United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Opening the Training Workshop on Dissemination of MDG Indicators and Statistical Information Astana, Kazakhstan, November 2009 Petteri Baer, Regional Adviser, UNECE

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide Purpose of the Training Workshop  Purpose of the Training Workshop Learn about the issues related to the dissemination of  MDG Indicators and  Statistical information in general Not only in principle but with a practical orientation  On Databases  On Metadata  On Customer Relationship Management Discuss how to make improvements in the field of dissemination practices in the participating countries

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide Focus of the Workshop  Not The production process of MDG Indicators The content or quality of the MDG Indicators as such The validation process of MDG Indicators  But The dissemination process from numerous aspects  The aim is to get one or two rounds deeper on Understanding dissemination as a strategic challenge, not just a side function of producing MDG Indicators or/and statistical information Bringing in country specific examples and issues into the discussion Understanding the role of databases in the dissemination work

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide MDG Goals and Indicators  Decided on the highest level United Nations General Assembly Approved as goals by 192 countries 2000 – 2015 Now we are coming into the last 1/3  2015  MDG Indicators are part of the Reporting System of Official Statistics …but also other organizations have responsibilities Statistics - For evidence based decision making

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide MDG Indicators have a strong link to Statistical Capacity Building  In fact MDG indicators should ideally be just one part of normal reporting of a comprehensive set of official statistics  A special pleasure to have this Training Workshop hosted by Statistics Kazakhstan (ARKS) ARKS great development in the last few years Dynamic leadership Implementation of the around 30 recommendations of the Global Assessment, performed in

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide The facilities of this Workshop  Petteri: 7th visit to the ARKS, 8th visit to Kazakhstan  The venue of the meeting In the building of the Headquarters of Statistics Kazakhstan Quite impressing facilities  Thank you, all involved staff members of Statistics Kazakhstan for all arrangements you’ve done!

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide Organizational background of this Training Workshop  List of participants Nine countries, where Russian is the common language (out of 13) Main financing source: UN Development Account support for the UNECE-lead StatCapCA Project Additional financing from EFTA, Norway and additional UNECE Individual introduction round - soon

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide The Spirit Workshop  We all have numerous different approaches and traditions to the present dissemination situation  We all face different problems and challenges in reporting MDG Indicators Agenda: Six Sessions on six themes We will allocate fairly much time for working groups We will learn from each other…towards conclusions We will try to approach all questions with an open mind  The Grand Challenge Improved know-how on the reporting and the dissemination of Information on Progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals

Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide Wise words of Samuel Johnson  “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it”  Thank you for your attention! 