Using Statistics for Broad-Based Development
Location: EVI Conference Center, CR-2. Washington, D.C.
Date: September 28 and 29, 2006.
Introduction.
Readily available, credible and relevant information is essential to improve public sector performance in countries in the Region. The need for high quality data produced in a timely fashion, widely available and used to inform the policy making process has been brought up to the forefront of the agenda of statistical agencies across the Region. Moreover, if we follow the IPES 2006's conclusion that "better policies are more likely to emerge if [political actors] can cooperate with one another to uphold agreements and sustain them over time", we must ask what is the contribution of credible factual information -about policy results and program performance and outcomes- to facilitate cooperation among political actors.
The year 2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the very successful MECOVI program - jointly sponsored by IDB with the World Bank and ECLAC-, hence is an appropriate occasion to commemorate and extract some lessons of the experience of supporting the production of data on living conditions across the region.
- Information about the conference
- Agenda and presentations
- Conclusions(in spanish)
Information about the conference.
The objective of this one and a half days international conference sponsored by IDB and PARIS21 is to identify the main regional challenges that must be faced to enhance the use of statistical data in order to support broad-based development and reach the Millennium Development Goals for the poor by 2015. The experiences of the Region in collecting, disseminating and using statistical data are extensive and valuable, the goal of this seminar is to draw lessons from that knowledge in order to improve the links between the data production process and the policy making process in all Latin American and Caribbean countries. The challenges are extensive, demand for disaggregated data, limited budgets, and new technologies among others. This conference will examine the experiences of the region in the light of these challenges and the opportunities that cooperation and international coordination present for the future.
Considerable progress has been achieved in production and dissemination of relevant public policy information, however there are still important areas in which more work is needed: improving the links between the data generating process and the policy making process, so that countries can develop monitoring systems to track the appropriate indicators, and put in place evidence based policy making processes that are feed the right data and lead to more effective public sector performance. Therefore there are many opportunities to collect the returns on the investments that countries are able to make in data production.
In the last ten years the Bank has been the most active multilateral financial institution in statistical development and has channeled significant amounts of resources to improve the capacity of countries in the Region to generate better data, particularly in the social sector. This support has taken the form of non-reimbursable technical cooperation (mainly those that have funded the work of the Program for the Improvement of the Measurement of Living Conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean, MECOVI) and loans to finance the execution of population census in the 2000 round (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Suriname) and processes of institutional strengthening at national statistical agencies (Dominican Republic, Guyana and Honduras).
The Bank's involvement has helped to strengthen the global trend that points toward the improvement of data sources that allow governments and society to keep track of progress of development achievements and multi-dimensional poverty (i.e. MDGs). A process that should help the public sector be more effective and more responsive to the needs of the poor. However, this global support does not always reflect at the national level, hence frequently national statistical offices face constant struggle for resources and recognition within the public sector.
In this regard the technical assistance and the financial support from the World Bank and PARIS21 has been key to raise awareness at the country level about the importance of well-coordinated and organized statistical systems. Of particular impact has been the support provided by these institutions to the design of National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) in Central America, the Andean countries, and, more recently Guyana, and Uruguay, for a total of 14 countires. The design of NSDS is a key component of the Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics, presented in the framework of the Managing for Results International Round Table (Marrakech, 2004).
The 2010 round of population censuses is underway, and the challenges to incorporate new technologies and methodologies that improve efficiency, reduce costs, and help mapping of the most basic needs are on the table. In the same line there is an increasing need to better coordinate statistical production so that it moves in parallel to the processes of commercial integration.
The sessions of the conference will focus on five key issues:- Evidence based policymaking to improve public sector performance
- Governance and accountability: data as a tool for monitoring
- Institutional design of statistical systems: credibility and relevance
- The role of international agencies: standards and coordination
- The role of international cooperation and multilaterals
The availability of credible and relevant statistical data has clear implications in the public policy making process both in terms of its role as an input in the process and as a tool to promote transparency and accountability. The quality of policymaking and the availability and use of empirical evidence are intimately interlinked. As with all processes there is clear causality between the quality of the inputs and the quality of the products. It is essential to support the institutional arrangements that promote an open and formal dialogue between the main data users in the countries and the data producers. Such process would improve the usefulness of the information generated, and hence the impact of the resources invested to do it. Open access to statistical information promotes good governance, transparency and accountability. Widely available data is a necessary condition to promote the participation of civil society in the oversight of development. It also allows governments to substantiate their successes and to learn from their errors. Open data access is an essential tool for transparency and accountability. Moreover, the process of decentralization undergone in many countries implies an increase demand for disaggregated data since the needs for information are reproduced at the sub-national level to feed the policy making process at that stage, and to have elements that allow an equitable distribution of resources and better monitoring tools.
