1 Title of presentation Reflections on the future agenda of the CCSA Werner Bier and Henri Laurencin 20 th Session of the CCSA, Frankfurt, September 2012

Content CCSA history Key activities of the CCSA Achievements of the CCSA Reflections on the future CCSA agenda 2

CCSA History ACC Subcommittee on Statistical Activities disbanded in December 2001 Request by the UNSC that international organizations “develop a new system for effective coordination” Establishment of the CCSA as the future body of inter- agency coordination in the area of statistics Terms of references (ToRs) adopted during the first formal meeting of the CCSA held on 3 March 2003 ToRs reviewed in-depth in September 2008 at the 12 th session 3

Key Activities of the CCSA 1.Efficient functioning of the statistical system by contributing to the coordination of statistical activities of IOs in order to: a.promote good statistical practices and the mutual consistency of disseminated data, b.minimize duplication and reduce the reporting burden on countries. 2.Development, adoption and use by international organizations of common standards and platforms for the production of data and metadata, with the aim of creating a coordinated, global and high-quality statistical system. 4

Key Activities of the CCSA (cont’d) 3. Development of methodologies by contributing to the coordination of the work on methodological development in statistics, aiming at: a.ensuring internationally agreed standards for official statistics and, b.facilitating their use in countries and IOs. 4.Inter-institutional support by providing a forum to: a.share experiences and best practices and, b.provide guidance and suggestions on how to address challenges (incl. the availability, quality and interchange of data) and organizational aspects. 5

Key Activities of the CCSA (cont’d) 5. Outreach by promoting and contributing to the coordination of the design and delivery of the capacity-building services of its members in official statistics. 6. Advocacy for statistics by sharing experiences about ways to promote and gain recognition for the role of statistics within IOs, for: a.implementing the Principles Governing International Statistical Activities b.maintaining and improving the suitability of governance arrangements that are supportive to that function. 6

Achievements of the CCSA 1.The CCSA was rather successful as a forum stimulating the share of information, knowledge and experience. Examples: –Special sessions on quality, human capital, communication and statistical capacity building 2.The CCSA discussions have also led the production of best practices and guidelines. Examples: –Principles governing international statistical activities, –Dissemination of microdata (in preparation) 7

Achievements of the CCSA (cont’d) 3. In the development of methodologies, some papers issued by CCSA are reference documents. Examples: –Aggregation of national data to regional and global estimates –Use of population estimates in the computation of indicators 4.The release of “Modalities of data sharing between IOs” contributes to minimize duplication and reduce the reporting burdens on countries 8

Achievements of the CCSA (cont’d) 5.The gradual implementation of SDMX is an example of the development, adoption and use by international organizations of common standards for data and metadata exchange 6.PRESS reports provide an annual overview of technical cooperation activities by IOs for a better coordination and best use of resources devoted to capacity building services; 7.And others: –Global inventory of statistical standards –Directory of the CCSA member organizations –Network of International Statisticians 9

Achievements of the CCSA (cont’d) In some areas, despite intensive discussions and contributions, CCSA needs to continue or strengthen its work on: –CCSA and the Global Statistical System: on some challenging subjects on the agenda of global committees, the CCSA should be more than a forum for the exchange of information; –Mutual consistency of disseminated data: The global statistical system, which has demonstrated its capability to elaborate frameworks, standards and manuals for compilers has not yet pushed its quality approach by releasing "the" best reference series compiled according to the standards that it has defined; –Organizational aspects: sharing training, staff exchanges, network of statisticians working in IOs, statistical software… 10

Reflections on the future CCSA agenda 1.Coordination of statistical activities on the agenda of global committees Exchange of information (“no decision”) on: –agendas of international committees –high-level priorities –resourcing of high-level priorities –identification of gaps and overlaps in the high-level priorities –CCSA opinions on high-level priorities in case of broad based agreements 11

2.Coordination of statistical activities among international organisations Presentations of good practices e.g. on: –data collection –data processing –data dissemination –CCSA opinion in case of broad based agreements (e.g. on the modalities of exchanging data among Intern. Org.) Agreement on common initiatives e.g. on: –human resource matters such as staff training –capacity-building services 12 Reflections on the future CCSA agenda (cont’d)

3.CCSA working modalities (in addition to those already applied) –Assigning responsibilities to CCSA members on “animating” recurrent topics (incl. reporting on the agendas of global committees and Inter-Secretariat Working Groups). –Schedule of presentations on good statistical practices applied by international organisations 13