DESA News

The Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination (OESC), in collaboration with the Division for Sustainable Development and the Capacity Development Office of DESA, organized a Training Workshop and Expert Group Meeting in preparation for the 2014 Annual Ministerial Review of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at UN Women Headquarters, New York on 16-17 December 2013.

The 2014 AMR theme will focus on “Addressing on-going and emerging challenges for meeting the MDGs by 2015 and for sustaining development gains in the future”. It will be the first review to be held under the revised structure of ECOSOC and the first to be convened in tandem with the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) meeting under the auspices of ECOSOC, as per General Assembly resolutions 68/1 and 67/290. It will thus provide Member States with an opportunity to reflect on new approaches to review and assess progress towards the MDGs and sustain results in the context of the follow-up to Rio+20 and ongoing deliberation on the post-2015 development agenda.

The objectives of the Training Workshop and Expert Group Meeting were to: a) increase knowledge of the prevailing issues captured by the AMR theme for next year; b) identify key priority areas to be addressed by the Secretary-General’s report and activities leading up to the 2014 AMR deliberations, and; c) propose new ways to measure development progress building on the experience of the AMR and NVPs.

The Training Workshop and Expert Group Meeting brought together representatives and senior experts from member States, UN system partners and independent experts to share expertise and knowledge on the issues to be addressed by the theme of the 2014 ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review. During the two days, the participants shared experiences and lessons learned from their respective work places or national contexts.

The workshop featured substantive presentations by experts, followed by interactive discussions among participants. The discussions focused on: (i) Role of Institutions in Supporting Sustainable Development; (ii) Inclusive development; (iii) Measuring Development Progress; (iv) Lessons Learned from Existing National Reporting, and; (v) NVP Next Generation: Towards a New Analytical Framework.

The deliberations underscored the fact that strong institutions were a prerequisite for successful development, and that strong leadership was a critical driver and enabler of development. So too, was the need to engage citizen participation and building community resilience. This was seen, together with maintaining effective parliamentary oversight, as an effective system of checks and balances that should operate for governments and the governed in all settings. Various monitoring and reporting options for a post-2015 framework were examined, which should include setting appropriate targets and indicators, identifying measurement tools that are qualitative and quantitative, addressing the role of women and combining local, national, regional and global applicability. Strong monitoring and evaluation features, through a mutual review system, should be central to ECOSOC’s oversight responsibility, with follow up implementation and report-back mechanisms. Continuous capacity building programmes should be designed for MDG acceleration and implementation of the new development framework. Participants found the workshop to be important in understanding key concepts in the lead-up to the 2014 AMR and in building on the existing strengths of the National Voluntary Presentations.  They underscored the need for a new analytical framework for the next generation of National Voluntary Presentations.

From 25 to 27 November 2013, a technical workshop brought together around thirty senior-level water managers, economic planners and statistical experts from fifteen countries to identify priority actions to strengthen institutional capacity for implementing a more holistic water agenda in the post-2015 development framework. The Workshop was organized by the Division for Sustainable Development in collaboration with the Statistics Division supported by UNICEF, the World Bank, UNEP-DHI and UN-Habitat.

The participants highlighted the importance of water as a resource and a human right, and reinforced why a more holistic water agenda for the post-2015 development framework needs to go beyond water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – the focus of the MDGs – to one that includes water resource management and water quality/wastewater management. The discussions placed emphasis on national context and realities. The participants shared experiences and lessons and identified key challenges for linking integrated water resource management (IWRM) to national planning, budgeting and priority setting. They highlighted as a high priority the importance of strengthening institutional capacity in integrated monitoring frameworks and systems in which all stakeholders across all sectors need to be actively involved.

The participants discussed the opportunities of implementing programmes that build on existing initiatives progressing measures to complement GDP – as called for in paragraph 38 of The Future We Want. This especially relates to the area of natural capital accounting, using the internationally adopted methodologies for the System for Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).  A very important lesson from countries like Brazil, which implemented SEEA-Water, a sub-system of the SEEA central framework, is that the process itself and putting in place the necessary institutional arrangements for implementing SEEA-Water have already contributed significantly in strengthening integrated approaches to water management and development through better coordination and institutional cooperation.  For more information please visit http://bit.ly/1b4ChE5, where a report will be made available when ready.

