2014TOP 10

SUCCESS STORIES

1 Revolutionary Innovations

2 Vital Statistics

3 Data Journalists

4 Setting the Course of NSDS

5 NSDS Graduation

6 Reaching out to Users

7 Small Islands Sustainable Future

8 Microdata in Kenya

9 ASEAN Strategy

10 A Country-led Data Revolution

TOP 10SUCCESS STORIES

2014

Revolutionary InnovationsPARIS21 unveils the Informing a Data Revolution tools: the Innovation Inventory and the Metabase

Innovations are key to making the Data Revolution happen. As a key tool of the ‘Informing a Data Revolution’ project, PARIS21 developed an online inventory of innovative uses of new technologies and organisational approaches in development data and official statistics.

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Data innovation landscape - The Innovations Inventory

(www.innovation.paris21.org) gives a structured overview of the rapidly evolving innovation landscape. The innovations are complemented with descriptions, explanatory videos, and relevant implementation information such as the re-usability of the innovations.

Crowdsourced, open and free - 156 innovations from over 100 innovators across the globe have been registered and over 50 related case studies in the inventory illustrate good practices at country level.

Accessible in multiple ways - A search function enables individual queries. Innovations can be browsed by type, country and area of the Generic Statistical Business Process Model.

Quality and transparency are important - To guarantee the quality of information provided and to avoid any misuse, the PARIS21 Innovations Inventory team regularly reviews new innovations submissions.

Giving great ideas the attention they deserve - The PARIS21 Innovations Inventory is an opportunity for innovators to present their ideas and projects to a wider audience. Contact details of the innovators are displayed to facilitate communication for interested users.

The Metabase (www.metabase.paris21.org), another component of the ‘Informing a Data Revolution’ project, is a database compiling information on 136 countries’ organisation, management and performance in statistical capacity. The Metabase will contribute to monitor statistical capacity in developing countries.

Vital StatisticsPARIS21 released three advocacy films on civil registration and vital statistics

In low income countries 62% of births are not registered according to UNICEF. While developing countries have markedly improved their well-being conditions in the last decades, they still face enormous constraints providing real-time data to inform policies and development programs relating to health and education, among others.

In order to bring to light the significance of counting with reliable vital statistics, PARIS21 produced three documentary advocacy films on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS).

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A well–functioning civil registration and vital statistics system is the most reliable source of continuous as well as universal demographic and health data enabling governments to efficiently invest their resources. It is also essential to monitor international development progress; indeed vital statistics will be required to monitor several indicators of the sustainable development goals.

In ‘The Vital Count’, statisticians, civil registrars, medical practitioners, policy-makers and non-government representatives from Kenya and Senegal in Africa; Philippines and Samoa in Asia-

Pacific, share their experiences of working with vital statistics, and explore solutions to overcome obstacles to improve their national CRVS systems.

‘Everyone Counts, Count Everyone’ opened the

PARIS21 event at the Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in November 2014. The second film of the series ‘Make everyone count’ focusing on CRVS in Africa was released in a side-event during the 3rd Conference of African Ministers in charge of Civil Registration in February 2015 in Abidjan. ‘The Vital Count’ was shown during the 47th United Nations Statistical Committee meeting in a side-event in New York opened by Jeffrey Sachs.

Data Journalists Bringing together statisticians and journalists

Data journalism is strengthening the use of statistics in news stories, which contributes to enhancing accountability towards citizens. Increasingly, mainstream media outlets are making frequent use of statistics to justify stories and make predictions.

However, journalists and statisticians in less developed countries still face many challenges in accessing and promoting statistics. PARIS21 advocates for closing this gap between journalists and statisticians through training workshops.

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In Rwanda, PARIS21 partnered with the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) to facilitate a workshop for over fifteen journalists from local radio, television, print and online media and the executive secretary of the Media High Council of Rwanda.

Participants got familiarised with statistical activities in the country, including the law governing the operations of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda and the national statistical system. The journalists refreshed their knowledge in basic statistics and were introduced to data journalism. Using the NISR website, there were demonstrations on how to find data, extract information and visualise and communicate statistical findings.

In Mali, PARIS21 co-organised with l’Observatoire économique et statistique d’Afrique subsaharienne (AFRISTAT) a regional workshop for over twenty journalists and statisticians from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal, alongside AFRISTAT, l’ Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques du Grand-Duché du Luxembourg (STATEC) and PARIS21 experts. Prior to the workshop, participants received an e-learning module to revise the main content of the training.

During the workshop, they shared their views on each other’s work, and learned the best way to facilitate workshops in their countries. Some attendants proposed realistic and precise activities that they could implement at national level. National workshops will be the next in this support to national statistical offices and journalists.

Setting the Course of NSDS PARIS21 reviews the statistical activities of Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe

The National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) are the cornerstone of the work that PARIS 21 does. Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe NSDS were successfully implemented and evaluated by PARIS21 and various Pan-African organisations. These reviews are essential to continue improving NSDS and help countries to adapt to upcoming challenges linked to the implementation of these strategies.

