O. O. AJAYI
Presentation at the Paris21 Annual Meeting 2014:
Strengthening National Capacities to Bridge Development Data Gaps
1

Background

NSDS as benchmark for statistical planning

Preparation of guide documents for the design and
implementation of the NSDS

NSDS issues – NSDS vis-à-vis SMP in the countries

Status of designs & implementation of NSDS/SMP in Africa

Funding sources for the design & implementation of NSDS

Key changes in countries that designed and implemented
NSDS/SMP & in Africa
Slide 2

Effects of NSDS design and implementation on key issues:
 Governance of the NSS (Management of the NSS)
 Advocacy for statistics
 Situation of funding statistics
 User/Producer dialogue
 Coordination
 Statistical Capacity Building (SCB)
 Global development of the NSS

Constraints to full adoption of the NSDS approach

Conclusion and Recommendations
Slide 3
Introduction:
1.
Strategic Planning for improved statistics is not a new phenomenon:
─
About 25 years ago, the Addis Ababa Plan of Action (AAPA)
for statistical development in Africa in the 1990s was
prepared by the UNECA;
─
General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) was another
initiative developed by the IMF through which plans for
improvement of statistics are developed;
─
Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) also developed
by IMF to handle data quality issues for significant
improvement in statistical outputs
─
Multi-Annual Integrated Statistical Programme (MISP)
Framework developed by Eurostat for transition countries of
Eastern Europe
All these have taken strategic approach to statistical development but
with some lapses. Learning from the experiences of these suggested
the new approach adopted for the NSDS.
Slide 4
Introduction Cont.:
2.
The imperativeness for developing countries and transition
economies to design and implement comprehensive National
Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) was
accepted by the International Development Community:

Because statistics is critically essential to support policy and
development framework formulation--PRSs, Sectoral plans, subnational plans, & International Development Goals (e.g. MDGs) plus
monitoring their implementation and evaluating their achievements;

Therefore Paris21 (between 2001 – 2003) through its task team
examined the principles and the practical consideration of producing
strategies for better statistics and thus resolved to help developing
and transition countries to design and implement NSDS; and

Paris21 shifting focus on just promoting User/Producer interaction to
a main thrust of NSDS development within User/Producer dialogue
could be taken on.
Slide 5
Introduction Cont.:
3.
Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS):
While all these developments were taking place, series of
international meetings deliberating on the importance of good
statistics in support of results-based management, namely:

A high level forum (1st Roundtable meeting) in 2002 in
Washington DC that deliberated on improving measurement
of key development indicators;

Another international conference in June 2003 on improving
statistics for measuring development outcomes discussed
findings from Paris21 study on improved support for
monitoring development goals;
Slide 6
Introduction Cont.:
3. Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS) Cont:

2nd International round table on managing for development results
(Marrakech, Feb. 2004) endorsed MAPs which among its six Actions
for establishing sustainable statistical capacity and national
commitment to improve statistics, and called on countries to design
NSDS by 2006 with implementation to follow so as to obtain ready
indicators required to evaluate MDGs by 2010;

Also in Africa, UNECA endorsed this action and went to prepare the
Reference Regional Strategic Framework (RRSF) as Africa’s MAPS
and was endorsed in February 2006. Of course other regions
similarly embraced MAPS but not in any formal way as Africa did; and

The 3rd International Roundtable on Managing for Development
Results focused on building countries’ capacity (including statistical
capacity) to manage for results. Aid effectiveness which was a major
concern for donors, development agencies and developing countries
was the central agenda in Hanoi in February 2007.
Slide 7

