National Strategies for the Development of Statistics

1. National Strategies for the Development of Statistics Planning for implementation, costing and funding “The ability to execute the strategy is more important than the quality of the strategy itself” Presentation by Tony Williams PARIS21 Secretariat

2. 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 of the process. Not all will gain from the changes implied. • NSDS needs to be achievable, pragmatic and flexible: • Can cope with changes in priorities, new information needs and lessons learnt • Financing requirements need to respond to user needs but be realistic about resources: • Implies prioritisation, sequencing, cost-effectiveness

3. Continuity and flexibility • Strategic management is a continuous process • Design of NSDS is only the beginning • Systems must remain flexible and respond to new demands for data and changing environment • Need to build in mechanisms to monitor and evaluate progress, review the strategy and make changes when required

4. Action plan Translate strategies into a detailed implementation or action plan, including: • What is to be done, by whom and when • Detailed costs, overall budget and a financing plan • Actions to address each strategic issue and to reach goals • Results and outputs to be achieved • Reporting, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and criteria

5. Action areas It may be helpful to divide actions between: • Changes to regulatory and management framework for NSS and for key agencies • Human resource development • Investment and improvements in physical and statistical infrastructure • Statistical production and management (Details on pages 28, 29 of design Guide)

6. Managing implementation • Change management • Change is difficult • Winners and losers • Developing capacity for: • Leadership and management: communication, creating awareness, maintaining support, NSDS ‘missionaries’ • Financial management and procurement • Engaging and motivating staff

7. Costing • Investment and recurrent costs: • Incremental cost of developing capacity of NSS • Cost of running NSS: ‘steady state’ costs both before and after developing capacity • Cost of future continuing development • Cost of technical assistance (investment or recurrent) • Expected burden on national budget and external financing requirements • How resources will be used: equipment, HR, censuses, surveys, etc • Cost effectiveness: alternative approaches and comparison with costs in other countries

8. Financing • At an early stage: • Need to get government commitment to fund development of NSS is reflected in MTEF • Set implementation within time frame of budgetary cycles and policy frameworks (e.g. PRS) • Identify potential development partners (e.g. through review of country planning documents such as the CAS) and attract attention of donor community • Identify focal point for anchoring inter-donor co-ordination (a donor champion)

9. External funding • World Bank Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building has been oriented to support NSDS design processes • But, World Bank estimates it will cost US$150 million per year to implement MAPS. Need for new investment. • New STATCAP lending facility established under IDA which can fund NSDS implementation • Project appraisal is based on a Statistical Master Plan, which can be derived from an NSDS • AfDB: capacity building within ICP and lending programme • Evidence of increased bilateral funding

10. Sustainability • External funding cannot be guaranteed for ever • Important that NSDS emphasises how activities will be supported in the longer term • Seek external resources for investment for improvement • Can government to meet new, higher ‘steady-state’ recurrent costs? • Action plan may need a number of iterations to achieve realistic match between feasible finances and sustainable activities

11. Monitoring and evaluation • NSDS will need an effective management and accountability framework to track progress • Performance indicators and reporting (SCBI, DQAF) • Monitoring to track implementation progress: • Are goals are being achieved? • Progress of inputs, activities and outputs • Identify problem areas and corrective actions • Provide accountability framework • Evaluation(s) should assess significant constraints, successes, achievements of NSDS • Emphasis on learning for the future