1. CES Road Map on statistics for SDGs
Outcome of the electronic consultation in March 2017
Tiina Luige, UNECE Statistical Division

2. Introduction 41 countries and 5 international organizations replied:
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The draft Road Map on statistics for SDGs was consulted electronically in March 2017 with all countries and organizations participating in the work of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES)
41 countries and 5 international organizations replied:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, United Kingdom
Eurasian Economic Commission, Eurostat, FAO, OECD and OHCHR

3. Main outcomes of consultation
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General support
Valuable, comprehensive, well written, well designed, useful, relevant, broad, clear, concrete proposals, can greatly benefit work by countries
“One of the most comprehensive overviews of the work planned for statistics on SDGs communicated so far”
Countries considered useful:
Clear recommendation on NSO coordinating role
Case studies
Template for assessment of data availability
Concrete suggestions to improve various Sections
most of the suggestions were on Sections VI “Reporting on global SDG indicators” and VII “Capacity building”
Concerns:
Clarity in data flows - request coming both from electronic consultation and the UNECE survey, two countries even consider the endorsement of Road Map premature before data flows are clarified

4. Countries asking for guidance on:
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How to ensure that FPOS and EU Code of Practice would be followed when integrating data from outside official statistics
How to get support from national governments to strengthen the role of NSOs
How to strengthen cooperation with partners beyond NSS
How to integrate SDG processes within an established system of cooperation between statisticians and policy makers
Improve communication within the statistical system
Responsibilities of NSOs with regard to global, regional and national indicators
How to prepare national road maps (share examples via web)
How statistics and SDG indicators could be used for compilation of country reports for HLPF

5. Other comments (1)
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RM should be so precise and clear that NSOs can use it in communication with stakeholders and politicians to make them understand the complexity and the issues we have regarding statistics for SDGs. The knowledge about official statistics and what we do in the context of SDGs is weak, but there is a big interest to learn about the indicators. (Norway)
The roadmap is ambitious and it implementation needs resources. It is likely that simplified and more pragmatic solutions will be implemented by countries. (Switzerland)
The mechanisms of data collection are yet to be established. The simultaneous global and regional processes in organizing statistical work for SDGs limit NSOs possibilities to plan the work in a comprehensive and timely way, especially in decentralized systems. Coordination at international level needs to be strengthened. (Latvia)

6. Other comments (2)
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For countries whose level of development is not comparable with those of ECE region, it is first necessary to reinforce the statistical system and the legal framework to make NSO the coordinator and focal point for SDGs. Would be useful to have recommendations on how to establish mechanisms of coordination in case there is a conflict with other institutions (Dominican Republic)
Coordination between national statistical systems and international organizations is important to ensure transparency and efficiency in reporting and to avoid duplication (Spain)
It should be clearer on what is meant by capacity and the types of capacities that must be built. We should look into some conceptual work for the capacity building issue as such. The targets and address NSOs in both developed and developing countries. Therefore, it could be useful to give some advice and share experience on e.g. capacity development models that work, how to build partnership with funders (MFAs, aid programmes, IOs etc.) and to clarify terminology. (Norway)

7. More suggestions on data flows
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Custodian agencies to harmonise the format for providing data on SDG indicators
Provide a uniform metadata template
International Organizations’ support is very important - methodological materials and training courses
Make available for countries the schedule of reporting global SDG indicators
It will be useful to have a list of national data providers who send data to different custodian agencies
Necessary to establish a procedure to identify (and if possible solve) the discrepancies between country and international organizations (custodian agency) data

8. Thank you! Tiina Luige (tiina.luige@unece.org) UNECE
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Thank you!
Tiina Luige
UNECE
Expert Meeting on statistics for SDGs
10-12 April 2017, Geneva