Regional Training Course on the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) and Advanced Data Planning Tool (ADAPT) for Asia-Pacific

Better national, regional, and global development policies underscored the need for resilient and trusted public data systems in evidence-based policymaking. Building back better from the pandemic and other crises, many public statistical systems need to develop adequate capacities to cope with these new and rising data demands and coordinate strategically across the new data ecosystem:   

Firstly, data producers need to coordinate efficiently to close data gaps at national level. Smart planning, monitoring and evaluation, and service delivery measures require highly disaggregated data. Yet, for low and middle-income countries, limited statistical capacity threaten response and future resilience. For instance, administrative data systems including sectoral and local data are often inefficiently coordinated.  

Secondly, entering a decade of action, governments need to align global, regional and national policy objectives. This in turn, requires an in-depth mapping of data availability vis-à-vis data requirements. The heightened demand for data to monitor progress and inform policy and development choices necessitate a comprehensive data assessment and mapping at national level, which support better alignment of the national strategy for the development of statistics (NSDS) to data demand. 

Thirdly, statistical offices need to improve coordination with national and international partners to attract funding efficiently. Prioritisation and increased coordination of statistical activities, for instance through a national strategy for the development of statistics, can be conducive to attract more domestic funding as well as external resources. At the same time, there is ample scope to strengthen coordination between and among development cooperation partners and partner countries and promote south-south cooperation to make the status quo of funding for statistics more cost-efficient.  

The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) in collaboration with the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) developed a unique training course for NSS, NSO leaders and national planning senior managers to improve strategic planning for data and statistics development, using innovative tools and methods. The course will give a thorough introduction to the NSDS design process. In addition, this course will feature special topics on gender statistics, climate change data, children data as well as communications around the NSDS.