Statistics for Transparency, Accountability, and Results: A Busan Action Plan for StatisticsThis five point action plan provides the direction for the decade ahead. It supports three principal objectives: (1) Fully integrating statistics in decision making; (2) Promoting open access to statistics; (3) Increasing resources for statistical systems. As the world community faces a complex array of challenges, policy makers need better statistics. Statistics provide the evidence needed to improve decision making, document results, and heighten public accountability. The demand for improved statistics to monitor the Millennium Development Goals and the parallel effort to support a culture of results-based management has stimulated a decade long effort to improve statistics. The results have been impressive, but much work remains to be done... The action plan has benefited from a thorough consultation process and has been endorsed by members of the PARIS21 partnership and other key development partners. It builds on past successes and addresses outstanding gaps, going well beyond current approaches. It dPARIS21 PartnershipP21PThe Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) is a unique initiative that aims to promote the better use and production of statistics throughout the developing world. Since its establishment in 1999, PARIS21 has successfully developed a worldwide network of statisticians, policy makers, analysts, and development practitioners committed to evidence-based decision making. With the main objective to achieve national and international development goals and reduce poverty in low and middle income countries, the Partnership facilitates statistical capacity development, advocates for the integration of reliable data in decision making, and co-ordinates donor support to statistics.United NationsPARIS21 was established by the United Nations, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.European CommissionOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)International Monetary FundWorld BankPARIS21 SecretariatThe PARIS21 Secretariat is hosted within the OECD's Development Co-operation Directorate. PARIS21's offices are located just outside of Paris in Boulogne-Billancourt. The nearest metro station is Porte de Saint-Cloud (line 9). The OECD's headquarters (and therefore PARIS21's mailing address) are in Paris, near the La Muette metro station (line 9).Samuel BlazykProgramme Coordinator, NSDS, AfricaVioleta CezardAssistant Administrative AssistantShuang ChenProject Officer, International Household Survey Network, Accelerated Data ProgrammeFrançois FonteneauProgramme Coordinator, International Household Survey Network, Accelerated Data ProgrammeEmer Heenan Assistant, General AdministrationJohannes JüttingManager, Secretariat ManagementLeslie RaeAdministrative Officer, Budget, ContractsAnna SarotteProgramme Coordinator, NSDS, Latin America and the CaribbeanMahesh SubediProject Officer, International Household Survey Network, Accelerated Data ProgrammeGay TejadaProject Officer, NSDS, Asia & the PacificSylvie WalterBudget Officer, Budget, ContractsKatarzyna ZarembaAssistant, Administrative AssistantPARIS21 DonorsThe PARIS21 Secretariat -- hosted within the OECD's Development Co-operation Directorate -- has benefitted from the generous financial contributions of the following donors:Australian Agency for International DevelopmentAUSTRALIA, http://www.ausaid.gov.auMinistry of Foreign AffairsBELGIUM, Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.diplomatie.be/CIDACANADA, http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/EFTAhttp://www.efta.int/EUROPEAN COMMISSIONhttp://ec.europa.eu/EUROSTAThttp://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/Federal Ministry of Foreign AffairsFINLAND, http://formin.finland.fi/Ministry of Foreign AffairsFRANCE, http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/GIZGERMANY, http://www.giz.de/Hellenic Ministry of Foreign AffairsGREECE, http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-USIreland Aid - Department of Foreign AffairsIRELAND, http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/Ministry of Foreign AffairsITALY, http://www.esteri.it/MAE/ENJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)JAPAN, http://www.jica.go.jp/english/Statistics KoreaKOREA, http://kostat.go.kr/eng/Ministry for Development Co-operationNETHERLANDS, http://www.minbuza.nl/en/homeNORADNORWAY, http://www.norad.no/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CooperationSPAIN, http://www.aecid.es/SIDASWEDEN, http://www.sida.se/English/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)SWITZERLAND, http://www.deza.admin.ch/en/HomeDFIDUNITED KINGDOM, http://www.dfid.gov.uk/WORLD BANK ORGANIZATIONhttp://www.worldbank.org/To provide direction for the decade ahead to integrate statistics into decision making, promote open access to statistics, and increase resources for statistical systems. StatisticsReliable and accessible statistics provide the evidence needed to improve decision making, document results, and heighten public accountability... Statistics are a matter of life and death.Reliability AccessibilityDecision MakingResults Public AccountabilityDecision MakingFully integrate statistics in decision making1Improvements in the production of statistics are essential, but policy makers and program