Title of presentation
Reflections on
the future agenda of the
CCSA
Werner Bier and Henri Laurencin
20th Session of the CCSA,
Frankfurt, 17-19 September 2012
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Content
• CCSA history
• Key activities of the CCSA
• Achievements of the CCSA
• Reflections on the future CCSA agenda
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CCSA History
• ACC Subcommittee on Statistical Activities disbanded
in December 2001
• Request by the UNSC that international organizations
“develop a new system for effective coordination”
• Establishment of the CCSA as the future body of interagency coordination in the area of statistics
• Terms of references (ToRs) adopted during the first formal
meeting of the CCSA held on 3 March 2003
• ToRs reviewed in-depth in September 2008 at the 12th
session
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Key Activities of the CCSA
1. Efficient functioning of the statistical system by
contributing to the coordination of statistical activities of IOs
in order to:
a. promote good statistical practices and the mutual
consistency of disseminated data,
b. minimize duplication and reduce the reporting burden on
countries.
2. Development, adoption and use by international
organizations of common standards and platforms
for the production of data and metadata, with the aim of
creating a coordinated, global and high-quality statistical system.
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Key Activities of the CCSA (cont’d)
3. Development of methodologies by contributing to the
coordination of the work on methodological
development in statistics, aiming at:
a. ensuring internationally agreed standards for official
statistics and,
b. facilitating their use in countries and IOs.
4.Inter-institutional support by providing a forum to:
a. share experiences and best practices and,
b. provide guidance and suggestions on how to address
challenges (incl. the availability, quality and interchange of
data) and organizational aspects.
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Key Activities of the CCSA (cont’d)
5. Outreach by promoting and contributing to the
coordination of the design and delivery of the capacity-building
services of its members in official statistics.
6. Advocacy for statistics by sharing experiences about ways
to promote and gain recognition for the role of statistics
within IOs, for:
a. implementing the Principles Governing International Statistical
Activities
b. maintaining and improving the suitability of governance
arrangements that are supportive to that function.
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Achievements of the CCSA
1. The CCSA was rather successful as a forum stimulating the
share of information, knowledge and experience. Examples:
– Special sessions on quality, human capital,
communication and statistical capacity building
2. The CCSA discussions have also led the production of best
practices and guidelines. Examples:
– Principles governing international statistical
activities,
– Dissemination of microdata (in preparation)
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Achievements of the CCSA
(cont’d)
3. In the development of methodologies, some papers issued by
CCSA are reference documents. Examples:
– Aggregation of national data to regional and global
estimates
– Use of population estimates in the computation of
indicators
4. The release of “Modalities of data sharing between IOs”
contributes to minimize duplication and reduce the reporting
burdens on countries
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Achievements of the CCSA
(cont’d)
5. The gradual implementation of SDMX is an example of the
development, adoption and use by international organizations of
common standards for data and metadata exchange
6. PRESS reports provide an annual overview of technical
cooperation activities by IOs for a better coordination and best
use of resources devoted to capacity building services;
7. And others:
– Global inventory of statistical standards
– Directory of the CCSA member organizations
– Network of International Statisticians
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Achievements of the CCSA
(cont’d)
In some areas, despite intensive discussions and contributions,
CCSA needs to continue or strengthen its work on:
– CCSA and the Global Statistical System: on some challenging
subjects on the agenda of global committees, the CCSA
should be more than a forum for the exchange of
information;
– Mutual consistency of disseminated data: The global statistical
system, which has demonstrated its capability to elaborate
frameworks, standards and manuals for compilers has not yet
pushed its quality approach by releasing "the" best reference
series compiled according to the standards that it has
defined;
– Organizational aspects: sharing training, staff exchanges,
network of statisticians working in IOs, statistical software…
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Reflections on the future CCSA agenda
1. Coordination of statistical activities on the agenda of
global committees
Exchange of information (“no decision”) on:
– agendas of international committees
– high-level priorities
– resourcing of high-level priorities
– identification of gaps and overlaps in the high-level
priorities
– CCSA opinions on high-level priorities in case of broad
based agreements
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Reflections on the future CCSA agenda (cont’d)
2. Coordination of statistical activities among
international organisations
Presentations of good practices e.g. on:
– data collection
– data processing
– data dissemination
– CCSA opinion in case of broad based agreements (e.g. on
the modalities of exchanging data among Intern. Org.)
Agreement on common initiatives e.g. on:
– human resource matters such as staff training
– capacity-building services
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Reflections on the future CCSA agenda (cont’d)
3. CCSA working modalities (in addition to those
already applied)
– Assigning responsibilities to CCSA members on
“animating” recurrent topics (incl. reporting on the
agendas of global committees and Inter-Secretariat
Working Groups).
– Schedule of presentations on good statistical practices
applied by international organisations
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