Paris21 focused efforts on encouraging and assisting all
low-income and lower middle-income countries to
design, implement and monitor NSDS and to:
Be nationally owned and through it produce data for the MDG
indicators;
Have countries develop overall vision for where the NSS will be in
5-10 years with milestones for getting there;
Be part of the country development plans and poverty reduction
policy;
Serve as a unified and comprehensive framework for continual
assessment of evolving needs of users and priorities and also for
international and bilateral assistance;
Build capacities needed to meet the needs of users in a more
coordinated manner;
Include all parts of the data production units (covering the entire
NSS);
Follow international standards and in line with the fundamental
principles of official statistics including quality consciousness;
address issues related to the analysis and use of data;
Slide 8
Serve as framework for mobilizing, harnessing and leveraging
resources (both national and international) and as basis for
effective and results oriented strategic management of the NSS;
Build on all past and existing initiatives, activities and
experiences

NSDS, indeed, is expected to provide a country with a strategy for
improving development statistics across the entire NSS and has been
widely accepted as a best practice which works well and should be
followed by all countries;

NSDS in building capacity addresses the constraints with the system
and with data products; and

NSDS design process should remain as important as the strategy
document itself which includes participatory and inclusive approach
along with consensus building, continuous advocacy for statistics
and need for adequate investment on it (making the case for the
NSDS) and use of best practices/experiences from other countries
(peer learning) and consciously building an integrated and
coordinated NSS.
Slide 9

Paris21 leading other partners massively prepared many guide documents for
the design and implementation of the National Strategy for the Development of
Statistics (NSDS);

These documents were to be used by the countries staff, consultants and any
of the stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of the NSDS;

The guide documents include Best Practices Papers, NSDS document of some
countries, Brochures which could be obtained on-line, distributed at
workshops, various fora and meetings. These documents which are in the
knowledge base of Paris21 website were prepared over years to sharpen the
principles, procedures and methods of designing NSDS. This is to keep
standards of what a NSDS document should be and be found uniform over
countries;

Some of the guide documents are listed on the next slide while others could be
found on the Paris21 website:
http://www.paris21.org
Slide 10
1.
CIS-STAT GOSKOMSTAT of Russian Federation ---Seminar on
Strategic Planning and Programming of Statistical Activities
Use and practice of SWOT Analysis ─ Eurostat, March 2004
2.
3.
Guidelines for Needs Assessment and Strategic Development
(NASD) [strategy for the implementation of the AAPA for
statistical development in Africa in the 1990s. ─ World Bank,
April 2001
A guide to designing a National Strategy for the Development of
Statistics – Paris21 (Nov. 2004).
4.
A revised version of a guide to designing a National Strategy for
the Development of Statistics – Paris21, 2013.
5.
Making the case: National Strategy for the Development of
statistics – Paris 21; Nov. 2004.