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Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe have experienced a surge in demand for accurate, timely and relevant statistics for decision making.

At the request of Statistics South Africa, PARIS21 reviewed the ‘2010-2014 Statistics South Africa Strategic Plan’ to assess the degree of implementation, value and impact of the NSDS. The exercise was accomplished in close collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

In Nigeria, the AfDB, UNECA and PARIS21 conducted the final evaluation of Nigeria’s National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (2010-2014).

Through the same collaboration, PARIS21 reviewed the implementation of the 2010-2014 NSDS of Zimbabwe. The recommendations made as part of the evaluations will inform the design and implementation of the next NSDS.

In Madagascar, PARIS21 carried out a mid-term evaluation to review the implementation of the current NSDS plan. Madagascar’s political crisis, from 2008 to 2013, prevented the full implementation until 2014 of the NSDS plan adopted in 2007. Following the mid-term evaluation, PARIS21, jointly with AfDB, AFRISTAT and UNECA, proposed the elaboration and implementation of a statistical priority action plan to win back user trust in the Madagascar national statistical system.

NSDS GraduationNSDS 2.0 training organised in East Asia and East Africa

The National Strategies for the Development of Statistics offer a strategic framework to help countries to respond to the statistical needs of their national development plans. PARIS21 offers regional and national training to support countries in designing and implementing these strategies.

In 2014, 11 countries from Southeast Asia, South Asia, and North Asia; and 9 countries in East Africa successfully completed a NSDS 2.0 training course. NSDS training sessions are useful tools to aid countries in the coordination of their national statistical system.

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In Japan, participants from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam attended the first NSDS regional training course in December 2014 organised in collaboration with the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) in Chiba.

In Tunis, as part of the 6th Forum on African Statistical Development, PARIS21 presented the NSDS 2.0 guidelines to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. This training will be useful for the development of upcoming strategies in these countries.

In Burundi, PARIS 21 customised a national NSDS training to fit the country’s specific needs following the launch of their second NSDS. Over fifty participants from national bodies and ministries that work with statistics attended the training. The main concerns expressed were how to better integrate data producers and take into account the needs of data users.

Reaching out to UsersThematic User-Producer Dialogues facilitated at country and regional level in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Philippines, South Africa and Zambia

Data users often complain that data is not always accessible and at times costly, while producers argue that not enough resources are invested in statistics.

It is essential to encourage dialogue and collaboration between users and producers of data. PARIS21 held a number of user-producer consultative workshops in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Philippines and Zambia.

At a regional level, as part of the Accelerated Data Program (ADP), a workshop was organised in South Africa to leverage the use of microdata, co-hosted by PARIS21 and the World Bank.

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The national thematic dialogues were held in response to the respective strategic objectives in the countries’ NSDS seeking as a general goal to engage more with users of statistics.

In Ethiopia, the dialogue organised was used to disseminate the 2013 Labour Force Survey results.

In Malawi, the workshop gathered users and producers to discuss the production of statistics, where and how to access them and showed practical examples of policies based on statistics, and good coordination between national statistical offices, line ministries and other actors including public private partnerships.

In Mozambique, ‘Bringing statistics closer to users and users closer to producers’, was organised in Maputo in October 2014 as part of the implementation of the Mozambique National Statistical System Strategic Plan for 2013-2017.

In the Philippines, the sub-national user-producer dialogue on inclusive growth and disaster risk management was organised to bring together local data users and producers to assess the adequacy and the mechanisms in place to generate disaster statistics.

In Zambia, over thirty participants gathered, representing government, the central bank, the University of Zambia, research institutions, civil society organisations, farmers and chambers of commerce and industry.

In South Africa, ADP facilitated a regional workshop on documentation, dissemination and use of microdata in June 2014 with 40 participants from statistical offices throughout the region who shared their views on how to find and share microdata.

Forum on Advancing Statistical Development in SIDS in the Post 2015 Era

In collaboration with the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21), Samoa Bureau of Statistics and Secretariat of the Pacific Community

1 September 2014, 15:00 - 16:30 Faleata Sports Complex Apia, Samoa

Small Islands Sustainable Future

PARIS21 organised a Forum on Advancing Statistical Development in SIDS in the Post-2015 Era

Small island developing states (SIDS) have particular vulnerabilities due to their small size and remoteness which need to be recognised when advancing towards sustainable development policies. The 3rd International Conference on SIDS for the first time highlighted the enabling role of data and statistics for development.

PARIS21, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the government of Samoa, convened a side- event in September 2014 to discuss the peculiarities of statistical development in small island developing states in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, South China Sea and Pacific regions.

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Among the objectives of the forum were:

• Discussing the peculiarities of SIDS in the context of cross-regional lessons learned and experiences in statistical capacity development.

• Identifying the possible impact that the sustainable development goals (SDGs) would have on SIDS statistical systems.

• Establishing how the data revolution could be useful in addressing challenges in SIDS.

Participants of the forum emphasised the need to agree on a set of indicators to monitor SIDS progress in achieving sustainable development. A new global compact for statistics was proposed as a way to provide greater investments for statistics development in support of decisions and policies on sustainable development.

