1. Partner Implications from Seminar: New Approaches to Capacity Development
Break-out Group:
Role of Bilateral Donors

2. Identified Challenges
Little knowledge about
statistics and no visible champions in the (DAC) donor community
Other players active in the same field and country
Better coordination needed, but
planning cycles are different
Ministries think by sector and statistics don’t clearly fit anywhere
Recipients not clear what they want and lack or coordination skills
Statistics not catchy and does not sound urgent to sell it to mgmt
In many cases large overheads and fees charged on projects
CD4.0 is new, so it has to be sold to countries and to donors
Conflict: New ideas sell, but they still have to align to its legacy
Support to statistics disguised in evaluation efforts -> not easy to disentangle
Donors cash-strapped

3. Proposed Strategies (short to medium and medium to long term)
Negotiate lower overheads
Form partner groups on the national level (similar to PARIS21’s convening role on global level)
To be successful, donors have to be very reflective/critical on current methods
Sharing not only existing projects, but also projects currently planned, if possible
Improve timing of report launching
Improve statistical literacy
Transparency of funding stream
Investigate impact/value of statistics & return on stat investment
Investigate marketing strategies for selling the importance of statistics

4. Implementation methods
National coordination mechanism -> CRESS?
Use SDG 17 for alignment among donors
Marketing the value of statistics
Reduce overheads & fees