Slide 11
6.
Measuring Up to the Measurement Problem: The role of Statistics in
evidence-based policy-making (Paris21) – Christopher Scott, London
School of Economics, January 2005.
7.
Measuring Up to the Measurement Problem: The role of Statistics in
evidence-based policy-making (Abridged Version), Paris21, March 2005
8.
Guide to drafting a Roadmap for Designing the NSDS – Paris21, Feb.
2005.
9.
UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNSC).
10.
Statistics for Transparency, Accountability and Results: A five Point
Action Plan – Busan Action Plan – Paris21, Oct. 2011.
Slide 12
11.
12.
13.
Handbook on Data Quality: Assessment Methods and Tools –
European Commission, 2007.
Developing a Policy-Based National Strategy for the Development of
Statistics, - Paris21 Document Series #5, March 2007.
Data Quality Assessment Framework – IMF, July 2003
14.
Mainstreaming Sectoral Statistical Systems in Africa: A guide to
planning a coordinated NSS – AfDB, Intersect; Paris21 (Nov. 2007)
15.
NSDS Approach in a Nutshell, Paris21
16.
Reference Regional Strategic Framework (RRSF) for Statistical
Slide 13
17.
Capacity Building in Africa; ─ ECA/AfDB/WB/Paris21 (Feb. 2006)
18.
Statistical Capacity Building Indicators – Paris21 (Sept. 2002)
19.
20.
21.
Strategy for Statistical Development: An Introductory Note – Jean Le
Nay, Paris21, Oct. 2009
Why Statistics are crucial – Paris21
Why (Country name) needs good statistics – series of pamphlets
developed by Paris21 for several countries (e.g. Zimbabwe, Liberia,
Sudan, etc.)
Slide 14
Statistical Master Plan (SMP) in its design has detailed
assessment of the National Statistical System (NSS), strategies for
its further development with goals and targets at the medium term
and Action Plan to put it into effect. But focusing on the National
Statistics Offices (NSOs):
 It violates the principles to be adhered to while designing a NSDS
(entire NSS not covered, not an involving consultation; not deeply
participatory; not really country owned etc.);
 Challenges of sectors and sub-national entities are not directly
addressed leaving the Sector Statistical Systems (SSSs) and the
Sub-national Statistical Systems (SnSSs) with weak statistical
capacity for the sub-systems and hence weak NSS;
 SSSs and SnSSs are not mainstreamed into the NSS as it is
expected for the NSDS;
 Most countries started with implementing SMPs and only recently
some are attempting the NSDS approach;
Slide 15
 Uganda, Sudan and lately Burkina-Faso, Kenya, Mali, Niger are now
mainstreaming sectors into the NSDS and Uganda has indeed
mainstreamed sub-national statistical systems districts;
 Efforts must be made to include sectoral concerns. While this process
has usually taken longer, it has often resulted in a more comprehensive
strategy and one which has wide support across government – the true
NSDS!;
 It is only a true NSDS that could be rightly mainstreamed into the
National Development Plans and other Policy processes; not a SMP;
 Uniform statistical development is possible only through NSDS where
each sector, sub-national entity has its individual sectoral/sub-national
strategies for the Development of Statistics which are building blocks
for the NSDS and all the sectoral strategies, sub-national strategies
implemented along with the NSDS;
 There are methods specified in the mainstreaming document for
dealing with the sectoral strategies with the benefits derivable from the
mainstreaming
Slide 16
Mainstreaming for a Coordinated NSS

