Irena Križman Vice-President International Statistical Institute (ISI)

Building capacity for Data Revolution  Institutional capacity  Organisational capacity  Professional capacity  Building on existing good practices of national statistical systems  Innovation, leadership and partnership

 The Data Revolution has been around us for sometime  Africa has developed excellent strategies ( SHaSA, African Charter on Statistics, NSDS, African Data Consensus)  What impact the DR can have on the current institutional and organisational settings of official statistics?  In which directions the current strategies, legislation, rules and practices have to be updated?  We have to work in partnership and each partner has the role to play i.e. political leaders, decision makers, researchers, scientists (innovations and technologies)

 Need to be innovative, inclusive and to provide a leadership  Need to coordinate across different data communities in the data ecosystem  Need to improve international comparability of data but also respond to national and subnational needs  Need to implement ethical and quality principles in the production of all statistics, not only official statistics  Need to reconsider the role of the NSOs and the other producers of official statistics  Need to consider the public statistics produced by others outside the official statistics  Need to think broadly that statistical information should also respond to results rather than only informing decision making and policy formulation?

 To set out the producers of statistics, content (users needs), data sources, publication of results  To define the role of the coordinator of official statistical data production (which statistics will be considered official?)  To define the responsibility and accountability of those producing and publishing data and statistics for SDGs as well as for other users  To guarantee that the data laid down in the national statistical programme will be produced in accordance with the ethical and quality standards (FPOS, African Charter on Statistics)

 What does it mean?  How the current role of the NSOs is expected to change?  How will other producers of data e.g. private firms or governmental sectors align their outputs with the international and national statistical standards, quality requirements and ethical principles?  Will NSOs stay the custodians of application of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics across the “expanded data ecosystem”?

 Their primary role is production and dissemination of statistics  They are governed by statistical legislation and FPOS  They are authorised and required to report to international community and to set statistical standards  They represent countries in the international environment (e.g. United Nations Statistical Commission)  They have experience in coordinating national statistical systems  They have experience in engaging users and data providers  They are meant to provide the sustainable outputs (comparable over time, space and internationally)

 Lack of priotities  Different estimates for the same indicator leading to loss of credibility  The risk of duplicating activities and hence using limited resources ineffectively/inefficiently  Absence or poor quality of data  Ethical concerns  Is the Data Revolution an opportunity or a threat? It depends very much on us!  Is it possible to harness the data revolution by a weak NSOs’ institutional, organisational and professional capacity?

International Statistical Institute (ISI) at  World Statistics Congress (Morocco 2017)  Regional Statistics Conferences, Association conferences  Workshops and training courses  Yearly ISI side event at UNSC for the DG of NSOs and ISOs  Governance workshops (Tanzania 2015, Cameroon 2016)  International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP)  Regional networks and mentoring  Publications

 ISI can provide technical expertise (voluntary contribution by the ISI members)  Funds (AfDB, WB Trust fund, other sponsors)  What is the demand in the region?  With whom we can partner in organising the activities?  Capacity building plans of the NSOs and other producers of statistics

 “Obtaining data is not a technocratic exercise but rather one of building institutions”  The institutional, organisational and professional capacity of NSOs need to be strengthened to harness the DR and to keep official statistical information free of political or private conflicts of interest.  Can NSO's work themselves without involving others in the system ?  As such Change Management for data production has to be reflected in the NSS.

Thank you for your attention. Questions?