UN DESA’s Statistics Division together with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA) is organizing a Training Workshop on SDMX tools for MDG Data Reporting on 2-5 December in Casablanca, Morocco.

Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) is the preferred standard for allowing National Statistical Offices (NSOs) to automate and standardize exchange of data and metadata associated with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The workshop will provide participants with an introduction to SDMX and focus on the process of mapping and exchanging indicators with SDMX through the features added to DevInfo 7.

Published by UN DESA’s Statistics Division, DevInfo is a powerful database system for monitoring human development.  It is a tool for organizing, storing and presenting data in a uniform way to facilitate data sharing at the country level across government departments, UN agencies and development partners.  DevInfo has features that produce tables, graphs and maps for inclusion in reports, presentations and advocacy materials.

For more information:

UN DESA’s Statistics Division

DevInfo 7

UN DESA’s Statistics Division will conduct a Workshop on Census Evaluation, in collaboration with General Statistics Office of Viet Nam, in Hanoi, Viet Nam, on 2-6 December.

The regional workshop will bring together some fifteen national statisticians from eight Asian countries. The main purpose of the workshop is to provide the staff of national statistical offices with hands-on training to master indirect demographic techniques necessary for the evaluation of census results.

Participants will learn, in particular, the methods to evaluate age-sex structure of population, fertility as well as mortality data obtained from national population and housing censuses. They are also expected to establish own professional networks through exchange of experiences and knowledge on census data analyses.

UN DESA’s Statistics Division is the primary agency responsible at the international level for (1) collecting official national demographic including statistics on population size and structure, fertility, mortality and international migration; (2) publishing internationally agreed standards and guidelines on collecting, compiling and disseminating demographic statistics and (3) providing technical assistance to national statistical offices on topics related to the improvement of demographic statistics.

The division also publishes the Demographic Yearbook which collects, compiles and disseminates official statistics on a wide range of topics. Data have been collected from national statistical authorities since 1948 through a set of questionnaires dispatched annually by UN DESA’s Statistics Division to over 230 national statistical offices.

For more information: UN DESA’s Statistics Division

The National Capacity Building Workshop on Developing Capacity for e-Participation: Engaging Citizens in Development Policy and Decision-making Processes through Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan on 3-5 December.

The event is organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies (MoCIT) of the Republic of Azerbaijan in cooperation with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Country Office in Azerbaijan, Ministry of Economy and Industry of Azerbaijan and Civil Service Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan with substantive assistance of UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM).

The workshop will serve as an enabling platform of the World Summit for Information Society to enhance the knowledge of national practitioners and professionals in the current concepts, approaches, and practices in engaging citizens in the decision-making process in formulating and implementing national development plans including the use of ICTs. It is expected that the participants of the workshop will learn and share their experiences and exchange best practices in e-participation including aspects of regulatory and institutional frameworks in engaging citizens through e-participation in public policy and service delivery.

The workshop sessions will provide opportunities for participants to interact with speakers and resource persons in order to develop new capacities for designing and implementing successful e-participation strategies and policies for a more transparent, accountable and efficient government and citizen engagement and participation, as well as to create and strengthen networks of stakeholders and practitioners.

Approximately 40 government officials and professionals at mid to senior levels are expected to participate (e.g. advisors to government chief executives at national and regional levels; heads/deputy heads of departments/units, chief specialists/officers, etc.) representing Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies (MoCIT) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ministry of Economy and Industry of Azerbaijan and Civil Service Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

For more information: UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)

Seminars on Developing Programmes for the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) and Supporting Statistics and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 (2012 SEEA) and Supporting Statistics in Africa will be held in Kampala, Uganda on 9-13 December.

The seminars are organized by UN DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank, East Africa Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the Uganda Bureau.