To mainstream sectoral statistical systems (SSS) into the
National Statistical System (NSS) adopting best practice
Need to define what objectives to be achieved; and
What strategies to adopt to achieve them

Four key objectives have been identified, namely:

A total of 12 strategies
Could be put and be better understood in a FRAMEWORK

Make more efficient use of resources ( with 5 strategies)
Improve the productivity of data management (with 2 strategies)
Increase the availability of quality data (with 4 strategies)
Raise the public profile for statistics (with 1 strategy)
FRAME WORK
Slide 17
Framework for Mainstreaming Sectoral Statistics
Objectives
Strategies to Mainstream Sectoral Statistical Systems into a
National Statistical System
1
Common institutional procedures for coordination, collaboration and
cooperation across the NSS
2
Legal and institutional framework that takes into account the
requirements of all stakeholders in the NSS
3
NSS-wide financing strategy
4
Comprehensive human resources strategy with uniform training,
recruitment and promotion for all staff working in the NSS
5
Rational use of physical infrastructure and ICT across the NSS
Improve the
productivity of data
management
6
Coherent management information system across the NSS
7
Common data warehouse for the NSS
Increase the
availability of quality
data
8
Common metadata dictionary across the NSS
9
Common standards for data quality across the NSS
10
Harmonized data production schedule across the NSS
11
Comprehensive dissemination policy for the NSS
12
Coherent advocacy strategies across the NSS
Make more efficient
use of resources
Raise the public
profile for statistics
Slide 18
STATUS OF DEVELOPING STRATEGIES IN
THE COUNTRIES IN AFRICA
S/N COUNTRY
STRATEGIES BEING DESIGNED,
IMPLEMENTED SINCE LAST DECADE
REMARKS
1
Algeria
Strategy being designed
2
Angola
Implemented strategy
Done not under the
NSDS framework
3
Benin
2005 – 2014 for CSO only
SMP
4
Botswana
2008 – 2012
Under preparation
5
Burkina Faso
2004 – 2009; 2009 – 2012
Under preparation
6
Burundi
1088 – 2011
7
Cameroun
2003 – 2005; 2008 – 2012
Being designed
8
Cape Verde
2006 – 2010 implemented
No preparation
9
Comoros
2008 – 2010
For 3 years?
10
Congo
2005 – 2009
Being implemented
11
Cote d’Ivoire
2008 – 2010
Endorsed & being
implemented
12
Djibouti
2006 – 2010
─
─
Slide 19
STATUS OF DEVELOPING STRATEGIES IN THE
COUNTRIES IN AFRICA (CONT.)
S/N
COUNTRY
STRATEGIES BEING DESIGNED,
IMPLEMENTED SINCE LAST DECADE
REMARKS
13
DRC
Assessment of the NSS is on going
14
Eritrea
2008 – ?
Not clear
15
Ethiopia
2004 – 2008; 2008 2012
SMP type
16
Gambia
2007 – 2011 (for NSO)
New one is being
prepared for
17
Guinea
2008 – 2013
18
Guinea Bissau
2008 – 2013
19
Kenya
2003 – 2007 (SMP); 2008 – 2012
20
Lesotho
2002 – 2005 (partly implemented); 2008 - 2012
21
Liberia
2008 – 2012
22
Madagascar
2007 – 2012
23
Malawi
2007 – 2011; 2012 –
Implemented &
being implemented
Being implemented
(SMP)
Implemented; under
pre. or implementation
Slide 20
STATUS OF DEVELOPING STRATEGIES IN
THE COUNTRIES IN AFRICA (CONT.)
S/N
COUNTRY
STRATEGIES BEING DESIGNED,
IMPLEMENTED SINCE LAST DECADE
REMARKS
24
Mali
2006 – 2010
25
Mauritania
2007 – 2012
26
Mauritius
2010 – 2014?
27
Mozambique
2008 – 2012
28
Namibia
SMP designed & implemented
Implemented
29
Niger
2008 – 2012
Being implemented
30
Nigeria
2005 – 2009 (SMP – Implemented);
2012 – 2013
Being implemented
31
Rwanda
2007 – 2011 (implemented); 2014 – under
preparation
32
Sao Tome &
Principe
2008 – 2013
Under Implementation
33
Seychelles
2009 – 2013 prepared
Under Implementation
34
Senegal
2008 – 2013
Under Implementation
Designed & being
implemented
Slide 21
STATUS OF DEVELOPING STRATEGIES IN
THE COUNTRIES IN AFRICA (CONT.)
S/N
COUNTRY
STRATEGIES BEING DESIGNED,
IMPLEMENTED SINCE LAST DECADE
REMARKS
35
Sierra Leone
2008 – 2012 (SMP)
Somewhat implemented
36
Sudan
2003 – 2008??; 2012 – 2016
Being implemented
37
South Africa
SMPs of various periods
38
South Sudan
2012 – 2016 designed SMP
39
Swaziland
SMP designed (years?)
40
Tanzania
2008 – 2018? Designed;
41
Togo
2008 – 2012
42
Tunisia
A strategy being implemented
43
Uganda
2001 – 2005 (corporate plan); PNSD 2006 –
2011; next PNSD design is ongoing
Implemented
44
Zambia
2003 – 2007 (not implemented); 2014 – 2018
Being implemented
45
Zimbabwe
2007 – 2011 under implementation
Being implemented
Slide 22
STATUS OF DEVELOPING STRATEGIES IN
THE COUNTRIES IN AFRICA (CONT.)
S/N
COUNTRY
46
Chad
47
Egypt
48
Libya
49
Morocco
50
Somalia
STRATEGIES BEING DESIGNED,
IMPLEMENTED SINCE LAST DECADE
REMARKS
No information of any design of strategies
Slide 23
Mainstreaming for a Coordinated NSS (cont.)

