Caribbean Community Secretariat How can PARIS21 help? Presentation by PARIS21 Secretariat Caribbean Community Secretariat 2nd meeting of the Advisory Group on Statistics, San Ignacio, 25 June 2008

PARIS21 Secretariat works through: NSDS support Advocacy: developing and deploying messages and materials internationally and in countries - START Building and maintaining effective communications and cooperation, including strengthening in-country partnerships Reporting on NSDS progress and donor support Developing and sharing knowledge: guidelines, advice, web site, knowledge base Satellite programmes: ADP, IHSN

1. NSDS support Shift support from NSDS design to NSDS implementation Intensify country-level work across range of PARIS21 activities: advocacy, partnership building events, meetings, etc Facilitate funding requests, e.g. to TFSCB Coherence, synergy with other programmes Peer reviews and NSDS Essentials check list Regionally-based PARIS21 consultants

2. Advocacy – key messages Better use of better national statistics leads to better policies, better aid effectiveness and better development outcomes Good statistics improve transparency and accountability of Governments decisions Investment in statistics will pay for itself many times over by improving resource allocation Statistics are needed for “upstream” policy development; as well as for “downstream” processes such as monitoring and evaluation 4

Advocacy works! Increased recognition among policy makers of value of statistics, e.g., Hanoi MfDR (2007) Greater awareness among statisticians of new data challenges More strategic plans being produced and ready for implementation “Scaling Up” efforts to help countries fund their statistical capacity Since 1999, PARIS21 partners have succeeded in raising the profile of statistics with increased recognition among policy makers of the need for statistics both to influence and to monitor development outcomes. Also statisticians are now more aware of the new data challenges placed upon them by policies to reduce poverty and to accelerate development progress in the poorest countries. Many countries are developing strategic plans for statistics (NSDSs or similar), with support from development partners. As a result of the strong advocacy push leading up to and at the Hanoi Roundtable, consideration was given to how to scale-up support to improve statistical capacity in developing countries. This led to the SRF and a consensus that the focus of additional resources for statistics should be on helping more to countries implement NSDSs. 5

Advocacy: some recent examples “Counting Down Poverty” booklet “Better Statistics, Better Policies, Better Development Outcomes” leaflet “Why does country X need good statistics?”, based on experiences with assisting Malawi NSO. “La Statistique au Service du Développement ” video 6

Statistical Advocacy Resource Toolkit (START) Advocacy most relevant at country level Help statisticians to advocate to policy makers and funders, including donor country offices Make best use of available materials Tailored materials National events Work with the wider partnership Also advocacy to donor countries and institutions 7

3. Strengthening partnerships Strengthening in-country partnerships, through e.g. producer-user-donor meetings, NSDS launch events Providing countries with tools to improve partnerships, e.g. advice on country meetings Building and maintaining cooperation with regional partners; and with other international networks, e.g. HMN Funding participation in international and PARIS21 meetings, e.g. P21 Consortium meeting planned for November 2009

4. Reporting on NSDS progress and donor support Task team on reporting of donor support for statistical capacity building (PRESS) Reporting on progress and status of NSDS and PRS processes; successes, constraints, lessons learnt Providing countries with tools to assist their own statistical reporting needs Collation and sharing of information on countries and agencies

5. Studies and knowledge development Guidance on NSDS and statistical development : sharing existing information and new studies on: Use of data; Statistics and M&E Database of costs of core statistical activities Reflection on how best can TA be provided to small island countries Task teams: PRESS Mainstreaming sectoral statistics Training

6. Satellite programmes Accelerated Data Programme (ADP) - pilot Aims to make information available from existing surveys: facilitating access and assessment of quality International Household Survey Network (IHSN) Aims to facilitate better use of existing data; and better quality of future surveys, through a survey catalogue, Microdata Management Toolkit, dissemination policy guidelines; anonymisation tools and guidelines; question bank; quality assessment framework

In closing… Limited involvement so far of PARIS21 in the Caribbean compared with other regions, including Central America This meeting could be the start of a more intensive relationship with regional partners, including CARICOM, OECS, I-ADB, ECLAC and countries Your comments are invited on how we can work together 12