17.12 International Statistical Cooperation#
17.12.1 Overview#
For members of the international statistical system, cooperation and coordination are integral features in carrying out their mandates and priorities.
For members of the international statistical system, cooperation and coordination are integral features in carrying out their mandates and priorities. These hold for:
setting standards, frameworks and methods,
in statistical capacity development initiatives for member States, and
in the production of international statistics and statistical series in their respective areas of responsibility.
Starting with the MDG indicators, and carried forward to the SDG indicator framework, the concept of “custodian agencies” has further highlighted the importance of cooperation and coordination in these processes. The Classification of International Statistical Activities (🔗) developed by UNECE gives a structured overview of activities carried out by international organizations.
National statistical offices engage with the international statistical system. Related to the three processes mentioned above is the importance of “partnership and national ownership”; i.e., NSSs should actively participate in the main discussion forums pertaining to statistics, such as in the United Nations Statistical Commission and the regional statistical committees, to ensure continuous improvement of statistics at all levels– the national, the (sub)regional and the international level.
Due to the scarcity of international cooperation resources allocated to statistics, the areas of concern for which cooperation will be sought need to be prioritized and different forms of cooperation and new sources of cooperation with the private sector need to be explored. Illustrative examples of the importance of statistical cooperation are presented in the Implementation Guidelines of the UNFPOS (🔗).
Eurostat and ESS - European Master in Official Statistics (🔗) - a network of Master programmes providing post-graduate education in official statistics at the European level. EMOS is a joint project of universities and data producers in Europe.
SESRIC and the Palestinian International Cooperation Agency (PICA) - PICA receives a high-level delegation from the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and holds a roundtable with national partners (🔗).
The technical cooperation of the National Institute of Statistics of Cabo Verde (NISCV/INECV) (🔗) embraces the improvement of techno-institutional capacity in statistics. In this context, the important role of bilateral cooperation with some statistics institutions is highlighted. These include i.e. Portugal (INE), Spain (INE), Brazil (IBGE), Luxembourg (STATEC), The Canary Islands (ISTAC), Peru (INEI), Italy (ISTAT), The High Commission of Plan of Morocco.
The cooperation with the Portuguese speaking countries has a very important place at NISCV. In particular, it has enormously contributed to the development of statistics in legislation, planning, classifications, concepts and nomenclatures, statistics infrastructures and production, consumer price index (CPI), census mapping, population census and finally national accounts. NIS equally counts on the financial partnership in statistics production with organizations such as the United Nations, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the Luxembourg Cooperation, the Spanish Cooperation and the European Union.
17.12.2 Key actors in statistical cooperation: standards, frameworks and methods and the SDG indicators#
The various standards, frameworks, and methods discussed in chapters 7, 9 and 11 of this Handbook are international statistical cooperation and coordination products. Typically, their development and implementation are facilitated through:
the various groups of the UNSC (see Chapter 17.3.3 — Methods of work of the UNSC);
working groups of the intergovernmental statistical bodies of the UNRCs; and
the standards-setting processes of the international statistical agencies with specific sectoral mandates; e.g., ILO for labour statistics; FAO for agriculture and rural statistics; ITU for ICT statistics.
Box 14: Global Inventory of Statistical Standards
The Global Inventory of Statistical Standards (🔗) was developed under the auspices of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA). Statistical standards consist of statistical classifications, concepts and definitions relating to statistical processes and outputs, and statistical methodologies and procedures. The inventory is a work-in-progress; it aims to:
Compile standards recommended by the main International Organizations, in one database, systematized by types of standard and by statistical or geographical themes and subthemes of national interest.
Provide basic information about the standard, such as objective, the international organization that recommends it, version, description of the standard and the URL to the original information source from which the standard is obtained.
Identify the international organizations involved in the development and dissemination of these statistical standards.
The development of the methodology for Tier II and Tier III indicators for SDGs monitoring are coordinated by the respective custodian and co-custodian agencies.