The SNA seminar is organized to assist participating African countries with initiating the formulation of a national strategy and implementation programme for the 2008 SNA and supporting socio-economic statistics with the objective of strengthening the national statistical system in support of improved policy making. It is expected that this initiative will lead to a multi-year statistical programme helping countries to change over to the 2008 SNA with a view to producing timely comparable national accounts statistics and short-term economic indicators which fully meets the user needs as well as complies with the international standards.

The objective of the SEEA seminar is to assist the participating African countries with developing an implementation strategy for the SEEA Central Framework on the basis of policy priorities and statistical development as well as to develop a sub-regional implementation strategy. It is expected that this initiative will lead to a multi-year statistical programme assisting countries in the adoption of the SEEA 2012 Central Framework with a view to produce timely comparable economic and environmental statistics based on selected environmental-economic accounts and environmental-economic indicators which fully meets the user needs as well as complies with the international standards.

The seminars brings together senior managers from national statistical offices and senior representatives from government agencies using economic and environmental information for policy setting from countries in Africa to discuss the development of a national implementation strategy for the 2008 SNA and the SEEA 2012 Central Framework. The aim is also to share experiences among countries in the region and facilitate cooperation amongst the neighbouring countries as well as north-south and triangular cooperation in support of the SNA and SEEA implementation strategy in Africa.

For more information:

UN DESA’s Statistics Division

A capacity building workshop on “Innovation and Performance Evaluation in Africa’s Public Service: The Role of Human Resource Managers” will be organized in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11-13 December.

The event is arranged by UN DESA in partnership with the Africa Public Sector Human Resource Managers’ Network (APS-HRMnet) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

The main objective of the workshop is to exchange ideas and best practices and explore strategies for strengthening the role of human resource managers in promoting innovation and performance evaluation of the public service with the aim of building the capacity of the public service in Africa for efficient public service delivery.

Innovation is not an exclusive phenomenon that is happening only in the private sector. The public sector has also demonstrated capability to innovate in order to improve delivering public services. To validate that, one has just to look at the increasing rate of nominations to the United Nations Public Service Award each year which has gone up from 81 in 2003 to 601 in 2013.

However, most innovative practices so far nominated focus on improving service delivery in the areas including health, education and gender equality. Very few addresses the improvement of performance of the human resources that are delivering the services. While it is critical that the services delivered become better, it is also important that the capacities for innovation especially in terms of human resources are supported and improved.

For more information:

“Innovation and Performance Evaluation in Africa’s Public Service: The Role of Human Resource Managers”

UN DESA Statistics Division and Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and Korea Women’s Development Institute of the Republic of Korea, are organizing a seminar on Gender Statistics  from 12 to 14 November 2013 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. 

The Seminar will focus on Integrating a Gender Perspective into Statistics, Time Use Statistics and Statistics on Violence against Women. The goal of the Seminar is to promote and train national statisticians on agreed international standards, share best practices and ensure collaboration and networking among gender statisticians and other relevant stakeholders, for the production, dissemination and communication of gender statistics that are policy relevant, internationally comparable and technically sound.

Raj Chetty, Bloomberg Professor of Economics at Harvard University, gave a keynote address to the Second Committee of the 68^th session of the General Assembly on 9 October. He presented a study on the correlation between the quality of teachers and students’ future success , according to which, quality teachers not just improved test scores, but had long-term positive effects on the socioeconomic status of children 20 and 30 years down the line.

Professor Raj Chetty  emphasized that traditional analysis of economic and social policy is being transformed by new data and methods. “The collection of “big data” including school records, tax statistics, and health registries was sparking a paradigm shift from the traditional, theory-driven study of macro questions to the data-driven analysis of micro questions”.

In addition to the long-term positive effects of quality teachers on socioeconomic status, students with effective teachers were less likely to become pregnant, more likely to gain admission to college and get higher-paying jobs.

The study looked at 2.5 million children and their 18 million test scores, comparing the scores of students in a specific class in the beginning of a semester with their scores at the end.  If their marks increased, that meant the teacher was of high-value and could increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000.  “Teacher quality mattered in developing countries,” Professor said, emphasizing the need to attract top talent there and noting that paying teachers based on performance significantly raised test scores.

