“BUILDING STATISTICAL CAPACITY TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES” DISCUSSION By

1. OECD’S 2ND WORLD FORUM ON STATISTICS, KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY “BUILDING STATISTICAL CAPACITY TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES” DISCUSSION By Romulo A. Virola Secretary General National Statistical Coordination Board PHILIPPINES Istanbul, Turkey 27-30 June 2007 1

2. OUTLINE OF DISCUSSION • Some Comments and Questions on the Forum, Topic and Presentations • II. Developing Country/Philippine Perspectives on Monitoring Progress and Statistical Capacity Building

3. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ABOUT THE FORUM • Forum is relevant and responsive to the need for National Statistical Systems (NSS) to be recognized and to be proactively involved in monitoring progress of societies • Forum is an excellent venue for interaction between official statisticians and policy makers – they need each other • Need for more fora, such as the World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy where statisticians and users of statistics meet and hear each other’s needs

4. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ON MONITORING PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES • Many indicator sets to monitor progress are generated outside of the National Statistical Systems (NSS), are disconnected/ad hoc and may not be sustainable • Lower levels of data disaggregation ( sectoral, geographical) are becoming more imperative in development planning at subnational level (L. da Silva)

5. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ON MONITORING PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES • National Statistical Systems (NSS) should play a big and proactive role in monitoring the progress of societies – • Monitoring progress should be mainstreamed in the NSS • Mandate of NSS should expand beyond traditional functions ( to include measuring democracy, human rights and governance as advocated by METAGORA) • Official statisticians should not be afraid to produce indicators on possibly controversial issues

6. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ON MONITORING PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES • Countries, both developed and developing, should formulate an NSDS (National Strategies for the Development of Statistics) as advocated under PARIS21, that highlights the strategic role of statistics in development planning and rationalizes statistical development efforts, including SCB at the country level(Stansfield) • The private sector must also help in funding the efforts of the national statistical system to monitor progress of societies

7. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ON STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING(SCB) • Efficient coordination of national statistical systems is needed to optimize use of limited resources, particularly on SCB • Serious attention must be given to implementation of SCB initiatives to ensure that target beneficiaries actually benefit from the initiatives

8. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS • I agree with messages of the presentation (L. da Silva) • Presentations highlight the importance of statistics but not of the national statistical systems and their needs (budget) • Presentations demonstrate (L. da Silva) the use of statistics but no mention of role of National Statistical Systems (NSS) in monitoring progress of societies – no mention of the requirements and expectations of policy makers from NSS

9. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS • No mention of actual policy uses of official statistics – official statisticians appreciate examples of how official statistics have been converted into knowledge and policies – in the five areas cited in background paper of Mr. Simonpietri –but could be an indication of the gap between official statistics and policies that certainly need to be addressed

10. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations SOME QUESTIONS • Are official statistics appreciated and used at the country level • In practice or • Only in rhetorics? • Amidst resource constraints, especially in developing countries do users of statistics want • more and disaggregated data on various concerns but which possibly are less accurate or • more accurate data but possibly addressing fewer concerns?

11. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations SOME QUESTIONS • Do users of statistics help in advocating for greater budgetary priority to statistics? Or do they only know how to ask for statistics they need?(HMN, Stansfield) • On the other hand, do official statisticians actively reach out to policy makers and other users of statistics? Or do official statisticians continue to sit in ivory towers? • Do governments respect and appreciate the independence of the Chief Statisticians?

12. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations • What role does the private sector have to play in monitoring progress of societies? Does it cooperate with national statistical agencies in the provision of data? • Does the international community seriously and genuinely take into consideration national constraints, concerns and priorities in transacting business with national statistical systems?

13. I. Some Comments and Questions on Forum/Topic/Presentations • Who should be the target of statistical capacity building? • Producers of statistics (official statisticians of the entire national statistical system, not just of the national statistics office) – not only on statistics but also on concepts of various areas of concern of society • Users of statistics ( policy-makers, politicians, media, etc.) – many are statistically-illiterate • Producers and users not only at the national level but more importantly those at the subnational levels

14. II. DEVELOPING COUNTRY/PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVES ON MONITORING PROGRESS & STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (SCB) • National statistical systems generally lack capacity to provide meaningful data support to monitor progress of societies and therefore SCB is a must! • Assistance from the international community on statistical capacity building should be • Well-coordinated (L. da Silva) • Be consistent with and cognizant of national priorities and absorptive capacities • Include capacity building on ICT

15. II. DEVELOPING COUNTRY/PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVES ON MONITORING PROGRESS & STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING(SCB) • Statistical capacity building should be strategic – may need to deal with entire educational system to enhance appreciation for statistics by the public in general • Donor community should recognize need of countries for statistical development assistance that goes directly to statistical offices instead of requiring that they be piggy-backed on some socio-economic development programs

16. II. DEVELOPING COUNTRY/PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVES ON MONITORING PROGRESS & STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING(SCB) • There is need for bilateral technical assistance from developed countries with developed statistical systems towards a functioning and useful global statistical system • Donor fatigue setting in and funds are drying up

17. II. DEVELOPING COUNTRY/PHILIPPINE PERSPECTIVES ON MONITORING PROGRESS & STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING(SCB) • Governments should have the political will to invest in statistics; statistical capacity building should be mainly the responsibility of governments • International community’s assistance might go a longer way if, instead of going into funding of specific statistical activities (e.g. conduct of surveys and ad hoc compilation of internationally comparable statistics), they went into greater advocacy for governments to allocate greater budgetary priorities to statistics – for governments to recognize that statistics is part of the infrastructure necessary for development!

18. OECD’s 2ND WORLD FORUM ON STATISTICS, KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY “BUILDING STATISTICAL CAPACITY TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETIES” Thank you Salamat po Visit our website at: www.nscb.gov.ph