Information on the contributions of the UNRCs and other international agencies to work on statistical standards, frameworks and methods can be found in their respective Cards. Likewise, information on the SDGs indicators and their custodian agencies can be found in the cards and the UNSD website: SDG Indicators, data collection Information & Focal points (🔗).
17.12.3 International support for national statistical development#
Over the last decade, international support for capacity development of national statistical offices and national statistical systems has expanded. According to the 2019 Partnership Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS) (🔗), between 2016 and 2017, official development assistance to data and statistics rose by 11%, from US$ 623 million to US$ 689 million. This was largely driven by the adoption of the SDG monitoring framework and is more than six-times the amount of US$ 214 million in 2006. The Report suggests that with the surge of funding to statistics and the diversification of donor pools, a global alliance for more and better financing for development data should work to support better identification of needs, improve investment proposals, promote better coordination at the country level and link domestic and external financial support for low-capacity countries. Recommendations for coordination mechanisms from the Report are presented in Chapter 17.11.2 — Regional Coordination Mechanisms.
Coordinating international support for capacity development in statistics
Possible coordination mechanisms involving a code of good practice, funding transparency and country compacts to support statistics could be applied. Such a mechanism could help fund a multi-annual joint response to close the most urgent data gaps among the least developed countries, building on national assessment tools and investment proposals. Donors could also sign up for an international code of practice to ensure coherence and alignment with national priorities. It could, also, support seeding and blend-financing for transformative data architecture and service delivery applications.
The six-fold increase in global capacity development support to national statistical systems from 2006 to 2017 has been driven by key frameworks that addressed the demands for more relevant official statistics for monitoring national and international development goals (e.g., the MDGs and the SDGs) through well-defined principles and action plans. The frameworks, listed below, built on the success and lessons learned from the preceding ones.
2004 Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS);
2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (🔗);
2009 Dakar Declaration on Development of Statistics (🔗);
2011 Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS).
Each of these focus on country statistical capacity development through country-owned and country-led development strategies and at the same time recognizes the interdependence of national and international statistical activity.
The national strategy for the development of statistics (NSDS) is an invaluable coordination mechanism (see also Chapter 4.4 — Annual and multi-annual planning and priority setting). A National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS), which establishes priority statistical programs and activities, is a valuable coordination mechanism that informs how national statistical systems are financed. As it responds to national data demands arising from major policies such as the national development plan, it provides a robust framework for investment in data and statistics. Through a consultative process with different actors, the NSDS, together with sectoral statistical plans, aims to be a multi-donor focal point for funding statistics, with counterpart domestic funding. This is largely due to strong government ownership in the development of the NSDS, which serves as a basis for donor funding.
Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development
The most recent global action plan is the 2017 Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development (CTGAP). The CTGAP was informally launched on 15 January 2017 at the first United Nations World Data Forum in Cape Town South Africa (🔗). It was subsequently formally adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 48th Session in March 2017.
The Plan describes six strategic areas to address key statistical capacity building needs:
Coordination and strategic leadership on data for sustainable development;
Innovation and modernization of national statistical systems;
Strengthening of basic statistical activities and programmes, with particular focus on addressing the monitoring needs of the 2030 Agenda;
Dissemination and use of sustainable development data;
Multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development data;
Mobilize resources and coordinate efforts for statistical capacity building.
This global plan, which benefitted from the dynamic of Transformative Agenda for Official Statistics in support of the Post-2015 Development Agenda (Transformative Agenda) (🔗), is intended to provide a framework for discussion, planning and implementing statistical capacity-building needed to achieve the scope and intent of the 2030 Agenda. The plan acknowledges that this work will be country-led, and will occur at sub-national, national, and regional levels and proposes to leverage and coordinate these many efforts.
Regional and national statistical organizations will have the opportunity to develop or adjust their action plans and road maps related to SDG monitoring in line with the Global Action Plan. Regional and national specificities can thus be addressed, and the production of regional and national indicators facilitated by capacity building and technical assistance targeted to the specific needs of regions and countries.