Therefore, improving micro-level policy decisions on an economic and social policy level could have a great macro-level impact.  Harnessing big data could provide scientific evidence for designing policies.

Parental support is crucial

As the floor was opened for discussion, representatives of developing countries noticed that the data presented applied more for already developed countries, whereas in many regions, such factors as nutrition quality, healthcare, housing and the presence of family are still more important than teaching. “Teachers might be good but parental support is crucial.”  Moreover, even after succeeding in childhood and graduating from university, many young people from developing countries end up moving abroad in a pursuit of better life. Whereas many qualified teachers move abroad to teach in big universities.

However, according to Mr Chetty, it was a mistake to say that education did not matter there. For example, simply improving teachers’ attendance had large impact in India. Quality teachers not only generated improvements in income but also positively impacted social issues, such as teenage pregnancy and family stability. “On the issue of brain drain, reaping the benefits of education in all countries required that investment in infrastructure be geared towards providing quality jobs,” he said.

Raj Chetty website: http://www.rajchetty.com/

In support of the work of the Commission for Social Development to move forward the social development agenda, the UN DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development is working on a paradigm shift from powerlessness to empowerment. On 10-11 September at UN Headquarters in New York, the Division convened an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on “Policies and strategies to promote empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all”.

In welcoming the experts and participants to the meeting, Daniela Bas, Director of UNDESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development noted that the empowerment of people played a key role in social development, as it promoted a people-centred approach to development through enabling their full participation in all aspects of political, economic and social life.  She further noted that promoting the empowerment of people requires an enabling environment that supports policies, strategies, and an attitude change to permit all people of all abilities across the lifecycle to participate meaningfully in decision-making processes, especially in the design and implementation of policies that affect their lives.

Empowering social groups

The meeting focused its discussion on ways to create an enabling environment for the empowerment of people through participation and capability-strengthening. Experts examined pathways to empowering social groups such as women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, older persons, and youth.

The unique perspectives of various social groups, including people living in poverty, women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, older persons and youth, were highlighted at the meeting. The myriad of narratives at the EGM displayed what Savitri Goonesekere called “…the international human rights system’s increasing recognition for the voice of civil society in international fora”. As expert Duncan Green, author of From Poverty to Power, stated “…building the ‘power within’ among poor and excluded people is the essential first-step in any sustained process of empowerment”.

The experts examined successful examples from case studies in various regions, and discussed whether lessons learned from strategies to empower women can be replicated for the empowerment of other social groups.

Unlocking the full potential of all people

In search of a way to promote empowerment, the experts noted that, while it is neither possible nor desirable to formulate a single/universal set of policies and strategies to promote empowerment across all countries or contexts, Governments can adopt an “empowerment approach” to policy making and policy implementation. The approach enables a more holistic, coherent, and integrated policy making, at all levels – individual, communal (social groups and community), and institutional. This will include aligning economic, social and other sectoral policies towards unlocking the full potential of all people to lead a better life with dignity.

To tackle these tasks the “empowerment approach” highlights the importance of creating a policy space to allow strategic partnerships and coalitions among various stakeholders, including public institutions, the private sector, and civil society organizations, to emerge. Sarah Cook, the director of United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) noted that there was a need for expanding the “empowerment approach” evidence-base. This meant elucidating what works and what does not, so that the formulation and implementation of empowerment policies would be based on careful social analysis and impact assessment.

Causes of disempowerment

The meeting also helped define “empowerment strategies” as methods that focus on long-term transformation, rather than short-term gains. Such strategies aimed to achieve sustainable impact by addressing structural causes of disempowerment, including weak governance, non-transparent and ineffective institutions, narrow macroeconomic policies, lack of employment or social protection, discrimination, and insufficient investment in human capital.