The peculiarities of SIDS due to their vulnerability to natural and environmental disasters, particularly the effects of climate change and sea-level rise present significant risks to their sustainable development. Strengthening their statistical systems is consequently necessary to inform better decisions and to monitor the new sustainable development goals. Thus, PARIS21 presented a set of recommendations towards strengthening SIDS national statistical systems including:

• Adapting international requirements to SIDS context.

• Developing and implementing SIDS-specific tools to assess and monitor their vulnerability .

• Preparation of NSDS adapted to SIDS context.

Microdata in KenyaKenya Microdata Outreach Workshop: Leveraging Data

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in collaboration with the Accelerated Data Program hosted a microdata outreach and advocacy workshop for data producers and users in Nairobi in December 2014.

Over 50 participants including data producers and users, university researchers, international NGOs, national NGOs, research centres, professional associations, line-ministries, private sector, and representatives from consumer-goods and market research companies attended the two-day event.

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The workshop contributed to:

• Promoting users’ awareness of data availability and use of microdata.

• Informing users on the various formats on which data is produced and used.

• Sharing best practices and challenges in disseminating disaggregated data - including survey and administrative data.

• Identifying needs of data users in research and academia.

• Discussing new innovations and developments in data collection.

• Presenting innovations in data capture and dissemination.

• Identifying major data gaps and users demand.

Alongside the perspectives from major official data producers in the national statistical system, representatives from the private sector presented innovations in data capture and dissemination.

Data visualisation examples were shared for understanding and using data to gain insights for better planning and resource allocation.

The workshop contributed to creating user awareness of microdata use as well as identify major data gaps and users demand. It also supported the national statistical system for further improving data dissemination in Kenya.

ASEAN Strategy ASEAN Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics 2016-2020

The Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) has embarked on an ambitious project of a creation of an ASEAN integrated community. In this process, informed decisions will be key in the following years and statistics will provide timely, relevant and comparable data to inform policy formulation.

To support the development of the ASEAN Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics (RSDS), PARIS21, in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat and EU-Arise, organised a workshop to gather inputs to finalise the ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Strategic Plan 2016-2020.

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Besides raising awareness on the relevance of ASEAN statistics for informed policy making, other specific objectives of the workshop were to:

• Identify and resolve global and regional issues concerning the ACSS, including data quality and dissemination.

• Decide on the broad and specific levels of prioritisation for better allocation of resources towards the enhancement of ASEAN statistics.

• Review the strategies and measures proposed in the draft Strategic Plan 2016-2020 and finalise the recommendations.

• Discuss measures in integrating the regional strategies and priorities in the respective NSDS and seek guidance from the member states.

Some key messages discussed during the workshop included:

• Ensuring an alignment of member states’ national strategies for the development of statistics with the ASEAN RSDS.

• Supporting the strengthening of national statistical systems especially those of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

• Ensuring an active involvement of the ACSS in the sustainable development discussions.

• Broader cooperation on statistics to address sector statistics concerns.

A Country-led Data Revolution

Data revolution seminars held in Bamako, Bangkok, London, Oslo, Ottawa, Paris, and Washington DC

The PARIS21 ‘Informing a Data Revolution’ project has been in full swing since 2014. Grounded in evidence collected through the Metabase, the Innovations Inventory, cross-country and in-depth studies, we have been hosting seminars and workshops around the world with our partners to get feedback on the project and its main outcome: a ‘Road Map for a Country-led Data Revolution’.

We have gone across the world listening to users and producers of statistics in developing countries, international organisations and national bodies working with statistics to find out what countries need in order to make the best of the data revolution.

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In Bamako, AFRISTAT and PARIS21 organised the event ‘A Better statistical dialogue for better development results’ to strengthen cooperation between African countries in the area of statistics. PARIS21 used this opportunity to present the early findings of the ‘Informing a Data Revolution’ project.

In Bangkok, PARIS21 held a session at the Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific ‘Leave No Data behind: CRVS and the data revolution’ in November. In the lively panel discussion, numerous actions were suggested as a way to strengthen the national statistical systems, link the national statistics offices with CRVS, and integrate CRVS initiatives in the sustainable development agenda and the data revolution.

In Oslo, in November, in partnership with Statistics Norway, PARIS21 organised ‘The Data Revolution: from talk to action - What’s at stake for developing countries?’.

In Ottawa, PARIS21 organised the discussion ‘Post 2015, SDG’s and the Data Revolution: Do we risk missing the perspective of developing countries?’.

In Paris, government officials from national statistical offices and experts from the seven in-depth country studies gathered in December to discuss the findings of the in-depth country studies.

‘From ideas to action: Making the data revolution work for those who need it most’ was hosted by Open Data Watch in Washington DC in November. In London, the Royal Statistical Society facilitated ‘Untapped Opportunities of the Data Revolution’ in December. These IDR seminars led to provocative discussions and thought-provoking questions. The country-based approach of the road map was highly supported for making a data revolution happen at a country level.

www.paris21.org