Plans had taken place more in Sub-Saharan African
Countries with nothing less than 90% coverage of the
countries when compared with 59% of Arab States,54%
of Asia and Pacific region,56% of Latin America and the
Caribbean region. The coverage in Eastern Europe is
not available as at writing this presentation;

Most of the strategies were of the SMP type but all the
same named as a NSDS. There is need to follow the
NSDS principles

Implementation has also been weak for various factors
but majorly for financial reasons.
Slide 24
Introduction


1.
Countries have recognized the need for better data to guide policies
for poverty reduction and social and economic development and were
therefore eager to improve their statistical capacity to produce the
required and relevant statistics.
At the beginning of having to implement the MAPs with respect to the
NSDS design, an estimate of $118 million was going to be needed – a
huge resource requirement;
Sources TFSCB:
 A multi-donor Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) was
designed to improve the capacity of developing countries to produce and
use statistics. World Bank’s TFSCB therefore provides grants for the
preparation of NSDS;
 TFSCB works closely with Paris21 to advance coordinated international
efforts to improve statistics;
 TFSCB is supported by contributions from UK, Canada, Netherlands,
Germany, France and Switzerland and administered by the World Bank
(WB);
 Late 2004, TFSCB was restructured to allocate greater financial resources to
support the preparation of the NSDS for low-income countries
Slide 25
2.
Sources – STATCAP:
STATCAP is a multi-country SCB programme and for easy
access for WB financing for statistical capacity. It is financed
through IBRD or IDA as specific investments credits or loan;
Criteria for qualification for the fund are:
─
─
─
─
─
Designed NSDS or SMP available;
National commitment and leadership to strengthen NSS;
Willingness to comply with good statistical practice;
Participation in global development and monitoring activities;
Use of sustainable implementation arrangements.
STATCAP addresses:
 Statistical policy and regulatory plus institutional framework (legal
framework, mechanisms for efficient management and coordination;
 Developing statistical infrastructure (Business Register, Enumeration
Area Sampling frame, classifications, database structures, GIS,
Compendium of standards etc.);
 Statistical operations & procedures; human resources development;
 Physical infrastructure and equipment.
Slide 26
3.
Sources – Statistics for results Facility – Catalytic Fund (SRF – CF):
◘ The SRF – CF is a product of recent global discussions on scaling up
support for statistics and in line with the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness (advocating strong commitments to harmonize and align
aid delivery by the donor community;
◘ The Goal is to increase developing countries capacity to formulate
development policies and for evidence-based decision-making
through sustained improvement in production, availability, quality and
use of statistics for managing and measuring development results.
The SRF – CF is to support this goal including:
 Stimulate support for implementing National Statistical Plans (NSDS, SMP);
 Promote a system-wide approach in statistics at country level;
 Promote improved coordination and partnership between users and
statistical producers;
 Deliver more efficient and effective aid and technical assistance for
strengthening statistical systems and results measurement.
Slide 27
3.
Sources – Statistics for results Facility – Catalytic Fund (SRF – CF):
◘ Piloting the scheme obtained money from UK and Netherlands
before extending it to more countries;
◘ Eligibility:
 Country must have NSDS/SMP/NSP and be willing to establish National
Partnership in Statistics;
 Should agree to:
─ Exercise leadership over their statistical development by preparing good quality,
comprehensive, realistic, prioritized and costed National Statistical Plan;
─ Allocate resources and carry out necessary administrative reforms for proper
implementation of NSP;
─ Take the lead in coordinating donor and government support through the creation
of National partnership;
─ Put into effect the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, in particular to
ensure that users have confidence in the quality and integrity of national
statistics; and
─ Monitor progress in statistics and statistical capacity based on outputs and
outcomes indicators.
Slide 28
4.
Source – Other Development Partners:
There are multilateral agencies, bilateral donors that gave
support directly to the countries and these include:
─ UNDP, UNFPA, IMF, European Commission;
─ Development Banks. In particular the African Development Bank
took deliberate decision to assume responsibility to support the
preparation of strategies and implementation of them for all
African countries;
─ Bilateral donors – DFID, NORAD, SIDA, CIDA, etc.
5.
Sources – Country Governments:
Some countries released funds from the National budgets. In
particular South Africa financed its strategies, Lesotho gave
some reasonable amount during the design of their last
strategy to mention only some examples.
Slide 29