Political will is key to promoting and ensuring the empowerment of people. In the words of Patience Stephens, Director of the Intergovernmental Support Division of UN Women, “… the pathway to empowerment requires strong, sustained intergovernmental initiative, action, and leadership”. In pursuit of this, the conclusions and recommendations of this EGM will provide input to a report of the Secretary-General to be submitted to the Commission for Social Development at its 52^nd session in February 2014, where the priority theme is “Empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all”.

The meeting was attended by 22 experts from academia, Governments, civil society organizations, international development agencies, and UN agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank.

Information on the Expert Group Meeting can be accessed at: http://undesadspd.org/CommissionforSocialDevelopment/Sessions/2014/EGMonEmpowermentPolicies.aspx

On the request of Qatar Statistics Authority, DESA’s Statistics Division provides technical assistance, in terms of a resource person, to conduct a workshop on “Building the basic for 2008 SNA implementation” for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from 30 September to 4 October in Doha, Qatar.

The workshop will discuss statistical infrastructure required by countries for implementation of the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) and supporting statistics namely, NSDS, business register, data sources, integrated industrial surveys and changes in classifications of economic activities. In addition main changes in the 2008 SNA  and global implementation strategy will also be presented to the participants. It is expected that the workshop will strengthen the statistical capacity of the GCC countries and help them prepare a national statement of strategy for implementation of SNA and supporting statistics as first step for change over to 2008 SNA.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

DESA’s Statistics Division and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), is organizing a technical assistance mission to conduct an assisted national assessment for implementation of the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) from 30 September to 1 October in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

The purpose of the assessment mission is to evaluate current situation in compiling environmental-economic accounts in Malaysia, giving policy priorities and available data, and providing some initial recommendations to the Malaysian government to develop an implementation strategy for the SEEA Central Framework in line with national policy priority.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

An International Seminar on Trade and Tourism Statistic, organised jointly by UN DESA’s Statistics Division, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat, will take place 7-10 October in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The services sector accounts for the largest share of business activity, employment, and economic growth in most economies, yet the role of services trade, particularly in designing policies and negotiating regional agreements, continues to be poorly understood.  A major reason for this disconnect is the absence of abundant, high-quality data on trade in services that is comparable across economies – making it difficult to measure the impact of services trade on the economy and provide useful information for negotiators and policy makers in coming up with market access or policy tools that could facilitate trade in services.

Recent developments in Asia also point to travel and tourism as two of the main drivers of economic growth are seen as tools for development and change in the region. Therefore, the agenda closely covers the data collection and compilation of travel and tourism statistics. The Seminar will take advantage of the draft versions of the compilers guide for the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS) 2010 and the compilation guide for Tourism Statistics, which are both in their final stages of completion. Specific topics, which are discussed at this seminar, are enterprise and establishment surveys; surveys of persons and households; transportation statistics; manufacturing services on inputs owned by others; statistics on Foreign affiliate trade statistics (FATS), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and multi-national enterprises; and linking trade, FDI and FATS with the business register. This Seminar is hosted by Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS-Statistics Indonesia).

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

A UN DESA Statistics Division’s staff member from the  Economic Statistics Branch will visit Eurostat in Luxembourg on 14-18 October for training on compilation of short-term economic indicators including the business cycle composite indicators and rapid estimates.

Eurostat is the leading organisation in methodological development in this area and is currently preparing handbooks for compilation and reporting of internationally comparable short-term statistics. The handbooks are mandated by the UN Statistical Commission to provide guidance, best practices and harmonised principles to Member States.  Involvement in the preparation of the handbooks will enhance the technical expertise in the area of collection and compilation of short-term economic statistics.

For more information: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/

The UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) will hold a workshop on the International Arrangement on Forests (IAF) from 22-23 October in Vienna, Austria .  The meeting will facilitate a knowledge-based discussion on the future of multilateral polices and institutions related to forests.

In addition to reviewing polices and institutions related to forests, the workshop will also explore ways to elevate the profile of forests in ongoing intergovernmental consultations related to the post-2015 development agenda, as well as the sustainable development goals. Participants are expected from more than fifty countries, major groups, intergovernmental organizations and other stakeholders.

