Working Group on Data Stewardship


Background

In 2020, the Statistical Commission, in its decision 51/120, established the work on data stewardship within the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLG-PCCB) and asked them to report back at its next session with a stocktaking exercise and specific recommendations on the way forward. As a result of the HLG-PCCB's work, the Commission through its decision 52/103 created a Working Group on Data Stewardship (WGDS) in 2021 to explore the development of guidance for national statistical offices on approaches to data stewardship. The WGDS has reported three times to the Commission, most recently at its 55th session on the results of the global consultation on data stewardship and the role of National Statistical Offices as well as on updates from its four supported workstreams covering: data governance, equity and inclusion, sharing and collaboration and development of an overall conceptual framework. Official reports and background documents can be found below.


Membership

The Working Group on Data Stewardship consists of countries represented by national statistical offices

Country representatives [workstream membership]
Institute of Statistics (INSTAT-Albania), [ 1 ]
Statistik Austria
Statistics Lithuania, [ 1 ]
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)
National Statistical Office (NSO-Malawi),[ 1 ]
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS-China)
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), [ 1 ]
Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS-Egypt)
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE-España), [ 1 ]
Statistics Estonia
Statistics Sweden, [ 1 ]
Statistics Finland
Statistics Indonesia (BPS), [ 1, 2 ]
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI-India)
United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA), [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]
Central Statistical Bureau (CSB-Kuwait)
Statistics New Zealand, [ 1, 2, 3, 5 ]
Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
Statistics Netherlands (CBS), [ 1, 3, 5 ]
National Statistics Office (NSO-Mongolia)
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO), [ 1, 5 ]
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS)
Statistics Poland, [ 1, 5 (both co-lead) ]
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)
Statistics Canada, [ 2 ]
Statistics Korea (KOSTAT)
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC-Ecuador), [ 2 ]
National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR)
Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE-Colombia), [ 2, 3 (both co-lead), 5 ]
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS-Tanzania)
Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE-Chile), [ 3 ]
General Statistics Office (GSO-Viet Nam)
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, [ 3 ]
Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT)
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INDEC-Argentina), [ 3 (co-lead) ]
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), [ 3, 5 ]
Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), [ 5 ]
Statistics Norway, [ 5 ]

International agencies and organizations
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), [ 1 ]
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), [ 1 ]
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), [ 5 ]
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA)

Other partners
Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), [ 2 (co-lead) ]
Open Data Watch (ODW), [ 5 (co-lead) ]
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) TReNDS, [ 4 (co-lead) ]
World Privacy Forum, [ 1 (co-lead) ]

Terms of Reference

The proposed Terms of Reference of the Working Group are available here.


Links

Report of the Working Group on Data Stewardship, presented with reference E/CN.3/2024/32 at the 55th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2024

Background document: Fitting into the new data-driven reality: results from the global consultation on data stewardship and the role of National Statistical Offices, presented at the 55th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2024

UNSC55 side event on Defining Data Stewardship: A Collaborative Global Discourse (concept note | presentation)

Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC webinar: Data Stewardship, 26 September 2023

UN World Data Forum session: Data stewardship — comparing country developments, 27 April 2023

UNECA webinar: Data Stewardship in Africa: The Role of National Statistical Offices in 25 May 2023.

Report of the Working Group on Data Stewardship, discussed with reference E/CN.3/2023/20 at the 54th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2023.

Background document: Update on the workstreams of the Working Group, presented at the 54th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2023.

UNSC54 side event on Data stewardship: from buzz word to a viable governance framework for data and statistics on 27 February 2023.
Video: https://youtu.be/a-ZG26nqPIg

Working Group on Data Stewardship wiki collaboration website [members only]

Background document: preliminary results from the Working Group on Data Stewardship, presented at the 53rd session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2022.

Report of the Working Group on Data Stewardship, discussed with reference E/CN.3/2022/5 at the 53rd session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2022.

Background document: Approaches to data stewardship, prepared by the HLG-PCCB and presented at the 52nd session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in March 2021

High level event: Data stewardship and the role of National Statistical Offices in the changing data landscape, 10 February 2021, virtual

UN World Data Forum webinar 11: Data stewardship: A solution for official statistics' predicament? 31 March 2020, virtual

High Level Forum on Official Statistics: Data stewardship: A solution for official statistics' predicament? 2 March 2020, New York


Events

Documents