The immediate positive developments that became obvious to the
African Statistical System and the Countries’ NSSs in Africa were the
following:
 Many African countries in very large proportion revised their very archaic
Statistics Acts and new laws now govern the statistics activities of the
countries;
 Substantial improvement took place with the infrastructures of the agencies
including physical, statistical and ICT infrastructures. Some NSOs got new
office buildings, vehicles for survey implementation and ICT equipment and
systems;
 In particular the unavailable statistical infrastructures were developed
including compendium of standards, sampling frames, Business Register,
etc.;
 Institutional reforms took place with many NSOs upgraded and the Chief
Executives raised 1 or 2 levels above what they were and at par with the
highest position in the civil services;
 The agencies became semi-autonomous with opportunities for handling
their own management issues;
 In some cases, the conditions of service and pay were reasonably improved;
 Improved organizational arrangements that improved career prospects of
the staff generally;
Slide 30
 Coordination of the NSS and within agency coordination
improved significantly; there are now coordination structures
created in the agencies;
 At the apex of the organization are Boards/Councils which serve
as buffers between the agency and the government which
enhances quickness of actions and statistical operations;
 Slightly improved statistical outputs that have reasonable
quality levels; and
At Regional Level:
 The Africa Statistical System became better coordinated and a
lot of collaboration works going on among the regional
organizations – UNECA, AfDB, AUC and all sub-regional
organizations and the country NSOs all working well together
under institutional arrangements [Africa Statistics Coordinating
Committee, Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa),
Africa Symposia for Statistical Development (ASSD)];
 Better monitoring of the implementation of RRSF/NSDS/SMP
within Africa; and
 AfDB took on responsibility for Statistical Capacity Building in
Africa, which role has significantly improved statistical outputs.
Slide 31
The actions to design and implement NSDS/SMP brought some
positive changes with respect to some key issues and these are:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Governance of NSS(Management of the NSS); where full principles of
the NSDS were observed and even in the case of a partial strategy as
in the case of the SMP, the components of the NSS have been better
coordinated and therefore better managed. The structures of the
NSS like the User/Producer Committee, Producer/Producer
Committee are working more effectively and efficiently. The
Board/Council are generally responsive to the needs of the NSS;
Through Advocacy programme both during the design and
implementation of the NSDS, Statistics has been better advocated
for. A lot of advocacy tools are available making the role of statistics
better understood;
Investment in statistics improved slightly but a lot more are needed
than is currently given for statistical development;
User/Producer dialogue improved right from the design stage of the
NSDS in which stakeholders had to work on the design process. The
User/Producer Committees are established and are meeting.
Improvement will be incremental as the years roll by;
Slide 32
e)
Coordination of the NSS and within sub-systems has improved. During the design
of the NSDS, the stakeholders worked together and that has been carried into the
implementation stage. Also coordination mechanisms and structures have been
established and coordination was no more in a flux. Now all data production
agencies and NSO have coordination units and directorate respectively and these
took on the responsibilities of within and across the NSS coordination;
f)
Statistical Capacity Building (SCB):
As the NSDS got designed, one of the Action Plans was the implementation of SCB
programme. As implementation progressed so also would improvement in the
capacities would be improving. The only thing that could limit the acceleration of
the improvement would be inadequacy of fund to implement the programme;
g)
Global Development of the NSS:
The critical requirements of this will be the design of a proper NSDS with Sector
Strategy for the Development of Statistics (SSDS) also designed. That guarantees
that there would be the strengthened NSS. The development of Statistics will then
be uniform across the entire NSS. Necessary to therefore have sectors
mainstreamed into the NSS.
Slide 33