managers must also understand how to use statistics effectively. Poor quality statistics lead to their under use, which in turn leads to neglect and under funding of statistical activities. Statistical offices should be routinely engaged in planning, budgeting, and M&E processes so the statistics they produce are relevant and meet user priorities.AccessPromote open access to statistics2The hallmark of transparent and accountable governments is open access to information. Making timely and reliable statistics widely available to the public as well as to policy makers and other stakeholders increases government effectiveness and public confidence. ResourcesIncrease resources for statistical systems3Continued investment is a key to breaking the vicious cycle of neglect and disuse of statistics. Financial support to national statistical systems should be integrated in development assistance programs with developing countries providing in-country leadership. Donors should adopt system-wide approaches, coordinating their assistance strategies to ensure they are consistent with national priorities.National & Regional StrategiesStrengthen and re-focus national and regional statistical strategies with particular emphasis on improving statistical systems that address country-level development priorities. Action 1A key aim is to increase in-country capacity to respond to emerging and unforeseen needs. Strategies should be updated to reflect new challenges and opportunities and integrate international and domestic data collection activities. Possible indicators to track progress: i) Number of NSDSs with clear priorities and costing for implementation; ii) countries incorporating specific plans for gender statistics in their NSDSs; iii) Level of "alignment" of statistical capacity development actions with NSDSs. Implementation PrioritiesBuilding on existing national plans, prioritize implementation to ensure that crucial domestic policy priorities are addressed first.1.1Early small successes achieved through gradual implementation will help build up to larger successes at a later stage.Partnerships & CoPsEstablish partnerships of national users and producers of data through Communities of Practice at both the national and regional level to enhance communication and encourage innovation.1.2Gender StatisticsGrounded in country priorities, ensure gender statistics are fully mainstreamed into the national statistical system. 1.3This will require improving existing data collection approaches and developing new ones that are implemented on a regular basis. Multi-purpose household surveys will be particularly important for measurement of female entrepreneurship, time use, access to finance, and gender-based violence. at both the national and regional level to enhance communication and encourage innovation.Performance MonitoringAddress weaknesses in vital registration systems and data critical for monitoring program performance – including administrative data, sex disaggregated data, and geospatial information. 1.4StandardsImplement standards for data preservation, documentation, and dissemination that permit full public access to statistics.Action 2Possible indicators to track progress: i) Proportion of national websites offering free data; ii) Published assessments of statistical “openness”; iii) Track development of a catalogue for enterprise statistics and administrative data; iv) Number of countries publishing recent census data and documentation thereof on their national websites.Initial EffortsDirect initial efforts towards instances where statistics exist but have not been published.2.1Initial efforts should be directed towards instances where statistics exist, but have not been published. Building on the success of efforts to improve access to household surveys, expand in-country capacity for data documentation and preservation, anonymization, and dissemination of enterprise statistics, vital statistics, and administrative data.Legal FrameworksSupport the development of legal frameworks to encourage open access to data.2.2Openness FrameworksDevelop frameworks for assessing the “openness” of the statistical programs of national and international statistical offices.2.3Standards & MethodologiesFacilitate the dissemination of data standards and common survey methodologies for enterprise and administrative data.2.4Global Geospatial InformationSupport the implementation of global geospatial information management systems.2.5Knowledge & SkillsDevelop programs to increase the knowledge and skills needed to use statistics effectively for planning, analysis, monitoring, and evaluation, thus increasing transparency and accountability and improve accessibility of statistics at the national and international levels.Action 3Possible indicators to track progress: i) Number of registered users of globally endorsed e-learning tools; ii) Measures of advocacy material; iii) Number of NSO websites which are updated at least weekly; iv) Number of countries maintaining and publishing up-to-date quality assurance frameworks for their official statistics; v) Number of development partners adopting internationally accepted transparency standards.E-LearningUse new technologies and innovative methods of e-learning to share knowledge between producers and users of statistics.3.1Awareness & OutcomesDevelop programs to increase public awareness of the role of data in policy development and tracking outcomes to empower users to more effectively use statistics.3.2PrioritiesEnsure that technical and financial support of statistical and M&E systems remains aligned with national policy priorities and that statistical producers are closer to discussions on policy priorities.3.3Curation StandardsRecommend curation standards for information collected by development organizations through their research activities and development projects. 