It calls for a commitment by governments, policy leaders and the international community to undertake key actions proposed for each of the objectives that further define each of the strategic areas[1]. Strategic areas 5 and 6, further developed hereunder, are of particular relevance to international cooperation and capacity building:
Strategic area 5: Multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development data
Objective 5.1: Develop and strengthen partnerships of national and international statistical systems with governments, academia, civil society, private sector and other stakeholders involved in the production and use of data for sustainable development.
Key Actions:
Improve the transparency and accessibility of official statistics to the public.
Create frequent and periodic opportunities to consult with all stakeholders on the production and use of statistics for sustainable development by (i) mobilization a UN World Forum on Sustainable Development Data every second year; (ii) establishing similar venues for on-going consultations and cooperation at regional and national levels.
Develop the institutional arrangements needed for public-private cooperation, including the use of data from non-official sources, in accordance with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
Improve the transparency and accessibility of official statistics to the public.
Create frequent and periodic opportunities to consult with all stakeholders on the production and use of statistics for sustainable development by (i) mobilization a UN World Forum on Sustainable Development Data every second year; (ii) establishing similar venues for on-going consultations and cooperation at regional and national levels.
Develop the institutional arrangements needed for public-private cooperation, including the use of data from non-official sources, in accordance with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
Strategic area 6: Mobilize resources and coordinate efforts for statistical capacity building
Objective 6.1: Ensure that resources are available to implement the necessary programmes and actions as outlined in this global action plan (both domestic and from international cooperation)
Key actions:
Provide an overview of capacity needs based on the implemented or existing needs assessments and consider appropriate matches between types of support and types of needs.
Identify and coordinate existing resources, including south-south and triangular cooperation mechanisms, to strategically address these needs, and identify resource gaps.
Develop a programme for statistical capacity building on capacity needs.
Mobilize donor support towards the priorities agreed in national and regional statistical strategies and promote reporting on financing for statistics.
Create opportunities for participation of non-state actors in funding statistical activities through innovative financing mechanisms using means consistent with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
Promote nationally and/or regionally owned coordination mechanisms of capacity building initiatives.
Support countries in the implementation of the SDG indicator framework.
Engage in communication and advocacy activities at the policy-making level to raise awareness and understanding of implementation aspects of the SDG indicator framework.
Develop criteria and mechanisms to set priorities for the mobilization of resources.
Promote the sharing of relevant implementation experiences between countries.
The Dubai Declaration
To strengthen the capacity of national data and statistical systems and channel financial resources at scale, domestic and international funds need to be mobilized in new ways that would create efficiencies in current spending, leverage existing resources and attract new funding. At the UN World Data Forum in October 2018 in Dubai, the statistical community and other key stakeholders announced the Dubai Declaration. The Declaration recognized that innovative funding strategies are critical for the successful implementation of the CTGAP and called for the establishment of an innovative funding mechanism to improve the quality and quantity of development data. In 2019, the Dubai Declaration (🔗) was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission.
As envisaged in the Dubai Declaration, the purpose of the financing mechanism is to provide an organized platform to:
support national statistical systems in identifying where investments are needed to mobilize the necessary funds, and help to identify ways to access needed funds;
evaluate outcomes and establish a feedback mechanism to better target future investments, detect areas of public policy that demand data for program design (i.e., Governments Digitalization), considering that it is important to act at the beginning of the public policy process; and
focus on disaggregated data that are more useful to policymakers and development partners to ensure “evidence-based policy-making”.
The HLB-PCCB presented a proposal for such a financing mechanism[2] to the UNSC51which welcomed the way forward in the area of financing for data and statistics and the proposed financing mechanism around three pillars to i) secure domestic funding; ii) to improve the efficiency of existing resources through better coordination; and, iii) to increase the overall amount of funding. On this occasion, the UNSC stressed that more statistical capacity building and financing for statistics were needed and welcomed the efforts undertaken by the High-level Group, in cooperation with all stakeholders, including the private sector and the Bern Network on Financing Data for Development (🔗), to mobilizing commitments for more and better funding.
