1. NEPAL
The economic component of the “Evidence for Development (E4D) Programme” supported by DFID / Strengthening Economic Statistics of Nepal
Fourth Project Support Meeting
Bangkok, Thailand | 13 November 2017

2. Contents
ESCAP Support Project: Strengthening Economic Statistics of Nepal
E4D- Strengthening capacity of the National Statistical System (NSS) in Nepal

3. Basic objectives
Implementation of the National Economic Statistics Development Strategy (NESDS) and reforming statistical law to enable improvements of economic statistics in Nepal
To strengthen the culture of evidence use in Nepal, in particular to improve evidence-based policy and decision making, to ensure that poor people will be targeted more effectively with public funds and support.

4. Motivation / Achieve Growing demand for official statistics in Nepal,
Necessary for adopting of international standards and methodology on Economic Statistics
Need of strong base of statistical infrastructure for the generation of economic statistics regularly and support for economic policy, plan and programs, and monitoring SDGs
Develop the culture of using statistical evidence for development planning in the country
Enhance the national accounts estimate
Make interrelation with agencies owning administrative data sources for transforming it to statistical utilization

5. Need of National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS)
Substantial changes in the statistical system of Nepal has been realized for
strengthening the existing statistical system overcoming the prevailing weaknesses
supply the growing demand for statistics at the national as well as international level.
A strategy to develop statistics is required to support the government's target to transform the country from the status of 'Least Developed Country' to 'a developing country‘, and achieve SDGs by 2030
NSDS is supposed to support to strengthen the culture of evidence use in Nepal, in particular to improve evidence-based policy and decision making

6. NSDS of Nepal The NSDS has been developed following PARIS21 guidelines
Period for the NSDS of Nepal covers from 2016/17 to 2020/21
The goal of NSDS:
to provide quality statistics and statistical services needed for the sustainable development of Nepal. The NSDS envisages an effective, well-coordinated and highly functional National Statistical System.
Objective 1:
Produce statistics in quantity and quality that meet the needs of all levels of government for evidence-based policy measures, and the needs of the wider users in the national and international communities.
Objective 2:
Establish policies, practices and capacities to support statistical operations and development Strategies
Objective 3:
Conduct statistical operations and development in a cost-effective manner

7. Issues / Overcome Strength weakness Opportunities
Legal provision/ organisation
Growing data demand and awareness /
realization of evidence based decision making
weakness
Data gaps/ Insufficient skilled statistical human resources / Static legal provisions /need of revision of prevailing legal frame/ Weak in Coordination (among data producers, users)/ Underutilization of administration data
Opportunities
Constitutionally favorable environment
(state statistics, federal statistics, local level statistics)
Support of International agencies
Government's vision of graduating the country from LDC to a developing and achieving SDGs
statistical plans mentioned in periodic plans
Initiation of benchmark economic statistics (economic census, SBR)

8. Issues / Overcome Challenges Upgrading the status of CBS as NSO
Formulation of statistical organization structure in the context of federal transformation of the country
Coordination mechanism within legal frame
Possible financial uncertainty
Respondents' burden/refusal due to increased extent of surveys/censuses;
Organizational set up/responsibility devolution via. state restructuring may delay establishment of State Statistical Offices;
Demand for more disaggregated data
Statistical education for data utilization
Integration of administrative data for statistical purpose in sustainable way
Making Culture of using evidence in every aspect of planning and implementation for effective development

9. Overcome
Implementation of National Strategies for Statistical Development (NSDS)
ESCAP project support
Reform prevailing legal provisions
Statistical Development policies and programs in Periodic plan
Nepal Evidence for Development Programme (E4D) funded DFID

10. Plan to Progress / Timelines
Action Plans of NSDS formulated under the strategic objectives
Plan period of NSDS annual basis from 2016/17 – 2021/22
ESCAP project to strengthen Economic Statistics of Nepal
A: Diagnostic study on economic statistics production and dissemination and national economic statistics development plan (NESDP) in Nepal
B: Availability and quality of economic statistics in Nepal
C: Provide technical assistance on already identified priorities
Activities and timeline set under three expected outputs ( )
E4D Program: upto December 2019

11. Concept note of ESCAP Project Support
a project plan to strengthen economic statistics of Nepal under the Regional Programme on Economic Statistics
Two important milestones for improving official statistics at the strategic level
the approval of their NSDS and
the review of the current Statistics Act
Priorities for technical improvements in the field of economic statistics (the use of administrative data, , economic census 2018, the development of statistical business registers and the measurement of informal sector and informal employment)

12. Status Of Collaborative Project and E4D
Although the collaborative work was supposed to start in the time plan,
Waiting to be formalized.
However, NSDS has been developed and approved by NPC
DFID funded E4D : MoU with Ministry of Finance
Waiting for formalization