The capacity of national statistical agencies is not only limited by its technical and financial resources, but it is also shaped by its legal framework, which has a direct relationship in the institutional design, credibility and relevance of the national statistical systems. Just as with the quality of the inputs, the strength (both technical and institutional) of the agencies responsible for generating data in the countries is highly correlated to the quality of the information they produce. The potential political pressure to which these agencies might be subject to implies the need for solid technical foundations and enough autonomy to distance themselves from the political process. Their credibility, and that of the data they produce, is built on these pillars: technical and institutional strength.
It is in these areas that multilateral organizations have a central role in developing and supporting statistical capacity (promotion, financing, certification, etc.). Multilateral organizations have an important responsibility in promoting the development of national capacity to produce and to use high quality statistics in coordination with national governments. Support can take the form of technical assistance, international coordination and financing. Technical assistance is important as it encourages the dissemination of best practices among countries. International coordination is relevant to promote and facilitate horizontal cooperation between countries. Financial support (mainly in the form of loans) provides the seed resources to undertake challenging data collection exercises (i.e. population census) or undergo institutional strengthening processes.
| September 28, 2006 | | |
| 8:30 - 9:00 | Registration of participants | |
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Welcoming Remarks | |
| | Luis Alberto Moreno, President IDB Richard Manning, Chair of DAC-OECD and Co-Chairman PARIS21 | |
| 9:30 - 10:30 | Keynote Speaker | |
| | Jacob Ryten, Former Deputy Director Statistics Canada - Canada Policy Making: The Role of Evidence | |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | Coffee Break | |
| 10:45 - 1:00 | Institutional design of statistical systems: credibility and relevance | |
| | Chair: José Luis Lupo, Chief, Office of the President, IDB | |
| Gilberto Calvillo, President of INEGI Mexico | ||
| Pedro Saínz, ex Former Director Statistics Division, ECLAC - Chile | ||
| Máximo Aguilera, Former Director INE - Chile | ||
| Simon Schwartzman, Director-President, IETS - Brasil | ||
| José Molinas, Economist, World Bank | ||
| 1:00 - 2:30 | Lunch | |
| 2:30 - 4:15 | Evidence based policymaking to improve public sector performance | |
| | Chair: Koldo Echebarría, Representative IDB in Chile | |
| John Young, Director of Programme, RAPID-ODI, United Kingdom | ||
| | Nora Berretta, Research Fellow, CINVE, Uruguay | |
| | Chris Scott, London School of Economics, United Kingdom | |
| 4:15 - 4:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 4:00 - 6:00 | Governance and accountability: data as a tool for local and national monitoring | |
| | Chair: Carlos Eduardo Vélez, Chief, SDS/POV, IDB | |
| | Santiago Montenegro, ex Director of National Planning - Colombia | |
| | Marcos Holanda, General Director , IPECE - Ceara, Brazil | |
| | Emilia Ruiz, Executive Director, Fundación Corona - Colombia | |
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| September 29, 2006 | | |
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| 9:00 - 10:45 | Round Table. The role of international agencies: standards and coordination. | |
| | Moderator: Nohra Rey de Marulanda, Manager, INT, IDB | |
| | Antoine Simonpietri, PARIS21 Secretariat | |
| | Juan Carlos Feres, Statistics Division, ECLAC | |
| | Stefan Schweinfest, Chief Statistical Services Branch, Statistics Division, UN | |
| | Robert W. Edwards, Statistics Department Director, IMF | |
| | Shaida Badiee, Director, DECDG, World Bank | |
| 10:45 - 11:00 | Coffe Break | |
| 11:00 - 12:30 | Closing Panel. The role of international cooperation and multilaterals | |
| | Moderator: Antonio Vives, Gerente, a.i., SDS, IDB | |
| | Ciro de Falco, Executive Vice President, IDB | presentation |
| | Juan Martín,Chief of Staff, Executive Secretary, ECLAC | |
| | Stefan G. Koeberle,Director, Operations and Services, Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank
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Last updated: 04/26/07