17.12.4 Main donors/contributors to statistical capacity development#
Some official development aid is channelled to statistical capacity development through bilateral or multilateral technical cooperation. A full picture of flows of international development aid to statistics is depicted in Figure 22. The PARIS21 Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS) provides a comprehensive global analysis of donor financial flows to data and statistics.
From 2015-2017, Canada, Sweden, UK and USA were the top country donors. The other top donors were World Bank, Eurostat, IMF, UNFPA, UNICEF and the Gates Foundation. The top five donors– the World Bank, USA, the European Commission/Eurostat, IMF and the UK – provided 66% of total commitments. While the UNFPA and USA were strongly engaged in country-specific aid to statistics, Gates Foundation and the IMF were among the top donors for unallocated commitments to regional or sectoral commitments.
Fig. 25 Flows of official aid (PRESS 2019, PARIS21)
Source: Adapted from https://paris21.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/PARIS21_Press 2019_WEB.pdf#
17.12.5 Key INGOs/Networks engaged in statistical capacity development#
Some international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) listed in Chapter 17.10 — International non-governmental organizations are engaged in statistical capacity development. Several of them were established in response to the call of UN Secretary-General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development (IEAG). As described in their statistical mandates, the areas of work, statistical capacity development priorities and modes of cooperation focus on frameworks and initiatives addressing new data needs, innovative solutions, and strengthening national statistical systems. They have become important actors in the international statistical system– working in close partnership with international and national statistical agencies. PARIS21 is definitely the main global partnership involved in statistical capacity building activities.
The Data4Now, officially launched (🔗) on the side lines of the UN General Assembly in September 2019 by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, aims to increase the use of robust methods and tools that improve the timeliness, coverage, and quality of SDG data through collaboration and partnership, technical and capacity support, and information sharing. Four operating partners anchor this initiative: GPSDD, World Bank, UNSD, and SDSN TReNDS (🔗). More information is available here.
17.12.6 International coordination amidst COVID-19#
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront the need for high-frequency data in very challenging circumstances. Traditional data collection based on PAPI and face-to-face interviews were not feasible with “lockdown” and “social-distancing” protocols.
Amid the global COVID-19 crisis, there is an unprecedented need for data to enable decision makers to inform policies and planning and minimize the risk for all, especially the vulnerable population groups. For this purpose, timely data disaggregated by age, sex, location and other markers is important to inform decision-makers and the general public. Stakeholders from across the international statistical community support national statistical offices in addressing multiple challenges brought about by the crisis. The initial wave of responses of the ISS included the following:
UNSD in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and Open Data Watch has launched a website to share guidance, best practices, information resources and tools to help statistical organizations function during an emergency situation in which most of their staff are suddenly unable to work on-site.
UNSD in partnership with Esri launched UN COVID-19 Data Hub (🔗) for sharing available data and web services in an open and interoperable environment, linked to a federated network of national and global COVID-19 data hub.
Under the aegis of the CCSA, thirty-six international organizations produced a report on How COVID-19 is changing the world: a statistical perspective (🔗).
Other international statistical agencies have made available statistical resources, as well. Note: The listed initiatives capture mainly the first wave of responses of the ISS (up until July 2020). Rapid and continued development of resources to help NSSs continues and are made available through the websites:
ILO (🔗);
UN Women (🔗);
FAO – Data lab (🔗);
FAO – Data analysis (🔗);
UNECE (🔗);
UNECLAC (🔗);
ESCAP – Asia-Pacific Stats Café Series (🔗);
UNECA – African Centre for Statistics: COVID-19-related stories (🔗);
ESCWA – Data Portal (🔗);
ECLAC – COVID-19 Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (🔗);
The ECA and GPSDD (🔗) have unveiled an initiative to strengthen Africa’s data ecosystems in the face of COVID-19. The ECA-GPSDD partnership will receive capacity support from Data, for Now. More information.