a new data literacy in order to be equipped with the tools, methodologies, capacities, and information necessary to shine a light on the challenges of responding to the new agenda”.

In response, the PARIS21-led Task Team developed a first composite indicator to measure global statistical literacy. The indicator provides an indirect measure of the use of and critical engagement with statistics in the media using articles from the daily RSS feeds of the top five national newspapers for 122 developing countries. It will be reported on as part of the Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS) logical framework, agreed upon at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011.

Methodology

To empirically measure statistical literacy, the Task Team used online national newspaper articles as its primary source of information since they: first, can be interpreted as a demand for statistical facts and level of critical analyses; second, represent the literate population and; third, are frequently reported and can be compared across countries. Articles are classified into three levels of literacy based on a list of keywords. The literacy scores are also correlated against another available proxy, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in order to confirm the external validity of the indicator.

MEASURING STATISTICAL LITERACY WITH ANEW INDICATOR

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Countries covered

This indicator currently covers news articles written in four languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese) for nearly half of the 77 International Development Association borrowing countries. Four OECD countries (France, Mexico, Portugal, UK) where these languages are spoken were also included for reference.

LITERACY LEVELS 1 TO 3

Level 1. Consistent, non-critical: Appropriate but non-critical engagement with context, multiple aspects of terminology usage.

Level 2. Critical: Critical, questioning engagement in contexts that do not involve proportional reasoning, but which do involve appropriate use of terminology.

Level 3. Critical mathematical: Critical, questioning engagement with context, using proportional reasoning particularly in chance contexts, showing appreciation of the need for uncertainty in making predictions, and interpreting subtle aspects of language.

20

The Platform for Innovations in Statistics (PISTA) was developed by PARIS21 in 2016 as a direct result of the Informing a Data Revolution project. This platform allows countries to become more responsive to rapidly changing data demands.

Through it,PARIS21 collects information on statistical innovations with potential relevance for stakeholders within the national statistical system.

The first year of this tool saw several significant developments.

New Website

PISTA got a complete visual makeover including an interactive landing page, improved user experience and new open-source IT infrastructure. This website acts as a subdomain to PARIS21’s principal website (paris21.org) and continues to gain website traffic.

PISTA: MATCHING STATISTICAL INNOVATIONS TO COUNTRY DEMANDS

http://pista.paris21.org/

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PISTA: MATCHING STATISTICAL INNOVATIONS TO COUNTRY DEMANDS

Collaboration PARIS21, together with USAID, has initiated a data collaboration to facilitate the innovation collection and maintenance of information: PARIS21 curates the ‘Data for Development’ topic of the USAID Global Innovations Exchange and therefore is granted access to its innova-tion data via an API.

Open Assessment Repository

In order to match supply of statistical innovations with its demand, PARIS21 has developed a framework to align statistical capacity assessment efforts - the Open Assessment Repository (OAR). A working group has been formed to carry this further under the new Capacity Development 4.0 umbrella.

Next Steps:

In the 2nd half of 2017, PARIS21 will focus on engaging with the community of innovators

and integrating innovation-driven thinking in statistical strategy processes.

TOP 10 SUCCESS STORIES2016/2017