Means of implementation for the post-2015 development agenda Global Conference on a Transformative Agenda for Official Statistics New York 15-16 January 2015 Mohamed TAAMOUTI

Outline Statistical capacity building: an important but insufficient progress A transition to a new era is underway Emerging initiatives and proposals for the transition Some considerations Main proposals Questions and points for discussion

Statistical development: an important but insufficient progress Statistical production: a costly business, demanding in terms of skills and resources Usually lagging behind in the agenda of priorities in many developing countries. The MDG agenda shed light on the need for statistics: an important progress achieved since then However, still a long walk ahead; and A new era is under way with opportunities but also many challenges

The drivers are Increasing and diversifying demand Quick development of ICT and availability of huge quantities of data ( Big Data) Many new fields on which statistical production is asked to move The increasing request of accessibility The Post 2015 Agenda. A data revolution is underway (HL Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda).

With important implications for official statistics “SDGs will require substantial additional investment in order to consolidate gains made during the MDG era and to develop reliable, high-quality…..”. “Monitoring of the post-2015 agenda would pose a significant challenge for even the most advanced statistical systems. Statistical systems in many developing countries will have great difficulties to comply with the expected new requirements” “Official statisticians may be asked more frequently to validate information provided by the market”.

Considerations at the national level Conditions of sustainable effectiveness : legal framework, independence, formal coordination, etc. Weak coordination between the components of the NSS Limited ability of NSOs to promote standards. Redundancies and overlapping of costly surveys NSO do not have the means of their strategies. International institutions play an important role and are sometimes more influential than NSO

Considerations at the international and Regional levels A large number of stakeholders, with sometimes apparently overlapping missions A large number of global and regional initiatives, projects and partnerships Difficult to know how much is devoted to statistics and hence less effectiveness in resource allocation Lack of widely agreed on measures of statistical development for resource allocation

Development Community # Official statisticians Each institution is advocating for its domain. Availability or possibility of availability of data for monitoring was a priority issue Official statisticians should be SDG makers, not takers. They know what is feasible what can be done UNSC and UNSD have a crucial responsibility in this regard.

What has been proposed? Some examples

The UN SG Post-2015 Agenda report sets the stage Under UNSC, a comprehensive program of action on data should be established: Building of a global consensus on applicable principles and standards a new innovative financing stream to support national data capacities a global data partnership to promote leadership and governance. Catalyze a multi-stakeholder Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, to mobilize and coordinate the actions.

The FOC on BMP recommends more explicitly An Inter-agency Expert Group on SDG indicators to develop an indicator framework for the monitoring of the goals of the post-2015 agenda and guide the implementation and report on progress. A High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity Building for post-2015 (HLG) monitoring to discuss strategies and activities for statistical capacity building. Under UNSC a biennial “World Forum on Sustainable Development Data”.

ToR for the HLG for post-2015 monitoring Discuss strategies and activities for statistical capacity building; Develop proposals and advocate for resource mobilization and their management and monitoring; Review and make recommendations, on the issue of cross-country data infrastructures to exploit the possibilities of new technologies; Mobilize institutions inside and outside the statistical community, and if required, coordinate their actions to serve sustainable development as deemed appropriate, hereby further extending the partnership

UN signed a MoU with Multilateral Development Influence the political discourse on global partnerships and strategies. Addressing a select number of difficult gaps in data production and accessibility (measures of Household Well-being; Environmental Accounting; SNA, etc.) Knowledge sharing on innovative approaches to data production and improving data accessibility. Supporting the Global Poverty Statistics Board to provide guidance to the WB

UNSC in 2014: A GWG on Big Data for Official Statistics Provide strategic vision, direction and coordination of a global program on Big Data for official statistics; Promote practical use of Big Data sources Promote capacity building, training and sharing of experience; Foster communication and advocacy of use of Big Data.

PARIS 21 Informing a Data Revolution project: Other examples PARIS 21 Informing a Data Revolution project: Improve the production, accessibility and use of data to support and strengthen evidence-based decision-making, Main output: a Road Map for a data revolution, supporting the Post-2015 development process. WB-WHO Global Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Scaling Up Investment Plan. With as a goal universal civil registration of births, deaths, marriages, and other vital events by 2030.

Several other ongoing international and regional initiatives BAPS : Strengthen statistical strategies to improve SS that address country-level development priorities; Promote use statistics effectively for planning, analysis, monitoring and evaluation; Ensure robust financing. Other examples Africa: Africa Symposium on Statistical development ; Reference Regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa, etc. Arab Region: IMF leads the creation of Arab Stat, etc.

For more efficiency in results and resource allocation Will these new proposed entities and initiatives contribute to solving some of the identified existing problems in co-ordination, capacity development and financing? How will the new institutions be linked to existing ones? A risk of possible overlap in mandates. Should we prioritize the creation of new entities or should we first exploit, with the necessary adjustments and adaptations, the already existing ones?

Let’s take look at some examples Case 1: IAGE-SDG It replaces the existing one, it is natural. May be we should add to its members list entities that are concerned with new domains If an MDG indicator is no longer among SDG list, then the entity concerned may no longer be member of this Group

Case 2: HLG for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity Building for post-2015 monitoring “Address the issue of funding for statistical capacity building for statistics, including by developing proposals and advocating for resource mobilization and their management and monitoring, and Identifying ways to leverage the resources and creativity of the private sector;” How this relates to PARS 21 which is doing the same since 15 years, with a deep knowledge of the ground in developing countries? How BAPS interacts in the picture? It is assumed to be a global plan

Case 3: World Forum on Sustainable Development Data “will bring together public and private data producers and users to discuss the latest data innovations and their potential use for statistics, including post-2015 monitoring”. Are the UNSC side events not a better framework? Official statisticians are overcrowded in terms of regional and international meetings A north African head of NSO regular meetings: Maghreb Conference; Arab league ; Stat- com Africa; ASSD , ESCWA, Euromed context; UNSC, etc.

For more efficiency in results and resource allocation The natural way to proceed: What are the new needs or actions? Are they already scheduled in a given initiative or project Are these actions already taken in charge? if not, should we add it to the mandate of an existing entity? Or It is so big that it deserves a new entity? Let’s do the exercise

Thank You