Poland’s experience regarding study visits and traineeships

1. Poland’s experience regarding study visits and traineeships Prepared by: Mr. Marek Mroczkowski, Deputy Director of International Cooperation Division Mr. Paweł Piaskowski, Senior Expert in International Cooperation Division

2. Main aims of Poland’s involvement • The overall main goals of the involvement of Polish official statistics services in the projects of this kind are: • tightening the cooperation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, as well as with the candidate and potential candidate countries; • achieving the best possible level of preparation to the fulfillment of various obligations: international and internal, cyclical and one-off; • exchange of information and experience regarding specific statistical surveys – both those ongoing and projected new solutions; • feedback – by supporting the others we enhance also our capacities.

3. Pre-accession assistance to CSO of Poland • Between 1998 and 2005 Polish statisticians have participated in 40 long-term traineeships financed from the Phare Fund • 34 of those took place in Eurostat, the remaining – in NSIs in Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Sweden, as well as in the European Commission. END OF PHARE PROGRAM

4. Pre-accession assistance to CSO: lessons learned • Internships in EUROSTAT: • The methodology and results’ analyses of certain statistical surveys were presented, contributing to the improvement of solutions applied in Polish statistics (incl. LFS and Structural Business Statistics) – thus enhancing the harmonization of Polish statistics with the European standards; • Participation in the pilot projects helped learn the methodology and working arrangements in Eurostat, being, at the same time, a good occasion for Eurostat employees to work with statisticians from the candidate countries – on a daily basis; • They provided us with knowledge indispensable for the effective participation in the EU accession negotiations (incl. trade section where the know-how acquired during the traineeship on INTRASTAT and EXTRASTAT proved very useful – thanks to it, we were able to increase the comparability of data regarding the trade volume between Poland and EU countries); • Participation in Eurostat Committees meetings allowed our employees to learn formal procedures and upon Poland’s accession to EU they were able to actively present Poland’s points of view; • Computer skills of Polish statistics employees were enhanced and they learned how to work with Eurostat databases (incl. COMEXT), as well as, they developed their linguistic skills. • Internships in NSIs of EU Member States: • showed us different approaches to specific sectoral statistics, e.g. to animal products statistics (Portuguese NSI) thus allowing comparisons between a Member State and Poland

5. Focus areas – nowadays • Standard traineeships and workshops: • Within the ESTP framework • Active participation in the works of Task Force 3 • Preparation to national censuses: • Exchange of information with statistical services of Norway and Ukraine • Cross-border cooperation: • Creation of unified information infrastructure for bordering areas • Permanent consultation preparedness • Euroregions statistics • Ad hoc and non-standard cooperation: • e.g. Presidency

6. Participation in the trainings • Eurostat trainings: • During the EU accession negotiations and first years of membership – long-term traineeships at Eurostat. • Nowadays – participation in the cyclical trainings: in 2007 there were 17 Eurostat trainingsin which we took part, in 2008 – 22, and in 2009 – 17. • Poland has also co-organized this kind of trainings and has provided an experienced statistical trainer to lecture at the ESTP course on the European Statistical System. • Other opportunities: • Polish statisticians have also taken part in severaltrainings organized by other institutions: UNESCO, EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration) and ESSnets.

7. Evaluation of the Eurostat’s traineeships policy • Strong points: • Generally fit well to the needs of employees of Polish statistics • Provide Polish statisticians with a unique opportunity to meet experts from other NSIs, thus, may contribute to forming the professional international practitioners’ community (useful, for instance, to deal with the linguistic barriers) • Friendly and creative atmosphere • Recurring to the brainstorm method boosts creativity and exchange of possible solutions • Practice of the course evaluation at its end • Possible improvements: • slightly less loaded programme of the trainings • defining more detailed profiles of the target groups • experience - crucial selection criterion • more practical excercises during the classroom-style trainings

