Global Calendar of Statistical Events

Organizer(s): UNCTAD ECLAC

Description: Body BackgroundUNCTAD’s Trade-in-Services Statistics Information System (TiSSTAT) is an integrated platform designed to streamline and standardize the collection, validation, and analysis of trade in services data. Developed to address the challenges countries face in producing accurate and harmonized trade in services statistics, TiSSTAT facilitates improved survey design, data collection, data cleaning, and reporting. By enabling a more systematic approach to data management, TiSSTAT supports policymakers in making informed decisions that enhance the competitiveness of their economies.As part of the United Nations Development Account project “Strengthening capacity for evidence-based policymaking and the economic resilience of CARICOM” and in response to requests from countries, a TiSSTAT Playground has been developed, allowing countries to explore its environment and functionalities before making a commitment to full installation. This strategic initiative aims to ensure that countries can assess the system’s relevance, benefits, and feasibility for national implementation without requiring immediate deployment.ObjectiveThe main objective of the training is to guide participating countries through the TiSSTAT Playground, enabling them to explore its functionalities and understand how it can enhance trade in services data collection. By providing hands-on experience with the system, the training aims to help countries evaluate its relevance and potential benefits for their national statistical processes, ensuring a smooth transition to full-scale implementation.As part of its phased implementation strategy, UNCTAD has developed the TiSSTAT Playground and structured online training sessions to strengthen the capacity of countries before full-scale implementation and software deployment. This approach allows countries to familiarize themselves with the system in a controlled environment, building confidence and ensuring they are well-prepared for the transition to the full version of TiSSTAT. The explorer and online training sessions are designed to gather user feedback, refine the system based on real-world experiences, and ensure a more effective and tailored rollout.By allowing countries to explore TiSSTAT in advance, UNCTAD ensures a more effective and customized implementation strategy, maximizing the impact of the full-scale deployment. This proactive approach reflects UNCTAD’s commitment to capacity building, ensuring that national statistical systems are well-prepared for the digital transformation of trade in services statistics.

Course Language: English

Topics: International trade (CSA 204) Data sources (CSA 604)

Event URL: Event Page

Organizer(s): ESCWA UNSD AI Generated

Topics: Administrative sources (CSA 60405) Data sources (CSA 604)

Event URL: Event Page

Organizer(s): ESCAP AI Generated

Description: Background National Statistics Offices and National SDG focal points often struggle with outdated or limited SDG data due to challenges in collecting, validating, and harmonizing data from various national entities. This limits the countries’ ability to disseminate timely statistics, coordinate the production of SDG data, and report on its progress towards the 2030 targets. ESCAP has received requests to develop a user-friendly platform to centralize SDG data management at the national level. The platform would connect to a dissemination tool, such as the Open SDG, thus facilitating the end-to-end dataflow to dissemination. ESCAP is organizing this expert dialogue with selected users of open-source SDG data dissemination tools to better understand their needs and identify the key features of a possible solution. Concept note and tentative programme Objectives The event aims to: Understand national requirements and challenges related to the process of centralizing, validating, and disseminating SDG data; In consultation among countries, establish a general dataflow that covers the usual scenarios for data collection; and Identify use cases of a potential platform based on participants’ inputs

Topics: Data sources (CSA 604) Data dissemination and communication (CSA 610)

Event URL: Event Page

Organizer(s): FAO FONTAGRO IICA AI Generated

Description: ASTI, a global leading programme in compiling and analyzing agricultural research data for over two decades.

Topics: Agriculture, forestry, fisheries (CSA 20301) Data sources (CSA 604)

Event URL: Event Page

Organizer(s): ECLAC

Description: The overall objective of this technical assistance is to improve the technical capacity of staff and management of the Department of Gender Affairs, the Department of Statistics, and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Government of Turks and Caicos Islands to collect, analyze, utilize and disseminate sex-disaggregated data in accordance with international standards and best practices.

