Assessments of National Statistical System

1. World Bank and Statistical Capacity Building PARIS21 Task Team Meeting Washington, DCSeptember 10, 2001

2. Assessments of National Statistical System • Review against principles of official statistics. • Review current outputs and assess their relevance to users. • Determine national priority statistical outputs, their contents and periodicity. • Define the information production system, including data collection, processing, storage and dissemination capabilities. • Propose an adequate legislative and institutional framework. • Propose a statistical development plan.

3. Components of a National Statistical System

4. The structure of the national statistical system • National Statistical Agency. • Line ministries. • Regional and local offices.

5. Coordination and management • Centralized. • Decentralized. • Strategies and targets.

6. Human resources • General management. • Financial management. • Human resource management. • Technical statistical analysis. • Survey design and management. • Cartography. • Communications, publications and design. • Computer systems analysis and programming.

7. Infrastructure and equipment For • Data collection. • Data processing and analysis. • Data dissemination. To • Increase efficiency. • Increase accessibility. • Reduce costs.

8. Management Process The ways a statistical agency is managed. For: • Setting goals. • Developing system wide values. • Measuring progress. • Assessing staff performance. • Communicating at all levels.

9. Components of a National Statistical System

10. The statistical legislation The statistical law governs: • The responsibilities and functions of the statistical agency. • The organizational structure of the national statistical system. • The rules for the obligatory supply of information. • The relationships between data suppliers and users. • Being accountable for its actions and outputs on a regular basis.

11. Statistical legislation (cont.) Statistical law guarantees: • Confidentiality and non-disclosure of information supplied. • Publishing and disseminating information free from political interference. • Preparing and publishing an advance publication calendar. • Independence of the statistical agency from political control.

12. Budgets • Statistics are a public good and financed from government revenue allocated through the budget. • The capacity of the statistical system is determined to a large extent by the level and stability of the financial resources it receives. • The more successful national statistical systems are ones where increased resources are seen to result in improved outputs. • Balancing donor funding and budgetary funding and improving budget management.

13. Accountability and reporting • Accountability and reporting must be open, transparent and regular on • how those resources have been used • what products have been produced and • what plans are in place to improve performance. • The statistical agency may be required to make an annual report to • parliament or • to an independent statistical commission or board.

14. Relationships with users and customers • A wide spectrum of users - policy makers, administrators, planners, researchers, activists, citizens, students, and media representatives. • The needs of users can be explored formally or informally. • Scientific cooperation with professional associations, institutes, universities, and scholars.

15. Relationships with users and customers (cont.) Consultation with users and suppliers for: • Planning services to best meet the needs and expectations of users. • Monitoring the effectiveness of services and the load placed on suppliers. • Prioritizing services and resources. • Setting relevant performance standards. • Fostering good relations. • Providing early warning of problems.

16. The public image of the statistical system • Being more open about methods, techniques and how resources are being used. • Campaigning for the need for reliable, trustworthy and timely data. • Improving the design and structure of statistical reports, abstracts and other products. • Providing training and special briefings for data users. • Providing briefings for journalists and other media workers. • Using external processes to provide a framework against which progress can be assessed.

17. Country focus of Statistical Capacity Building

18. Focus on the types of statistics

19. Projects Prepared and Managed by DECDG Loans for statistical development • Russian Federation – STASYS (implementation) • India – STATMOD (on hold) • Ukraine – STATMOD (preparation) Loans with statistical components • Russian Federation - BEA • Russian Federation - SPIL • Croatia - TAL • Kazakhstan - TAL • Uzbekistan IBTAL • Ukraine - IBL

20. Projects Prepared and Managed by DECDG Improvements in certain areas of statistics • System of National Accounts methodology • Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Russia and India • Improvement of the agricultural statistics system • Lithuania • Upgrading education statistics • Lebanon, Yemen • Supporting the institutional changes in the statistical system • Uzbekistan, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Macedonia and Moldova

21. Russian Federation – Area focus of Statistical Capacity Building

22. Area focus of the World Bank’s projects for statistical capacity building: summary • All projects are involved in no less than three areas of statistical capacity building. • All projects are involved in some aspects of ‘Prerequisite of quality.’ • All projects are involved in some aspects of ‘Accuracy and reliability.’ • Six out of seven projects deal with ‘Methodological soundness.’ • Six out of seven projects deal with ‘Serviceability.’ • Four out of seven projects deal with ‘Integrity.’ • Four out of seven projects deal with ‘Accessibility.’

23. Area focus of the World Bank’s projects for statistical capacity building: summary • None of the projects except for the Russian one involve ‘Availability of prompt, knowledgeable support’ as a part of accessibility criteria. • None of the projects except for the ones in Russian Federation and the Gambian involve ‘Ethical standards’ as a part of integrity criteria. • None of the projects except for the ones in Moldova and the Gambia involve ‘Availability of meta-data’ as a part of accessibility criteria.