3.4IATIEncourage implementation of the data standard of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). 3.5International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI)Results MonitoringBuild and maintain results monitoring instruments to track outcomes of all global summits and high level forums. Action 4Rigorous monitoring of global initiatives requires collaboration between national and international statistical organizations. Outcome documents should specifically recognize the need for statistical capacity development, including technical assistance, training, and financial support... Possible indicators to track progress: i) Share of summits and high level meetings which specifically mention statistics/indicators; ii) share of summits which agree on a set of common indicators to measure goals and commitments; iii) availability of “bulletin boards” or other public information sites providing complete data and metadata for monitoring global initiatives.Policies, Indicators, Assistance,Training & FinancingClearly state policy issues being addressed and the key set of indicators to be developed, and provide an implementation strategy for sequencing technical assistance, training, and financing.4.1Resolutions of global summits and high-level forums should clearly state the policy issue being addressed and the key set of indicators to be developed, and provide an implementation strategy for sequencing technical assistance, training, and financing.Developing Country LeadershipImplement statistical activities required by global initiatives with developing country leadership.4.2Leaders in Developing CountriesStatistical activities required by global initiatives should be implemented with developing country leadership, consistent with their national strategies, and at a pace in keeping with other priority needs.Monitoring & AssessmentInclude assessments of statistical progress in monitoring and follow-up reports.4.3Monitoring and follow-up reports should include assessments of statistical progress.Gender InitiativesProvide support to countries to produce data based on established indicators for monitoring the progress of gender initiatives.4.4Interagency and Expert Group on Gender StatisticsThrough the Interagency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics, existing statistical capacity development initiatives, and working closely with national statistical offices and other stakeholders, provide adequate support to countries to produce data based on established indicators for monitoring the progress of gender initiatives.Other Commitments[Pursue] other global commitments.4.4Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information ManagementExamples of other global commitments include the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics; and the newly proposed Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management.FinancingEnsure financing for statistical information is robust and that funding instruments and approaches reflect the new modalities and actors in development finance.Action 5Possible indicators to track progress: i) Trends in donor funding allocations to capacity development including levels of concentration and fragmentation; ii) Share of NSDS activities financed through domestic contributions; iii) Number of donor/government in-country coordination groups, instances of pooled resources, basket funds.Financial SupportEnsure financial support is sufficient, flexible, adaptive to rapidly changing in-country requirements. 5.1International OrganizationsBilateral AgenciesDonor ProgramsInternational organizations and bilateral agencies should ensure financial support is sufficient, flexible, adaptive to rapidly changing in-country requirements. Donor programs should be coordinated and aligned with the priorities agreed in national and regional statistical strategies.RecognitionRecognize statistical capacity development and implementation of M&E frameworks as priorities in bilateral and multilateral institutional work programs.5.2InclusivenessGovernance arrangements should be inclusive, reflecting the changing mix of development actors.5.3Development ActorsDevelopment Assistance ProgramsSupport for statistics all development assistance programs.5.4International OrganizationsIn the same way that M&E is now seen to be a necessary part of project financing, international organizations should incorporate support for statistics in all development assistance programs.Global InitiativesEnsure critical global initiatives — such as statistics for gender equity and women’s empowerment — are adequately funded to support country requirements in developing their statistical capacity.5.52011-11-302013-10-23http://paris21.org/sites/default/files/Busanactionplan_nov2011.pdfOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net