Informing a Data Revolution Project In-depth Country Study- Bangladesh Md Abul Basher PhD National Consultant July Bangkok, Thailand

Statistical System of Bangladesh – A Synopsis With independence, Bangladesh inherited a weak and ineffective official statistical system in Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics was established in 1974 by merging Bureau of Statistics, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Agricultural Census Commission, and Population Census Commission. Statistics Division was created under Ministry of Planning, which was headed by a secretary until 2002 when it was plced under the control of Planning Division as a wing. In 2010 Statistics was reinstated and in 2012 it was renamed as Statistics and Informatics Division (SID).

Statistical System of Bangladesh – A Synopsis BBS has a decentralized network with its head office located at Dhaka, and 23 regional offices located in the larger districts, 486 Upazilla Statistical offices at the Upazilla level and 23 Thana Staistical offices in metropolitan areas. The mandate of the BBS has been provided in Parishankhayan Ain 2013, approved by Parliament in 2013 BBS has 4129 staffs at present headed by Director General. It has 5 wings namely (i) Census, (2) Industry and Labor, (iii) Agriculture, (4) National Accounting, and (5) Demography and Health, which are supported by three service wings- (i) Computer, (ii) Finance, Administration and, Management and Information System (MIS), and (iii) Statistical Staff Training Institute.

Capacity building of BBS – Prior Analyses Government and development partners are continuously trying to equip BBS with frontier knowledge and institutional strength since its emergence. Every year a good number of staff are sent abroad for training on the frontier knowledge. A number of in-depth studies were conducted from time to time to enhance BBS’s institutional capacity, e.g. in by government, in (?) by UNESCAP, and in 2013 by government with the technical and financial support of World Bank. Each of these reports made a number of recommendations mainly reflecting the current data need and required capacity building to meet this. With ever-changing economic structure, the nature of the data needed to monitor development progress also changes.

An introduction to Bangladesh country study This will be a stocktaking exercise to identify the what is needed to monitor development in post-MDG period and to juxtapose it the existing statistical capacity of the country to identify the main gaps between supply and demand. The report will demonstrate to what extent the national statistical system is currently making use of or planning to use innovations to improve the efficiency of the statistical operations. It will also provide a policy menu and prioritize them for next five years. The report will be prepared following a participatory approach. Depending on the availability of people, around 20 interviews will be conducted which will include both user and producers of data.

Tentative composition of interviewees The interview will gather respondents views on (i) current situation of the national statistical system as a whole, (ii) assessment of national statistical institute, i.e. BBS, (iii) the management and implementation of statistical process, (iv) interaction with the international statistical community, and (v) development of national statistical system over the next 5 years. In each case, interviewee will be asked to share their views on (i) what worked well in the last 3 to 5 years, (ii) what are the main problems, and (iii) what needs to be done in the next 5 years. Governm ent (8) Acade mia (3) Busines s (2) Media (2) NGO (1) Donor (4) User Producer

Tentative structure of the report The findings of the participatory approach and review of the secondary materials will be organized in different chapters; Chapter 1: The national statistical system Chapter 2: Assessment of the main data producing/compiling agencies Chapter 3: The management of statistical processes Chapter 4: Interaction with the international statistical community Chapter 5: Development of the NSS over the next five years Chapter 6: Participating in the data revolution.

Country workshop and finalization of the report A national workshop will be organized where a presentation will be made to stimulate the discussion on the draft report. Tentative date for the workshop is August 25 th. In addition to the interviewees, other stakeholders will also be invited in this workshop. Based on the feedback of the participants of the workshop, the report will be revised and finalized.