Topics: Gender statistics (CSA 503) Data sources (CSA 604)

Event URL: Event Page

Organizer(s): UNSD AI Generated

Description: This Joint Webinar of the Intersecretariat Working Group on Household Surveys (ISWGHS) and of the Global Network of Data Officers and Statisticians, which was attended by around 210 participants, featured Stephanie Eckman from the Social Data Science Center of the University of Maryland. She discussed how insights from survey methodology can help improve the quality of training and feedback data used for machine learning models like large language models (LLMs) which can improve model performance. Stephanie highlighted two key areas where survey methodology principles are relevant: 1) Representation - ensuring the labelers who train the models are representative of the target population, and 2) Measurement - ensuring the labeling instruments and procedures yield high-quality labels. On representation, she showed how characteristics of the labelers can impact the labels and resulting models, creating selection biases. If many labelers are from specific countries/regions then this can introduce demographic biases. One possible solution to adjust for this is using statistical weights for the different groups of labelers. On measurement, she described how aspects of the labeling interface like question wording, order, and format can significantly impact the quality of labels, which then impacts the trained model performance. Through an experiment, she demonstrated the importance of carefully designing labeling instruments akin to survey design principles. The Q&A covered topics like using sentiment analysis instead of binary labels, accounting for survey fatigue, leveraging existing survey data for model training, and concerns around cultural biases embedded in LLMs trained primarily on data from western, rich countries. Overall, Stephanie made a strong case for interdisciplinary collaboration between the survey research and AI/ML communities to improve training data quality and develop more accurate, unbiased AI models aligned with human values.

Course Language: English

Topics: Data science (CSA 607) Data sources (CSA 604) Science, technology, innovation (CSA 206)

Event URL: Event Page

Organizer(s): UNSD

Description: The Subgroup on Administrative and Other Data Sources under the United Nations Expert Group on National Quality Assurance Frameworks (EG-NQAF) organized its seventh meeting. A key agenda item was the review of the list of requirements that are of special importance in assuring the quality of official statistics when using administrative and other data sources and their links to the UN National Quality Assurance Framework (UN NQAF). Participants stressed the importance of establishing precise terminology aligned with the existing UN NQAF to prevent duplication of work and confusion. On the issue of implementation, the experts agreed to develop a module specifically for administrative and other data sources which will complement the existing UN NQAF. The meeting of the Subgroup was attended by 13 experts from national statistical offices and international organizations. The next meeting is scheduled for 6th December 2023.

Topics: Data sources (CSA 604)

Organizer(s): UNEP UNODC

Description: This global webinar was organized as part of the activities of workstream 2.4 “Assessing the Impact of the Economy on the Environment” of the Statistics and Data Project “Resilient and agile National Statistical Systems to meet post-COVID-19 data needs to recover better” under the 14th tranche of the United Nations Development Account. It was co-organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Countries from the Western Asia, and Asia-Pacific regions were in attendance. This webinar followed a March webinar with the same content presented where member states from Europe and Africa attended. Upon the invitation of UNEP, UNSD presented on “Country-owned official statistics as a source for water statistics”. Due to the US Eastern 1:00am-4:00am time window of the webinar, the presentation was delivered via video on delay. When presenting on the context of water statistics collected via the UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics for over 20 years, UNSD emphasized sources used by countries, especially whereby a national statistical office maintains inter-institutional relations at varying levels (municipal, provincial, federal) of government. Methodologies and sources specified in the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics and the National Quality Assurance Frameworks Manual for Official Statistics were cited, as were existing work the section does whereby water statistics feed into policy frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Set of Climate Change Statistics and Indicators. For interested countries that are not currently involved in the data collection, they were advised to contact UNSD for information sessions on the Questionnaire. Such sessions are usually organized in collaboration with (co-)custodian organizations including UNEP, WHO and UN-Habitat and discussions include but are not limited to metadata of the indicators, concepts and definitions, use of the data and dissemination process.

Topics: Data sources (CSA 604) Environment statistics (CSA 3)

Organizer(s): UNEP UNODC

Description: This global webinar was organised as part of the activities of workstream 2.4 “Assessing the Impact of the Economy on the Environment” of the Statistics and Data Project “Resilient and agile National Statistical Systems to meet post-COVID-19 data needs to recover better” under the 14th tranche of the United Nations Development Account. It was co-organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Countries from the African, and Latin America and the Caribbean regions were in attendance. UNSD presented on “Country-owned official statistics as a source for water statistics”. UNSD emphasised sources used by countries, in particular that national statistical offices maintain inter-institutional relations at varying levels (municipal, provincial, federal) of government. Methodologies and sources specified in the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics and the National Quality Assurance Frameworks Manual for Official Statistics were referenced, as was UNSD’s work on water statistics which feeds into policy frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Set of Climate Change Statistics and Indicators. Interested countries that are not currently involved in the data collection, can reach out to UNSD for information sessions on the Questionnaire. Such sessions are usually organised in collaboration with (co-)custodian organisations including UNEP, WHO and UN-Habitat and discussions include but are not limited to metadata of the indicators, concepts and definitions, use of the data and dissemination process.

Topics: Data sources (CSA 604) Environment statistics (CSA 3)