Some issues in NSDS design and implementation Presentation by PARIS21 Secretariat

1. Some issues in NSDS design and implementation Presentation by PARIS21 Secretariat

2. To recap - aim:Coordination of Statistical Activities Edu. Agri. Health Labour

3. To recap - aim:Coordination of Statistical Activities Edu. Agri. Health Labour NSDS

4. Leading to a truly integrated NSS Agriculture etc Health NSO Transport Labour Education

5. Some key issues Leadership and management (earlier) Engaging and motivating staff (earlier) Going from strategies to action (earlier) Advocacy strategy (later) Integrating sectoral statistics Costing and funding Managing Change Monitoring and evaluation

6. Rationale for integrating sectors • a lot of development data are collected/compiled by sectors (Agriculture, Health, Education, Labour, etc) • sectoral issues and concerns not given sufficient attention in national statistics • statisticians from line ministries largely isolated & inadequately involved in discussion on capacity building • sectoral components of NSS tend to be under- resourced & in need of more voice in sectors and in NSS

7. Big Bang versus Bottom-up approach NSDS SSPS (Edn. ) SSPS (NSO) SSPS (Agric) SSPS (Health) SSPS – Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics

11. Costing Investment and recurrent costs Expected burden on national budget and external financing requirements How resources will be used: equipment, HR, censuses, surveys, etc Cost effectiveness: alternative approaches Comparison with costs between countries Total costs of NSDS Cost of core components

12. Funding Need commitment from government and external partners Set implementation within time frame of policy frameworks (e.g. PRS) and budgetary cycles (e.g. MTEF) Be realistic. Don’t frighten governments! Identify and attract potential development partners Opportunities for TA/ funding will depend on individual country context

13. Change management Important and difficult issue affecting organisations, individuals and systems “It’s not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change”, Charles Darwin Needs to be well planned and well managed Change takes time - look for quick wins!

14. Changing people • Few “people” problems can be solved quickly • Importance of: • Leadership and management: communication, creating awareness, maintaining support, encouraging NSDS “change agents” • Engaging and motivating staff: individual job plans and appraisal and incentive systems; non-financial incentives; recognition of work done and delegation

15. Monitoring and evaluation Management and accountability framework Performance indicators and reporting Monitoring to track implementation progress Evaluation should assess significant constraints, successes, achievements of NSDS Possible tools: NSDS ‘checklist’, peer reviews

16. Lessons from other regions • Guidance draws on lessons from partnership • Involvement of e.g. Australia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden in PARIS21 regional workshops has shown NSDS guidance follows good national practices • Each country has their own specific needs; guidance is flexible • Experience shows that subsequent plans are better than first plans (e.g. from Africa: Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda) • Consensus that NSDS is central in supporting statistical capacity building

17. Some implementation principles A good strategy is one that is implemented and achieves its goals on time and within budget Depends on careful design and management NSDS needs to be achievable and flexible Financing requirements need to respond to user needs but be realistic about resources Strategic management is a continuous process, building on what exists The design of the NSDS is only the beginning Systems must remain flexible and respond to new demands for data and the changing environment