“After over 20 years of demonstrating the vital importance of forests and the many benefits they provide, the challenge now is to determine the best way forward – one that sustains both the forests and the people who depend on them,” said Jan McAlpine, Director of the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat.

The Vienna workshop is one of several key preparatory meetings taking place in the lead up for the next session of the United Nations Forum on Forests which will take place from 4 to 15 May 2015 in UNHQ, New York.  The 2015 session has an overall theme of “Forests: progress, challenges and the way forward for the international arrangement”.

The Forum is the only subsidiary body of ECOSOC with universal membership, and has a mandate to address all issues related to forests, and to promote conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests and trees outside forests.

The 2015 session of the Forum will have far-reaching impact, as Members will decide on the future of the Forum, as well as the policies for promoting sustainable management of forests worldwide. These discussions may also include an agreement on developing a legally binding global treaty on forests, as well as a global forest fund.

For more information: http://www.un.org/esa/forests/IAF-workshop.html

Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General of UN DESA will deliver, on behalf of the Secretary-General, a statement at the opening ceremony of the 21^st International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions (XXI INCOSAI), which will take place from 22 to 26 October in Beijing, China.

The International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions (INCOSAI) is a triennial congress of members of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). Chaired by the hosting Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), the congress offers INTOSAI Members an opportunity to share experience, discuss priority issues, and adopt resolutions and recommendations to improve government auditing and accountability worldwide. At the invitation of the National Audit Office of China, Mr Wu will also address the theme of National Audit and National Governance at a plenary session of the event.

The United Nations has been working with INTOSAI members for more that forty years to support capacity development in external auditing, through promoting professionalization and standard setting, particularly in developing countries. Every two years, DESA co-organizes a UN/INTOSAI capacity building seminar for SAIs of developing countries. Most recently, DESA co-organized a panel on Safegarding Financing for Sustainable Development with the Permanent Mission of Austria where the Secretary-General of INTOSAI made a key presentation.

The XXI INCOSAI will also provide the opportunity to launch a joint publication “A UN-INTOSAI Joint Project: Collection of Important Literature on Strengthening Capacities of Supreme Audit Institutions on the Fight against Corruption” which is an outcome of the Platform of Cooperation between INTOSAI and the UN, an initiative which is chaired by the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea.

The DESA Statistics Division (UNSD) together with the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA) is organizing a Training Workshop on Environment and Energy Statistics for Arab Countries from 8 to 12 September in Amman, Jordan.

This workshop, which is envisaged as first in a series of workshops on environment and energy statistics, will review the basic concepts, methods and international recommendations on environment and energy statistics as well as the main interrelationships between the two areas. It will also provide a forum for sharing country experiences and will identify priority areas for the region for the subsequent training workshops.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/energy/meetings/Jordan2013.htm

A regional workshop on Data Dissemination and Communication will take place in Amman, Jordan, from 9 to 12 September. The Workshop will review emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of data.

The Workshop is part of a global series of workshops on data dissemination and communication, organized as part of a United Nations Development Account project. The purpose of the overall project is to provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination of statistical data and metadata. The Workshop is expected to provide a basis for assessing existing national dissemination strategies as well as technologies used by National Statistical Offices. It will also aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of users. Furthermore, the Workshop is expected to help identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and communication of data. The ideas generated by the discussion and the recommendations made by participants during all workshops will contribute towards the drafting of a technical report and/or the creation of a knowledge base on the UNSD website, dedicated to the topic of effective dissemination of data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Dissemination/workshops/Jordan/default.html

The UN Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) organized its first Summer School on Sustainability Transition Policies and Practices, from 22 July to 2 August at the Yonsei University International campus, Republic of Korea.

The Summer School was designed on the backdrop of 25 years of impressive global efforts for transitions towards sustainable development. Such efforts have included the building of sustainable development (SD) knowledge and capacity for policy-makers in governments.

Yet, transitions are still happening much too slowly to address overstretched planetary boundaries and multifaceted social crises. Beyond the technical knowledge and skills of economic, social and environmental sustainability, there remains a debilitating gap in understanding how technical knowledge gets, or not, deployed and scaled-up into national strategies, and implemented through concrete policies.

