Strengthening statistical capacity in support of progress
towards the Internationally Agreed Development Goals
in countries of South Asia

The United Nations Statistics Division is launching a Development Account project for eight South Asian countries - Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of national statistical systems in these countries to better meet their statistical needs and to improve the production of benchmark statistics required for national development planning and for monitoring internationally agreed development goals.

The project will promote inter-regional cooperation in the field of statistics, establish a platform for communication and data exchange, and increase the access to freely accessible websites providing development indicators for policymakers and for the user community at large.

The substantive focus of the programme lies in the areas of collection, compilation, dissemination and analysis of socio-economic development indicators, including the MDG indicators. In particular the project seeks to: improve data collection methods and strategies in socio-economic statistics such as censuses, statistical surveys (including surveys of businesses and households), administrative data sources and business registers; enhance quality and reliability of statistics produced; and analyze how these impact on the final monitoring capacity of countries.

The project will also strengthen the organization of the integrated statistical systems and user-producer relations and the use of ICT. Advisory services, study tour programmes and a series of sub-regional events (expert groups and training workshops) will constitute the core activities under this project framework.

Project Document

Workshop on the Organization of National Statistical Systems and User-Producer Relations
22-24 July 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in collaboration with the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka is organising this workshop as the first of a series of events under the Development Account Project on “Strengthening statistical capacity in support of progress towards the Internationally Agreed Development Goals in countries of South Asia.” The workshop aims at highlighting the role of the national statistical office in general and, in particular, its relation to major user groups. The workshop will explore some of the main strategic challenges facing the leaders of national statistical offices today. It will be problem-oriented while identifying the key issues in the organization of national statistical systems and discussing how they might be addressed.
Agenda
List of Participants
List of Documents
Press coverage
Final Report
Consultation session: Statistical capacity-building in South Asia
21 July 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The consultation session, organized as a pre-workshop event, will bring together development partners in the South Asian region. The session is intended to provide an opportunity for an initial exchange of views about resources and funding of statistical capacity-building in South Asia. The dialog between major donor organizations and the beneficiaries will include a number of issues such as: the role of development partners in supporting statistical capacity-building in South Asia; country experiences; and the need of optimization and coordination of national and international resources towards statistical development in the region.
Agenda
List of Documents
Final Report
First Steering Committee Meeting
21 July 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The First Steering Committee meeting, organized by the United Nations Statistics Division and hosted by the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, will launch the new Development Account Project on “Strengthening statistical capacity in support of progress towards the Internationally Agreed Development Goals in countries of South Asia.” The Steering Committee, composed of the chief statisticians of the South Asian national statistical offices, UNSD and UNESCAP will assist in the decisions taken throughout the project in accordance to the region’s needs. During its first meeting the Steering Committee will discuss and assess the priorities for statistical capacity-building in the South Asian region, review project activities and agree on the overall implementation plan for the project as proposed by UNSD.
Agenda
List of Documents
Report of the meeting