1. Beirut, 7-10 December 2009 Neda Jafar Statistics Division ESCWA Workshop on MDG Monitoring "Assessment of Data Availability"

2. Availability of data Discrepancy of data ESCWA strategy Part I – current activities Part II – future plans

3. “Not everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted.” —ALBERT EINSTEIN

4. Finding - 1 Major differences exist in the data availability reported by the two sources. The greater the difference in data availability reported, the higher the possibility of major shortcomings in the reporting mechanism between them Regional average for national available data: 29 % Regional average at UNSD database : 16 % UNSD therefore disseminates little more than half the data reported in national sources

5. Data availability: national vs. UNSD 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Republic United Arab Emirates Yemen National data available UNSD data available

6. Finding - 2 national data not reported in UNSD db (37 % - 78%) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Republic United Arab Emirates Yemen

7. Finding – 3 UNSD available data not found in national db (3%-53%) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Republic United Arab Emirates Yemen

8. Finding – 4 National disaggregated data available and not reported in UNSD database 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Republic United Arab Emirates Yemen

9. Finding - 5 Discrepancy in data value emanates from one or more components related to metadata : Definition method of calculation targeted population and subpopulation sources of data estimation methods. 18 % exact match 39 % consistent in value (+ or – 10 per cent) 44 % discrepant

10. Available data points for national and UNSD

11. 8 th SC PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVEMENT @ national level: - Review current methodologies - Organize workshops - Publish metadata (handbooks and guidelines) - Carry out the required surveys and censuses - Improve administrative registers - Compile disaggregated and gender sensitive indicators - Develop a central repository and making it user- accessible - Publish new MDGR

12. @ regional level: - Identify regional priorities to improve MDG production & analysis - Propose future courses of action- technical cooperation and statistical capacity-building; - Develop and maintain a regional central database derived from national databases - Monitor availability, track progress and plan capacity- building activities in focused statistical areas; - Discuss mechanisms available to agencies for gathering data from countries, their methods of compilation of international data series and imputations - Identify ways to improve compilation of regional data series by improving reporting mechanisms from national statistical systems to international agencies; - Compile, review and make recommendations to improve national metadata

13. ESCWA Strategy – Part I Activities: Compile data series for MDG Indicators Compile sources of data Consistency checks Quality checks Review data series with NSO Capacity building workshops DevInfo workshops: users, administrators and trainers MDG monitoring workshops Handbook on MDG Indicators - Arabic Review national DevInfo databases Structure Content Metadata Technical advisory services

14. Common mistakes CO2 emissions per capita Countries provide data in Kg per capita, while it should be reported in ton per capita. Ex. 0.629 ton per capita CO2 emissions are calculated only in tons when it is calculated per capita, in Kg only when calculated per 1$ GDP (PPP) in metric tons when its calculated alone The Carbon dioxide emissions are calculated by dividing carbon dioxide emissions by the number of people in the national population.

15. Outputs: Repositories of national MDG datasets National DevInfo Regional DevInfo National MDG Handbooks (metadata) ADITT – Arab DevInfo (DI) Training Team

16. Current Status: Data availability since 2005

19. ICT indicators The source of data is important to check whether the methodology is sound, for instance the number of subscribers for the below indicators should be obtained from administrative records compiled by national regulatory authorities or telecommunication operators: 8.14. Telephone lines per 100 population 8.15. Cellular subscribers per 100 population While the below indicator can be based on user surveys. 8.16. Internet users per 100 population

20. The share of women wage employment in non agriculture sector Countries mistakenly assume that all the women wage employment are 100% and calculate accordingly the proportion of them who work in non- agricultural sectors, the result is a high percentage. It is the share of women from total number of persons in paid employment in the non-agricultural sector

21. Incidence rates associated with malaria Incidence rate should be reported and not the number of cases Death rates associated with tuberculosis Death rate should be reported and not the number of death cases associated with TB Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected under directly observed treatment short course Indicator 6.10A and 6.10B should be provided as separate indicators cured under dots detected under dots

22. http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx

23. MDG

27. Activities: Tailoring MDGs at national and regional levels Linking to strategies Customizing MDGs Localizing MDGS Capacity building Workshop(s) on MDG+ Workshops on analysis and presentations ESCWA Strategy – Part II

28. Outputs: Extended list of development indicators (Sub) Regional Handbook on MDG+ Indicators Repositories of national development indicators National DevInfo + Regional DevInfo + NMDG+ Reports

29. Thank you