There are constraints that could rob us of the full benefits of
improving national statistics through the design and implementation
of the NSDS. These constraints are the following:
i. The NSDS has not been mainstreamed into the National Development
Frameworks and other policy processes and as such will find it difficult to have
appreciable budget from the National and Sectoral Budgets. Statistics then fail
to be regarded as a cross- cutting sector that ought to be funded as the other
sectors leading the country to perpetual dependence on Donor fund. Only
two(2) countries have mainstreamed NSDS into the National Development Plan;
Nigeria and Uganda. Every effort needs be exerted to see this philosophy
accepted by the country authorities;
ii. Another constraint is the non-mainstreaming of sectors into the NSS as result
of choosing to have a strategy to focus on the NSO – SMP. This is against one
of the principles of the NSDS design process. We can only reap non-uniform
statistical capacity across the NSS. This is the situation as at now;
iii. There were delays in getting fund from some sources as a result of
cumbersome procedure of accessing the fund. The culprit of this occurrence is
the STATCAP source with processing taking as long as 2-3 years. This can only
bring frustration in the implementation of the NSDS with the consequence of
dampened enthusiasm.
Slide 34
iv.
Government support for statistical development is still very little and
government leadership still must be made to appreciate the role of statistics in
achieving progress for the country;
v. There are many consultants working in Africa who design SMP instead of the
NSDS because the demand for going through NSDS design process is too
tedious and takes time and they were usually in a hurry to finish writing the
document. This slows down the pace of statistical development in a country.
The mainstreaming of sectors into the NSDS is a necessity and the
consultants must be re-orientated and better trained to follow all the principles
for the design of the NSDS. The guide manual on mainstreaming is not being
used to guide the process which had been one reason why consultants have
not mainstreamed sectors into the NSDS;
vi. Lack of effective and realistic programme of reforms and of investments that
are supported by government and partners;
vii. Lack of effective implementation plans and absence of effective engagement
with donors;
viii. The problem of managing reform and reorganization at the same time as
maintaining and improving statistical outputs;
ix. Load on statistical agencies in dealing with different donors’ reporting and
management procedures.
Slide 35
Conclusion:
A well designed and implemented NSDS certainly will move a
country to a data-rich nation which gives better results
management. Also NSDS depends on the preparation process
which includes:
 Design process;
 Involvement of policy makers;
 Level and breadth of consultations;
 Early engagement with donors;
 Use of and building of local expertise;
 Integration of the NSDS into NDP;
 Coverage of the entire NSS;
 Sequenced and prioritized reform programme; and
 Monitoring a results framework for the NSDS.
Slide 36
Recommendations:
Critical recommendations include:
 Ensuring the mainstreaming of the NSDS into the National
Development Plan as this leads to considering statistics as a
development sector that will receive funding like other sectors;

Statistical development should cover the entire NSS if there
would be uniform upgrading of statistical capacity and this
implies that Sector Strategies for the Development of Statistics
(SSDSs) are mainstreamed into the NSDS;

Use of all guide documents should be encouraged and indeed
formal training should be arranged for prospective consultants
on the design process of the NSDS;
Slide 37
Recommendations (cont.):
 Investment in statistics should be increased starting with
enhanced resource inputs from the national and sectoral
budgets. Strategies must be developed to create national
statistics fund that will be well managed. A successful example
of education fund created in some countries is an indication
that an establishment of a National Statistics Fund will
succeed;

Other sources of funding statistics, namely TFSCB, STATCAP
and SRF – CF should be restructured to ensure easy access
and quick release of fund for the implementation of the NSDS;
Slide 38
Recommendations (cont.):

Increased advocacy for the importance of statistics at the
highest political level internationally could change the way the
national political leadership thinks of the role of statistics in the
development of country. Policy and political leadership must
invest more in statistics and should use statistics for all critical
decision-making. If the UN could hold a general assembly to
discuss on international development goals, similar conference
could be held on statistics since statistics and development
are so inter-related. The recent endorsement of the UN
Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics is a good thing to
happen to statistics and an indication that a general assembly
on statistical development is a high possibility. Paris21 is
enjoined to start the process for this.
Slide 39
Thank you
for
Your attention
Slide 40