1. Discussion on Proposed Country Studies Framework and Process Jose Ramon G. Albert, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Former Secretary General Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Email: jalbert@mail.pids.gov.ph ; jrgalbert@gmail.comjalbert@mail.pids.gov.phjrgalbert@gmail.com

2. General Comments Congratulates PARIS 21 and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Informing a Data Revolution Project esp. Country Studies: – Provides an opportunity to study not only “what works” (good practices) but also “what doesn’t” – Examines statistics development within the context of supply side and demand side issues, and emerging matters (e.g. big data and technology) – Official and alternative Statistics production has to be broadly seen in terms of synergy among (a) people & leadership; (b) methods and practices ; (c) stakeholders

3. Conceptual Framework for Country Studies Excellent conceptual framework examining supply side and demand sides issues Supply-demand framework, however, may not fully capture dynamics in statistical production process – Institutional issues : “governance” on and coordination of statistics development – Important not only to have external consultants, but local consultants involved in country studies – Are enough “core” statistics being produced? Are current statistics being used?

4. Methodology for Studies Good to examine NSDS thrusts – Statistics Devt for NSS or limited to the central statistics authority only – Resource Mobilization Strategy and roles of stakeholders (including donors) ??? – Prioritization of thrusts and criteria for prioritization

5. Methodology for Studies In examining national strategies incl. PRSPs, impt to focus on National Dev’t Plans and see if statistics devt a goal in itself; are NDPs/PRSPS tied to NSDS and vice versa? – Example: Ph Dev’t Plan makes no mention of the NSDS of the Ph (PSDP). While statistics are acknowledged to be important as a planning tool, only the BSP and the Labor Force Survey are specifically cited in the PDP (but not the NSO nor NSCB)

6. Criteria for Selection of Countries While fairly appropriate, but may need – to be less “representative” but study diversity/variation in NSS’s and statistics devt – to focus on geography more than income classes Income Class As of 2012 SCI in 2012 less than 60% SCI in 2012 between 60% to 70% SCI in 2012 between 70% to 80% SCI in 2012 above 80% Low 151161 Lower middle 158119 Upper middle 10 12 High Income 2118 No Data 9221