UN Development Account Project “Strengthening the Statistical Capacity of Central Asian countries” Concluding Session “How Can the International Community Help? Presentation at the High-Level Forum on Strategic Planning in Statistics for Central Asian countries in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Petteri Baer, Regional Adviser, UNECE Session 5,

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division2 Background The importance of statistical indicators –”If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” The link to the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (MDG) The Project will focus on three statistical areas, critical to monitoring the MDG: –Population –Social conditions, health –Economic development

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division3 Beneficary countries Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and partially Afghanistan Overall objective ”...to allow Central Asian countries monitoring their demographic, social and economic process toward the Millenium Declaration...” Total budget USD Implementation period 2006 – 2008

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division4 Five expected accomplishments EA1: Next population censuses using regional ECE standards with specifications relevant to their national economic and social situation; EA 2: New ECE guidelines for the 2010 round of population censuses implemented in Central Asian countries; EA3: Strengthened capacity of Central Asian countries to produce and use statistics on the health status of the population; EA4: Better coverage by national accounts of aggregates of the informal sector (grey and black economy) and other forms of non-observed economic activities;

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division5 Five expected accomplishments (2) And last but not least: EA5: Improved sub- regional cooperation among Central Asian countries in the area of statistics for tracking progress towards the Millennium Development Goals through regional meetings/workshops.

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division6 Activities in 2006 Meeting of the Project Management group Seminar on measurement of population and social conditions using population census Training workshop for statisticians on disability statistics Advisory services to national statisticians

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division7 Activities in 2007 Training workshop for national statisticians on new technologies for population censuses...and on the implementation of new ECE recommendations for the 2010 round of population censuses Training workshop on health status statistics for users of health statistics Training workshop on best practices related to non- observed economy Meeting of the Project Management group Advisory services to national statisticians

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division8 Activities in 2008 Training workshop on best practices related to non-observed economy Meeting of the Project Management group Advisory services to national statisticians Evaluation of the results of the Project

Petteri Baer, UNECE Statistical Division9 Project implementation – First step Meeting of the Heads of the National Statistical Offices in Paris, 16 June 2006 –As a back-to-back meeting with the Conference of European Statisticians, held in Paris, June 2006 Decisions to be made on –Seminar and Workshop dates and venues –Preparation and presentation topics and responsibilities in their preparation