Global Conference on a Transformative Agenda for Official Statistics

The Global Conference on a Transformative Agenda for Official Statistics is organized jointly by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat). The conference seeks to formulate an adequate response to the increased demand for detailed and timely data to monitor progress on the goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda. These goals and targets are universal in the sense that they concern all UN member states, but they are specific at the same time in the way they are formulated at sub-national, national and regional levels. These new demands require a more efficiently functioning national statistical system. This Conference is organized as a High-Level Forum of official statisticians with the purpose to seek a broad consensus on the strategic framework for statistics for the consideration of the 46th Session of the Statistical Commission in March 2015.

For more detailed information, please see the Concept Note.

For information on the Regional conference in Gabon, please click here.

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Agenda (updated 15 January 2015)

This page will be updated as documents become available.

Day 1: Thursday, 15 January

8:30-9:15am

Registration

9:15-10:00am

Opening

Welcome:
Mr. Stefan Schweinfest, Director, UNSD and
Ms. Mariana Kotzeva, Deputy Director General, Eurostat

Objectives and working methods of the conference

10:00am-1:00pm

Session 1: New requirements from policy demands for the global statistical system

Facilitator: Mr. Pieter Everaers, Eurostat

Questions: How can we better coordinate the statistical programmes developed by international organisations that link the political agendas and reporting obligations? How do we assess the coherence of existing global statistical programmes, including taking into account the tentative list of goals, targets and indicators for sustainable development? Given the limited resources available at national and international levels, how can we join forces to experiment new approaches and exploit economies of scale?

Discussion document #1:
Towards a comprehensive global policy agenda: what does it mean for statistics (pdf)
Towards a comprehensive global policy agenda: what does it mean for statistics (ppt)

Presentation: Mr. Enrico Giovannini
Questions and answers
Breakout group discussions
Conclusions and recommendations

1:00-2:30pm

Lunch

2:30-5:30pm

Session 2: Innovations in data collection, data dissemination, data access and data analytics

Facilitator: Ms. Mariana Kotzeva, Eurostat

Questions: How can we come together to harness the innovative and transformational power of ICT for official statistics? How can we collaborate in an effective manner to ensure that we establish a consistent set of principles and standards for use in modernising official statistics and our national statistical systems and who is going to take ownership of these principles and standards and its global communication of “branding messages” within the statistical community at the global level?

Discussion document #2:
Modernisation: Evolution or revolution (pdf)
Modernisation: Evolution or revolution (ppt)

Presentation: Mr. Padraig Dalton
Questions and answers
Breakout group discussions
Conclusions and recommendations

6:00-7:30pm

Reception

Day 2: Friday, 16 January

10:00am-1:00pm

Session 3: Modern Statistical Production Processes based on a Service-oriented Business and Information Architecture

Facilitator: Mr. Ivo Havinga, UNSD

Questions: How do we move towards an integrated system of official statistics for the post-2015 development agenda? Does the multitude of external and internal challenges lead to a need for the evaluation of the national business and information architecture and its statistical production processes? Are the strategic directions of the proposed national programs on integrated statistics shared? Do the expected benefits of proposed national programs on integrated household and business statistics outweigh the investments in national statistical systems for the post-2015 development agenda?

Discussion document #3:
Towards an Integrated Statistics Programme for the post-2015 development agenda (pdf)
Towards an Integrated Statistics Programme for the post-2015 development agenda (ppt)

Presentation: Mr. Geert Bruinooge
Questions and answers
Breakout group discussions
Conclusions and recommendations

1:00-2:00pm

Lunch

2:00-5:00pm

Session 4: Means of implementation

Facilitator: Mr. Stefan Schweinfest, UNSD

Questions: What are the means of implementation for transitioning from the existing to modern national statistical systems to meet the data requirements for the post-2015 development agenda? What global, regional and national coordination mechanisms can be put in place for the post-2015 development agenda? How can we better coordinate our partnerships and capacity building activities?

Discussion document #4:
Means of implementation for the post-2015 development agenda (pdf)
Means of implementation for the post-2015 development agenda (ppt)

Presentation: Mr. Mohamed Taamouti
Questions and answers
Breakout group discussions
Conclusions and recommendations

5:00-6:00pm

Session 5: Concluding Session

Facilitators: Mr. Stefan Schweinfest and Ms. Mariana Kotzeva

Objective: Recommendations and way forward for a strategic framework for statistics in support of the post-2015 development agenda.

United Nations Statistical Commission Report of the Secretary-General on transformative agenda for official statistics