17.10 International non-governmental organizations#
17.10.1 Overview#
International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) are increasingly engaged in statistical capacity development, particularly by developing related frameworks and initiatives addressing new data needs. They have become important actors in the international statistical system– working in close partnership with international and national statistical agencies. In addition, many statisticians working for their national statistical systems as well as for the global statistical system are members and/or participate in statistical meetings and conferences of international professional organizations on statistical topics including official statistics. Key INGOs are described through the respective cards in this section.
International Partnerships and Foundations
Other INGOs
17.10.2 International Partnerships and Foundations#
PARIS21
The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) works to advance statistical capacity and improve the production and use of data and statistics for sustainable development and more effective and inclusive policymaking. PARIS21 facilitates statistical capacity development, advocates for integrating reliable data in decision-making, and co-ordinates donor support to statistics. Its mission is to strengthen statistics and promote timely, high-quality, and robust statistical information by policymakers and citizens, mainly focusing on low-income countries.
PARIS21 publishes an annual Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS), a comprehensive global analysis of donor financial flows to data and statistics. The 2020 edition will feature a new tool that enables forward-looking prediction to facilitate coordination and planning of development partners.
Open Data Watch (ODW)
ODW is an international non-governmental organization, founded in 2013, whose mission is to bring change to organizations that produce and manage official statistical data to increase their quality, availability, and use. ODW monitors advances in the development data revolution to learn and share findings on how they can benefit national statistical systems (NSSs), particularly those in developing countries. ODW’s flagship product, the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) has been an annual assessment (since 2015) applying international standards of the availability and openness of official statistics in national databases.
ODW works at the intersection of open data and official statistics, with the goal of increasing governments’ responsiveness to citizens by increasing transparency, participation, and use of robust research and data in decision - making.
Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD)
GPSDD is a network of 260 organizations worldwide, spanning from governments, United Nations agencies, civil society, private sector and academia. The network works closely with UNSD on many initiatives, including work to support NSOs on increasing timely data, unlocking privately held data and advocating for better financing for the data ecosystem.
GPSDD is working to create a world where good data is used to achieve just and sustainable societies. It works closely with several Members States that want to improve their data ecosystems and foster a wide government approach to leveraging data to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS)
The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development.
SDSN’s Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS) convenes cross-sector technical and policy knowledge from across the global scientific, development, public and private sector data communities. The mission of SDSN TReNDS is to catalyse learning and investment in the data revolution for development. Specifically, the aims are to: help strengthen local, national & global statistical systems by generating and curating ideas; improve learning on data sharing and incubate technical coalitions to establish practice standards for new data approaches; inform investment in emerging data opportunities; and contribute critical insights and offer technical and policy-oriented solutions on the rapidly evolving sustainable development data ecosystem.
Data2X
Data2X is an independent technical and advocacy platform housed at the United Nations Foundation, working to improve the availability, quality, and use of gender data to make a practical difference in the lives of women and girls worldwide.
Data2X strengthens the production and use of gender data by partnering with data producers to improve established data systems, including through capacity building; experimenting with new data sources and methods; and, building the case for gender data among donor and policy audiences.
Development Initiatives (DI)
DI was founded in the UK in 1993 on the premise that without better data on people in poverty and the resources that could be helping them, it would be impossible to sustainably end poverty.
DI provides rigorous information to support better decisions, influence policy outcomes, increase accountability and strengthen the use of data to eradicate poverty.
Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN)
The Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. The initiative focuses on building high-level policy, and public and private institutional support for open data.
The initiative encourages co-operation among existing agriculture and open data activities, bringing stakeholders together to solve long-standing global problems. On a practical level, GODAN lends its expertise to advising on open data policy and funding proposals and, where appropriate, submitting joint proposals with members and partners. GODAN is in a position to use its credibility and expertise to support initiatives that aim to make a positive impact in the fields of agriculture and nutrition through the use of open data, helping advise on applications, assembling partner network technical, policy and legal expertise, and acting as a facilitator.
17.10.3 Other INGOs#
International Statistical Institute (ISI)
The ISI is a membership organization open to all institutions or individuals on annual subscription. ISI’s catchphrase ‘Statistical Science for a Better World’ reflects its mission and mandate.
The ISI was established in 1885. Before the Second World War, the ISI sought to influence governmental statistical agencies by facilitating collaboration and encouraging uniformity in statistical definitions and data collection. But this role was largely taken over by the newly created United Nations. The ISI mission was modified in 1947 to emphasize international communication among statisticians rather than with governments and supporting the international promotion and dissemination of research and practice of statistics.
The ISI’s mission is to lead, support and promote the understanding, development and good practice of statistics worldwide, by providing the core global network for statistics.
International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS)
Founded in 1985, IAOS is a membership association open to all institutions or individuals on annual subscription. It was created and developed as a specialised section of the International Statistical Institute (ISI).
IAOS brings together producers and users of official statistics to promote the understanding and advancement of official statistics and related subjects and to foster the development of effective and efficient official statistical services, particularly in developing countries, through international contacts among individuals and organizations, including users of official statistics as well as research institutions.
International Association for Research on Income and Wealth (IARIW)
The IARIW is an association founded in September 1947, dedicated to advancing knowledge relating to national income and wealth. In particular, it advances education and knowledge in the general area of income and wealth by organizing conferences and publications. The specific fields of interest include the definition, measurement, and analysis of national income and wealth; the distribution of income and wealth, and poverty; and, the development of economic and social accounting systems and their use for economic policy.
Inter-American Statistical Institute (IASI)
The IASI, founded in May 1940, is a professional organization whose purpose is to promote statistical development in the American region by, among others, promotion and dissemination of advances in statistical theory and methods; promotion of measures aimed at improving comparability and availability of economic and social statistics; and, cooperation with national and international organizations in activities aimed at statistical improvement.
IASI has observer status at the UN Statistics Commission and maintains cooperation agreements with the ISI, several national statistical institutes, and national statistics associations.