8. Activities organized by the CSO of Poland • Traineeships • Beneficiaries: Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. • Thematical areas: regional statistics, adjustment to the European Statistical System requirements, dissemination, Labour Force Survey organization, etc. • Consultations and study visits • Some subjects: statistics of joint ventures, regional accounts, INTRASTAT, poverty measurement • Among beneficiaries: NSIs of Latvia, Turkey, Belarus, Russia, Australia Overall special focus on the Eastern Partnership countries

9. Traineeships in Poland • Long-term traineeships financed from MBP and IPA: • Receiving long-term trainees under EU financial instruments started in 2009; • The main oragnizer is usually a regional statistical office, and during each traineeship there is also a visit at the CSO. • Trainees under other schemes were hosted: • in 2004 and 2005 (Lane Kirkland Programmewhich is a part of Polish-American Fulbright Commission’s activities); • in 2009 (part of the Polish Official Development Aid programme for 2009 – enhancing capabilities of Georgian public administration).

10. Evaluation of the activities in Poland • Good practices: • The information presented to the foreign statisticians coming for a short-term visit meets their specificinformational and practical needs; • The hosting unit staff is flexible and the study programmes have been modified so as to adapt to the new emerging issues of participants’ interest; • The study visits, consultations and traineeships provided Polish statisticians with the opportunity to present tested Polish solutions, incl. the specialization of regional statistical offices, e-reporting, registry of national economy entities REGON, etc. • Things to be improved: • Language barrier • Problems regarding some of the computer programmes • Long-term traineeships should be divided more evenly between the Central Statistical Office and the regional offices in order to assure that the interns view the full cycle of statistical survey process

11. Bilateral cooperation • Overall purpose: • It is an additional tool for enhancing the cohesion of the European Statistical System. • What have we learned from the bilateral cooperation experience? • They are always tailor-made andcontribute to narrowingthe gap between the ESS members • It is often thanks to the discussion between practicioners that the differences are identified • The comparisons at the operational level seem to be particularly useful • At the operational level our foreign partners sometimes assume the responsibility of guides in specific ..areas • Personal contacts are established which may result in further sharing of knowledge • It consitutes quite a unique opportunity to get to know the organizational culture and customs in the ..foreign administration. This further increases the effectiveness of high level professional international ..contacts. A question: Would it be useful that the directions of bilateral cooperation inspire those of the Eurostat’s cooperational offer?

12. Cooperation with non-EU countries • Long-term bilateral cooperation (both at national and regional level) and within wider frames • Hosting trainees from new Member States, candidate and potential candidate countries (previously short-term and starting with long-term internships in 2009) • Special focus on the Eastern Partnership countries, candidate countries and new EU members • Recently, in case of the Georgian trainees, Polish Official Development Aid means have been used to finance the trainings costs • Other financial sources include the following: • a) Lane Kirkland Programme, within the framework of Polish-American Fulbright Commission • b) Multi-Beneficiary Programme for Statistical Cooperation • c) Instrument for Pre-Accession Programme

13. Proposals worth endorsing • Implementation of the action plan drawn up by the Task Force 3 • Poland would like to express its support for this framework and the need to guarantee financing of different projects which it consists of. We also endorse the development of efficient evaluation tools. • „EMOS-European Master of OfficialStatistics” (partnershipbetweentheNSIs and tertiaryeducationwiththeleading role of Eurostat) • - Itwould be desirable to extendtheprogramme to theBalkan and EasternPartnershipcountries (importanttool for enhancingtheircompliancewiththe ESS standards) • - TheStatisticalEducation Centre in Jachranka couldserve as theorganizationalbase for the EMOS studies

14. Recommendations • enhancing staff trainings’ effectiveness while decreasing their costs • enhancing the EU role in the candidate and potential candidate countries trainings • flexibility and readiness to fulfill the short-term needs of beneficiaries, e.g. censuses, Presidency, assistance in adjusting to the EU membership requirements in specific sectors

15. Thank you for your attention