United Nations Statistical Commission

Co-conveners

This event is co-convened by Statistics South Africa, Philippines Statistics Authority, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) Mexico, Fiji Bureau of Statistics, Samoa Bureau of Statistics, WHO, UNICEF (WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation), as well as Statistics for Development Division, Pacific Community.

Purpose

The method for global monitoring of WASH and wastewater targets have gone through extensive international consultations involving sectoral experts both at national and global levels, as well as those from academic institutions, and some limited involvement of statistical agencies and international statistical community. Following the recommendation of the Strategic Advisory Group of WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation (JMP), WHO and UNICEF aim to consult statistical authorities on the sidelines of the 48th Statistical Commission in reviewing the methodology for preparation of global estimates for the SDG WASH and wastewater indicators, and highlight the importance of integrating various official and non-official national data sources. This will reduce the burden of data collection and reporting by the national authorities which is often believed to be brought about by the expanded SDG framework.

Background

Household surveys dominated the monitoring frameworks across the board for the MDGs. This approach has proved cost effective, as a single household survey includes a wide range of variables covering most of the indicators for the MDGs. With the additional complexity and vastly expanded framework arising from the SDG indicators, household surveys may not be able to contribute all of the necessary information. While adaptation of household survey questions to the framework of the SDG indicators is underway, many components of SDG indicators need to draw upon data outside of the remit of household surveys. This will not only keep the cost effectiveness of household surveys, but also allow supplementing data from other sources that household surveys find difficult or expensive to collect data on. For example, while water quality testing alongside household surveys is desirable to collect data directly from users as to the quality of drinking water they ingest, a more cost effective measure would be the supplemental use of data from regulatory authorities, administrative data sources, as well as data from water safety plans projects to name a few. Similarly, safely managed sanitation services cover the sanitation chain from toilets, to excreta disposal, transport, to treatment and reuse, and therefore household surveys could not possibly capture various elements of this chain, and use of data from non-household surveys such as data from sanitation service providers, industrial or commercial compliance or even geospatial data to see non-compliance through pollution of water bodies will be essential to report on both the access to safely managed sanitation services, as well as safe treatment of wastewater. It is noteworthy to also mention the importance of non-traditional data on capturing rights to WASH services.

This event will present the concept behind the use of multiple data sources, including both 'official' and 'unofficial' national statistics, and the technical challenges associated with combining these data to cost effectively report on the SDG indicators for WASH and wastewater. It will also discuss the process of uptake of the emerging methods by statistical community around the world through the Statistical Commission.

Draft programme

1. Welcome messages from  08:15 - 08:20
   Mr Risenga Maluleke, Deputy Statistician General South Africa (on behalf of Pali Lehohla, Statistician General, South Africa, and Member of High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as Member of Strategic Advisory Group of WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation)
   Ms Vivian Ilarina, Assistant National Statistician, Philippines Statistics Authority (on behalf of Dr Lisa Bersales, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, Philippines, and co-chair of IAEG-SDGs)
2. Introductions  08:20 - 08:35
   Rifat Hossain, WHO, and Tom Slaymaker, UNICEF
3. Country perspectives  08:35 - 09:15
   Ms Vivian Ilarina, Assistant National Statistician, Philippines Statistics Authority (on behalf of Dr Lisa Bersales, National Statistician and Civil Registrar General, Philippines, and co-chair of IAEG-SDGs)
   Mr Mario Palma, Vice President, INEGI, Mexico (on behalf of Julio Santaella, President, INEGI)
   Mr Epeli Waqavonovono, Government Statistician, Fiji Bureau of Statistics, and Member of IAEG-SDGs, with supplemental comments from i) Mr Muagututia Sefuiva Reupena, Government Statstician, Samoa Bureau of Statistics, and Member of IAEG-SDGs, and ii) Ms Ofa Ketuu, Director, Statistics for Development Division, Pacific Community.
   Ms Samar Awaad, Director General of International Relations, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (on behalf of Dr Ola Awad, President, PCBS, Member of High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development)
   Additional comments and observations from distinguished Chief Statisticians:
   - Dr Fahad S Al-Tekhaifi, President of the General Authority of Statistics, Saudi Arabia
   - Dr Abo Bakr, Directeur, l'Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANSD) du Sénégal
   - Mr Biratu Yigezu, Chief Statistician, Central Statistical Agency, Ethiopia
   
4. Discussions and way forward, facilitated by  09:15 - 09:30
   Mr Risenga Maluleke, Statistics South Africa
   Comments and observations from
   - Statistics Sweden (Viveka Palm, conveyed by Rifat Hossain, WHO)
   - Representatives from UNESCWA, ECA, UN Statistics Division
   - Other comments and observations
   Open discussion and way forward


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