13. DFID funded E4D Stakeholders :
DFID extended grant assistance to Nepal Government for 'Evidence for Development' Programme for the implementation of the Nepal Evidence for Development Programme.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Nepal and the Government of the United Kingdom was signed at the Ministry of Finance February 29, 2016/ Joint Press Release
The goal of the Nepal Evidence for Development Programme (E4D) was to strengthen the culture of evidence use in Nepal, in particular to improve evidence-based policy and decision making, to ensure that poor people will be targeted more effectively with public funds and support.
Stakeholders :
CBS
National Planning Commission (NPC) –
Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD)
Ministry of Finance (MoF)

14. E4D … The Government of Nepal (GoN) Objective : fundamental issues:
to ensure its annual public expenditure budget is as effective as possible in creating economic growth and reducing national poverty, and
fundamental issues:
the quantity and quality of evidence available for better decision-making, as well as capacity and behavioral constraints to use this information effectively.
E4D programme aims to help address these challenges.
The Evidence for Development Programme
designed in close collaboration with the GoN
the Programme aligned with key GON priorities and policies and reflect specific GoN requests within the programme document.

15. E4D – Support Programmes
capacity development of the national statistical system in Nepal ( including the Central Bureau of Statistics and other statistics-producing line ministries). This will ensure early implementation of the forthcoming National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS).
Strengthen the generation and use of evidence by key GoN policy and decision-makers, including dedicated support to the National Planning Commission (NPC).
Strengthen district -level systems and information, both nationally and with a specific focus on the Districts affected by the 2015 earthquake. While this may include support to existing GoN district data systems (for example, DPMAS or WBRS) it will be the primary component through which DFID Nepal will support evidence generation within the Districts most­ affected by the 2015 earthquake.
Strengthen GoN’s aid effectiveness agenda, primarily through improving the quality and effectiveness of Open Data including the Ministry of Finance Aid Management Platform (AMP).

16. FACTORS CONSTRAINING EVIDENCE USE IN NEPAL
Nepal's National Statistical System
CBS) other ministries/agencies also producing statistics
key barrier to the interest of statistics by policy makers:
many agencies that compile statistics generally suffer with deficiency in statistical capacity, core resource and capacity constraints, the lack of established processes to link data producers with data users.
The lack of established mechanisms to create a demand-driven data environment is a fundamental barrier to data use.

17. E4D: Establishment of a sustainable evidence-informed system
Critical Component : Addressing the barriers to effective Links between data producers and data users
Potentiality :
to strengthen GoN’s Capacity at both central and district levels to use evidence more effectively.
Major Constraints to the use of evidence in decision-making:
constraint in the enabling environment (for example, incentives),
access to evidence,
an understanding of available evidence and subsequent evidence gaps and
capacity of officials to understand, appraise and use evidence in their roles.

18. primary Programme component of E4D
Component 1: Strengthening capacity of the National Statistical System (NSS) in Nepal
primary Programme component of E4D
DFID’s support in development of a statistics strategy for Nepal, through the PARIS21-led National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) initiative,
a strong need for this strategy to establish the framework towards a coherent, well­ functioning statistical system through identification of priority areas for reform.
The NSDS will be the key reference document from which to build statistical capacity/ provide a vision for where the NSS should be in five to ten years,
is the primary programme component. DFID is currently supporting development of a statistics strategy for Nepal, through the PARIS21-led National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) initiative, and there is a clear need for this strategy to set the framework towards a coherent, well­ functioning statistical system through identification of priority areas for reform. The NSDS will be the key reference document from which to build statistical capacity, which will provide a vision for where the NSS should be in five to ten years, and this is therefore a critical time to engage in both the planning and implementation phases.

19. Four core areas of statistical capacity that the NSDS will focus on:
Institutional Reform and Development: to strengthen the legal and operational framework of the NSS
Organizational development: adaptation of organizational structures to ensure they function effectively and carry appropriate responsibility
Human Resource Development: to increase the professionalism of staff within the relevant institutions
Physical/IT infrastructure: to ensure facilities and systems support production and dissemination of high quality statistics

20. Lessons learnt
For the systematic statistical development, formulation and implementation of strategies or master plan is a must.
NSDS guides the statistical programs to achieve the goals in due date.
In-depth diagnostic study under ESCAP Project Support will be able to support for strengthening the economic statistics of Nepal.
In turn it will support for using statistically evidence in plans and policies.

21. Impact on RPES
The capacity of national statistical system will be increased with generation of various economic statistics programs that will fulfill the shortfall of core set of economic statistics in Nepal.
The collaborative projects will be able to develop a system towards fulfilling the goal of RPES by improving soundness of economic analysis and decision making through increased availability and effective use of timely, reliable and comparable economic statistics in the long run.

22. Q&A