1. National Stakeholder Consultation for the Design of a National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS)
St. George’s, Grenada
April 2012

2. What is PARIS21? OBJECTIVE:
Develop capacity within National Statistical System in order to :
improve governance and policy decisions
reduce poverty and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
THROUGH:
NATONAL STRATEGIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATISTICS
Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (1999):
United Nations
World Bank
European Commission
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
International Monetary Fund
P21 Board is composed of 40 members (½ from developing countries, ½ donor community) 2

3. PARIS21 : a facilitator PARIS21 facilitates:
The co-ordination of all actors within the National Statistical System
The mobilisation and leveraging of resources
The production of statistical advocacy materials
The establishment of country-donor co-ordination mechanisms in statistics
Peer reviews focused on strategic planning and National Statistical System governance
Technical assistance and production of guidance and documentation on strategic statistical planning, in particular the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS). 3

4. National strategic approach
A National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) is:
A nationally-owned, country specific, participatory dynamic process integrated into the development policy process covering the whole National Statistical System (NSS):
Aiming at developing statistical capacity to meet the demands for data necessary to inform national development policies, taking into account regional and international commitments
Providing a vision for where NSS should be in 5-10 years time
Showing where the statistical system is now, how it needs to be developed and how to accomplish this, through a structured and realistic methodology
Offering a coherence framework and prioritised action plan not only for capacity development but also for funding decisions
Offering a framework for co-ordination arrangements: across NSS and between donors
Answering management issues such as : obsolete legislation, lack of human resources, etc. 4

5. NSDS design methodology
1. POLITICAL COMMITMENT
2. ROADMAP
3. WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Current situation
4. WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE?
Mission/vision
Statistical
capacity
6. GETTING THERE
Implementation, monitor./eval.
5. HOW DO WE GET THERE?
Strategies/Actions 5

6. NSDS : coordinated efforts and leadership6

7. National > NSDS as a country coherence framework
Edu.
Agri.
Health
Labour
The NSDS is a coordination mechanism for the national statistical system…
The NSDS should encompass all data production, analysis and use. It should be system-wide, covering and coordinating all actors in the system
NSDS needs to cover the entire National Statistical System for official statistics, including:
- Line ministries as well as the NSO
- Users (demand side) as well as producers (supply side)
- National, sub-national, regional and international needs and programmes 7

8. National > NSDS as a country coherence framework
Edu.
Agri.
Health
Labour
NSDS 8

9. International > NSDS as a country coherence framework
ICP
DHS
MICS
Many different national and international initiatives compete for a national statistical system’s resources.
An NSDS can provide a country-level coherence framework, a strategic approach to statistical capacity building, within which countries can place all national and international programmes……..
….such as the International Comparison Programme (ICP), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). 9

10. International > NSDS as a country coherence framework
ICP
DHS
MICS
These should be carried out as part of the implementation of the NSDS in line with agreed priorities and the NSDS action plan!
ICP
DHS
MICS
National Strategy for the Development of Statistics 10

11. Regional > NSDS as a country coherence framework
An NSDS can provide country-level coherence framework, a strategic approach to statistical capacity development, within which countries can place all regional commitments……..
GRENADA IS A VERY INTERESTING AND CHALLENGING CASE
It is part of :
ECLAC,
CARICOM,
OECS,
ECCB … 11

12. NSDS / RSDS: complementary processes
Regional integration and development
RSDS
NSDS Country 1
NSDS Country 2
NSDS Country 3
NSDS Country 4
National development
Harmonisation process
Strengthening the capacity
of least developed countries
It is important to remember that Grenada will have regional data commitments to respect. For example, as you know, in October 2011, the OECS agreed a regional strategy in which each member state was encouraged to design an NSDS. This work should be co-ordinated with the CARICOM regional programme to ensure that all regional data needs are being met. These concerns will need to be integrated into the Grenadian NSDS. 12

13. RELIABLE, HARMONISED STATISTICS STATISTICAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
Converging needs
DECISION-MAKING
RELIABLE, HARMONISED STATISTICS
STATISTICAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
The commitments your decision-makers engage – be they national, regional, or international – will require reliable, harmonised, comparable statistics. These commitments will both require statistical capacity and build statistical capacity. So again, regional and international political commitments should be included in your NSDS.
Production of relevant data nationally will allow for the production of both national and regional statistics

14. Design and implementation issues: outline
Two issues
Mainstreaming of sectors
Costing and funding 14

15. Mainstreaming the sectors (1)
An example on agriculture: only 10% of low-income countries have appropriately mainstreamed the agricultural sector in the strategy design
In general sectors producing indicators for MDGs (health, education) have been better covered in the strategies
Situation even worse when looking at effective implementation
Evaluation not yet fully done however (NSDS process is recent-2005) 15

16. Mainstreaming the sectors (2)
Why such a problem of integration?
Legal environment: statistical law and co-ordination structure missing
First generation of NSDSs has been NSO-centric: easier to design
In some sectors, the statistical function does not exist
Lack of policy knowledge by statisticians
Lack of human resources and inappropriate funding
Influence of donors and international institutions on their sector without interest in co-ordination
Sometimes absence of ownership of the process 16

17. Mainstreaming the sectors (3) Bottom-up approach: example of Uganda
Advocacy workshop at Government level
Statistical committees for each sector
Identification of main statistical products
In line with national/ international policies
Identification of users
Reporting mechanism for each sector
Sectoral strategies of 3 years
Inter-agency committee on statistics
Compilation and design of NSDS
NSDS
Agriculture
Health
Education
Finances
Others 17

18. Mainstreaming the sectors (4) Top-down approach: majority of countries
Over-arching NSDS
With Sub-committees on sectors
Overall NSDS
Sub-strategies for sectors
More detailed for sectors if necessary
NSDS
Agriculture
Health
Education
Finances
Others 18

19. Mainstreaming the sectors (5) How to ensure a better integration of sectors?
Importance of co-ordination mechanisms (National Councils/Boards)
Line ministries and other data producers to be involved in the process from the beginning
Advocacy is a key element / continuous action
Using the existing best practices in sectors: for example GDDS or DQAF education
Donors’ responsibility in terms of alignment 19

20. Costing is a crucial (and difficult) step
Costing and funding (1)
Costing is a crucial (and difficult) step
Investment and recurrent costs
Expected burden on national budget and external financing requirements
How resources will be used: equipment, HR, censuses, surveys, etc
Cost effectiveness: alternative approaches and comparison with costs in other countries 20

21. Funding Costing and funding (2)
Needs commitments from government and external partners
Set implementation within time frame of policy frameworks (e.g. PRS) and budgetary cycles
Be realistic. Don’t frighten governments!
Identify and attract potential development partners (specific mechanism for dialogue between the government and the community of donors) 21

22. CONCLUSIONS (1)
A good strategy is one that is implemented and achieves its goals on time and within budget
Depends on careful design and management
NSDS needs to be achievable and flexible, needs to respond to new demands for data (national, regional, and international) and the changing environment
Financing requirements need to respond to user needs but be realistic about resources
Strategic management is a continuous process, building on what exists 22

23. CONCLUSIONS (2)
The NSDS process is a good opportunity to address specific issues such as legal environment, co-ordination of the NSS, status of the CSO, position of Government statistician
Implementation without skilled and trained staff is impossible 23

24. THANK YOU 24