Studying and overcoming the reasons for policy inertia has therefore become a pressing agenda of its own. The UNOSD Summer School therefore endeavoured to confront this gap by providing the evidence and skills for a more effective and accelerated implementation of sustainability policies through best practices.

Sustainability experts from the Stockholm Environment Institute, the University of Utah, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations University, the Korean Environment Institute, the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, as well as from UN-DESA and UNOSD taught the course.

For more information please visit the UNOSD website or its Summer School pages.

Seminars on Developing Programmes for the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) and Supporting Statistics and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 (2012 SEEA) and Supporting Statistics in the Pacific region will be held in Apia, Samoa, from 20 – 23 August.

The seminars are organized by DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Samoa Bureau of Statistics, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre, and Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

The 2008 SNA seminar is organised to assist participating Pacific countries with initiating the formulation of a national strategy and implementation programme for the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) and supporting socio-economic statistics with the objective of strengthening the national statistical system in support of improved policy making. It is expected that this initiative will lead to a multi-year statistical programme helping countries to change over to the 2008 SNA with a view to producing timely comparable national accounts statistics and short-term economic indicators which fully meets the user needs as well as complies with the international standards.

The objective of the SEEA seminar is to assist Pacific countries with developing an implementation strategy for the SEEA Central Framework on the basis of policy priorities and statistical development as well as to develop a sub-regional implementation strategy. It is expected that this initiative will lead to a multi-year statistical programme assisting  countries to assist in the adoption of the SEEA 2012 Central Framework with a view to producing timely comparable economic and environmental statistics based on selected environmental-economic accounts  and environmental-economic indicators which fully meets the user needs as well as complies with the international standards.

The seminars brings together senior managers from national statistical offices and senior representatives from government agencies using economic and environmental information for policy setting from countries in the Pacific region to discuss the development of an regional and national implementation strategy for the 2008 SNA and the SEEA 2012 Central Framework. The aim is also to share experiences among countries in the region and facilitate cooperation amongst the neighbouring countries as well as north-south and triangular cooperation in support of the SNA and SEEA implementation strategy in the Pacific region.

For more information:  http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing an International Workshop on Industrial Statistics in Beijing, China, from 8-10 July, in collaboration with the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and with the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

This workshop is part of a series of events organized under the project on strengthening statistical capacity development in China and other developing countries in Asia funded by the Chinese Government. The workshop aims to enhance the capacity of National Statistical Offices of Asian countries in the area of industrial statistics. In particular, it will address specific issues in industrial statistics, focusing on the preparation and conduct of industrial surveys, sampling techniques, the list of data items and other guidelines identified in the International Recommendations for Industrial Statistics (IRIS) 2008.

For more information:  http://unstats.un.org/unsd/industry/meetings/china2013/ac271-2.asp

A Workshop on CountryData, Sharing Best Practice in the Dissemination of National Development Indicators, will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 29 July – 2 August.

This workshop will promote best practice in dissemination of development indicators, including the MDGs through country practice presentations and demonstration of key tools in dissemination, metadata management, exchange (especially through the SDMX standard), communication and promotion of these indicators. This workshop builds on previous workshops conducted in the region and internationally in the area of national development indicators and incorporates the second in a series of four international workshops planned as part of the UNSD-DFID Project on “Improving the collation, availability and dissemination of national development indicators, including MDGs”.

For more information:: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Dissemination/workshops/countrydata2/default.html

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing a Regional Workshop on Data Dissemination and Communication on 5-7 June in Rio de Janeiro

The Workshop is part of a global series of workshops on data dissemination and communication, organized as part of a United Nations Development Account project. The purpose of the overall project is to provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination of statistical data and metadata. The Workshop will review emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of data.

