The Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building General Information

1. The Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity BuildingGeneral Information • The trust fund (TFSCB) is a multi-donor trust fund which was launched in 1999, and has provided funding to over 200 projects, in all regions of the world. • The trust fund aims to strengthen the capacity of statistical systems in developing countries, and supports two main types of projects: i) Preparation and/or updating of National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS); and ii) Improvement in statistical capacity in key priority areas, such as those highlighted in the Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS) and the post-2015 agenda.

2. TFSCB – General Information con. All World Bank member countries are eligible to apply for funding, with priority given to IDA countries. The maximum amount for any one proposal is $500,000 and the duration period covers 2 years. Application windows are generally held twice per year. Funding can also be provided to sub-regional, regional, and international organizations. In general, the main goal of the TFSCB is to improve statistical capacity in a sustainable manner. The funds provided cannot be used to replace national budgetary resources. Projects should be aligned with Country Partnership Strategies and other international programs, and in line with the PARIS21 overall approach.

3. TFSCB – Subject Areas Key priority areas include gender projects, administrative data sources, Open Data projects, environmental projects (especially the System of Environmental Accounting, or SEEA), and innovative approaches. Types of Projects: Statistical Capacity (SCB) – 131 National Strategy (NSDS) – 56 Combination NSDS & SCB - 37

4. Africa Region and TFSCB The Africa Region has had a history of the most significant beneficiary region in the TFSCB, as reflected in the table below, in $.... Project Commitments by Region and Type of Project from 2000 – 2013 (millions of US$)

5. Africa Region and TFSCB And by number of projects (includes regional projects).

6. Role of NSDS • Authoritative for the mix of forms of activity within the statistical system • Matches resources to the capacity to organise and sustain a long run program of activity • Makes clear how the statistical system is kept relevant • Provides staff, users and government with a shared understanding and commitment to what the statistical office is to achieve in the future

7. The context of planning • Continuity of funding • Certainty in resources for the current and future years • Capacity to invest in multiple use systems and processes • Capacity to organize • Capacity to obtain and upgrade information technology and software that fit together • Ability to provide a career path for statistician and other professional streams • Able to organize staff so that they can share in training and development of skills and experience • User commitment • Willingness of users to engage in what they use the statistics for • Ability to make known measures of the quality of statistics

8. Achievable level of NSI planning

9. Development path for NSI Planning Anticipate change in direction of statistical sources and statistical measures High Continuity of Government Funding to NSI low Capacity to change the scope and quality of statistics Capacity to extend statistical activities and maintain regular activity Capacity to repeat annual and monthly operations Low ---- User commitment ---- high

10. NSDS commitments of the NSO • Mix of activities most likely to sustain the performance of official statistics into the known future. • The NSDS: • Formal intention from the NSO. • Key assumptions, commitments and conclusions

11. The authority for the statistical system on trust delivered through actions • The authority established by acts or presidential decree (legal basis) • Reinforced by structures, roles, conventions, and protocols • Points of reference for making decisions on matters of professional integrity • The trust reinforced by regularity and consistency of practices and responses from the NSO • The authority of the statistical office is enhanced by a sound NSDS

12. Ingredients of NSDS • Full scope of statistical office work, as well as human resources, communications, finance and information technology. • Level of planning achievable for the office given size, resources, and user commitment, and how they determine the quality of the statistical system • Infrastructure • Define the infrastructure for a statistical service • State its quality and how it is managed • Show how resources are found to develop infrastructure

13. A National Statistical Office plan Explains how resources and needs are balanced through changing the capacity to: - • repeat annual and monthly operations • extend statistical activities and maintain regular activity • change the scope and quality of statistics Anticipates: - • change in direction for the form or quality of statistical sources and statistical measures • tensions from the key decisions needed to balance the plan, • differences between planning for the statistical office, and for the decentralised parts of the statistical system

14. Readiness for contingencies needs resources • Expect to respond to a growing variety of contingencies without major disruption to annual plan. • Stakeholders presume we are ready for more unlikely circumstances than we have planned for. Past plans steadily lost relevance once published, due to accumulation of unforeseen events. • Provision for contingencies through risk management processes and the widening of civil service governance activity. • Identify contingencies and associated obligations should keep more relevant the NSDS.

15. Examples ofcontingencies • early work on future projects, • responding to major errors, • planning mistakes, • Unexpected events, • Failure of others, or of systems, • major policy review needs, • Low response rate • delays in IT developments, • problems in reconciling new statistics (census employment statistics, population estimates),

16. NSDS in PRSP • Resource constraints • Mainstreaming NSDS in the PRSP • Alignment and timeframe • M&E components of the PRSP • Strategic axe or sector of the PRSP In terms of funding • Regular government budget • M&E round table

17. THANK YOU