Plan for strengthening ASEANstats ASEANstats Presentation ASEAN Regional Workshop on Strategic Planning: Towards a Stronger ASEAN Community Statistical System ASEAN-Eurostat-PARIS21 workshop, ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, November 2012

Background Broad Definition of the ASEANstats’ functions o compile and disseminate timely, comparable and relevant ASEAN statistics o provide support for the ASEAN Community Statistical System Sustainability issue o Technical and financial constraints o More responsibility ahead

Background AHSOM/ACSS Committee Responses o Assessment of workloads o Priority setting and monitoring tool o Raise the visibility and profile o Seminar/conference/workshop o Bring to the attention of the policy makers o Developed a Plan for Strengthening ASEANstats

Background Development of the Plan o ACSS Sub-Committee: April 2012 o 2 nd ACSS Sub-Committee: 4 July 2012 o Issues paper to SEOM: o The 44 th AEM endorsed the plan to organise a voluntary Secondment Programme o 2 nd ACSS Committee, September 2012, Siem Reap, Cambodia: o Adopted the recommendations by the ACSS Sub- Committee

Assessment of ASEANstats Workloads o Done by an expert under the EASCAB assisstance o Objectives: o to provide a better picture of the gap between the existing capacity and the workload o Recommend measures to back ASEANstats’ mission o Findings o ASEANstats will not be able to implement the future work plans with 2 Senior Officers (SO), 3 Technical Officers (TO) o The 2012 AWP would require one additional SO position o The 2013 AWP needs an additional SO and 2 TO o Recommended 7 measures

The Seven Measures 1.Enhance ASEANstats organisation and management 2.Reengineering some of the production process 3.Outsourcing some operational tasks 4.Addressing human resource constraints 5.Staff secodnment ptogramme at ASEANstats 6.Strengthen cooperation between ASEANstats and its international partners 7.Increase involvement of AMSs in the activities of the ACSS Committee and its working groups.

Measure 1 Enhance ASEANstats organisation and management o Profile and Management o Raise the visibility and profile: ASEANstats a division level o Two SOs and 3 TOs; overall management and decision making is rest with the Director o Definition of profile and position o The expected profile should be precisely defined o The position shall describe activities and responsibilities o Improvement of Organization of Work o Delineation of functions o Time-use follow-up system o Due to the important of production tasks

Measure 2 Reengineering some production processes o A more systematic approach to data collection/compilation o So far based on various websites, publication and AMSs’ submission o Need to define a data transmission protocol and to use proper data transmission tool and an integrated database to store data o Upgrading the publication process o A heavy work for ASEANstats o Need to apply more automatic procedures

Measure 3 Outsourcing some operational tasks o Provide an expertise which is not available among own staff o Allow for the unit to focus more on core business o Possible areas for outsourcing: o Some parts of publication preparation: Preparation of layout, printing and delivery to recipients o Website and database development

Measure 4 Allocation of relevant human resources to ASEANstats o Current state: 2 SOs, 3 TOs, 1 Data entry, 1 secretary o The needed profile: o A core team of permanent staff in charge of continuous data production activities o Experienced statisticians to conceive new statistical tool to handle data production tool, publication, and analysis o High level senior statisticians to deal with various ASEAN bodies and promote the ACSS o Uniqueness: o a suitable technical background in statistics at every level o to adapt the number and the skills of the staff currently working for ASEANstats

Measure 5 Staff Secondment Programme at ASEANstats o A pilot exercise with the following advantages: o Support from AMSs staff with experience on statistical issues that are useful for ASEANstats o Catered to support the development of statistics under the ACSS AWP o Will latter bring home knowledge about ASEAN statistical process and issues (dialogue with users, management of harmonisation process, compilation of ASEAN statistics and estimate, dissemination, and a network of contacts) o The 44 th AEM endorse the plan

Measure 6 Enhance cooperation between ASEANstats and its national Partners o Through a better compliance with the agreed data transmission protocol/framework o Better quality and consistency of data and informative metadata will expedite data checking and processing

Measure 7 Increasing involvement of AMSs in the activities of ACSS Committee and its Working Groups o Need to ensure greater involvement in: o Preparation of ACSS Committee and WG meetings/ workshops o Serve as a Lead country or centre of excellence

Nest Steps o Consultation at national and regional level o NSO to consult with MOFA, MoF, Civil service o ASEANstats to consult with HRD, CPR, ASEC Management on the detailed plan and arrangement of the secondment programme o ASEANstats consult with HRD on possible outsourcing o Develop in the short-term: o Detailed plan/implementation arrangement on secondment o Detailed proposal for upgrading ASEANstats o Develop a multinational framework agreement between ASEC and AMSs

o ASEANstats to develop a multinational framework o NSO to designate its focal point(s) to work closely with ASEANstats o Detailed proposal for upgrading ASEANstats o ASEANstats to work on the CPR’s and Management’s approval of staff allocation and upgrading of ASEANstats o ASEANstats to implement efficiency measures o NSO to support ASEC with the submission of national statistics according to the agreed format and schedule. Recommendations agreed upon by the ACSS Committee 2 nd Session

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