The Workshop is expected to provide a basis for assessing existing national dissemination strategies as well as technologies used by National Statistical Offices. It will also aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of users. Furthermore, the Workshop is expected to help in identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and communication of data. The ideas generated by the discussion and the recommendations made by participants during all workshops will contribute towards the drafting of a technical report and/or the creation of a knowledge base on the UNSD website dedicated to the topic of effective dissemination of data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Dissemination/workshops/Rio/default.html

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing an Expert Group meeting on International Statistical Classifications on 13-15 May in New York

The objective of the meeting is to agree on priorities and work arrangements for international classifications work over the next years.

It also aims to further the work on the implementation of recently revised classifications in the International Family of Statistical Classifications, such as the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) and the Central Product Classification (CPC), to review classifications currently under development and consider other issues relevant to the application and use of international standard classifications.

For more information:
Calendar of Events of DESA’s Statistics Division

Expanding the coordination and resources for the implementation of the System of National Accounts will be in focus for a meeting on 28-29 May in Luxembourg

Despite some progress in a number of countries, many developing countries are still a long way from actually adjusting their supporting collections of economic statistics for implementing the System of National Accounts (SNA).

The forty-fourth session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) requested DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Inter-secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA), supporting countries and other regional organisations, to scale up coordination, advocacy and resources for the implementation of the SNA and supporting statistics at the national level where required.

This seminar, which brings together the ISWGNA, the Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts (AEG) and representative from a number of countries with less developed statistical systems, aims to develop proposals for scaling up the effectiveness of the coordination and funding for the implementation of the SNA for consideration by the ISWGNA and to discuss practical issues related to the topics to be discussed by the AEG. 

For more information:
Calendar of Events of DESA’s Statistics Division

Technical meeting on “Tax treaty administration and negotiation” will be held on 30–31 May at UN Headquarters in New York 

DESA’s Financing for Development Office (FfDO) and the International Tax Compact (ITC) are jointly organizing this meeting held within the context of a capacity development project, undertaken jointly by the two organizations, aimed at strengthening the capacity of Ministries of Finance, National Tax Authorities, and other competent authorities in developing countries to effectively identify and assess their needs in the area of double tax treaty negotiation and administration. 

The purpose of the New York meeting is to present, discuss and revise a series of draft papers on selected issues in administration and negotiation of tax treaties, which are being prepared by experts. These papers are to address the actual skills gaps and challenges faced by developing countries in administering and negotiating their tax treaties, which were identified during a meeting held in Rome on 28-29 January 2013, with the participation of 25 national experts from developing countries.

Following the meeting, the papers on administration of tax treaties will be revised and will comprise the UN Handbook on Selected Issues in Administration of Double Tax Treaties for Developing Countries. Participants in this meeting are also invited to participate in the Special meeting of ECOSOC on international cooperation in tax matters on 29 May.

For more information:
Technical meeting on “Tax treaty administration and negotiation”

Workshop on improving the integration of a gender perspective into official statistics will be arranged in Chiba, Japan on 16-19 April

DESA’s Statistics Division and the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) are organizing jointly a capacity building workshop on gender statistics, in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Government of Japan.

The purpose of the workshop is to train national statisticians on the production and use of gender statistics, as well as discuss the newly developed UN manual: Manual for Integrating a Gender Perspective into Statistics.

For more information:
Calendar of events of DESA’s Statistics Division

Conference on Assessment of 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses in Africa will take place in Pretoria, South Africa, on 29 April – 1 May

The event will be organized by DESA’s Statistics Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank, African Union Commission and UNFPA.

The Conference will aim at taking stock of the population and housing censuses in Africa in the period 2005-2014 and provide a regional input for a global assessment of the census round.

For more information:
Calendar of events of DESA’s Statistics Division

DPADM convened an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) titled “Transfer and adaptation of innovative practices for improved public service delivery in Least Developed Countries (LDCs)”, from 25 to 26 February in New York

Experts discussed the implementation strategy for a new project launched by DPADM in early 2013 that aims to build the capacity of the public sector in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) so as to deliver quality services equitably through the transfer and adaptation of innovative public administration practices.

The experts recommended that DESA and its implementing United Nations partners, namely, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), implement the project by using a collaborative governance approach.

This approach proposes to involve actors from the government, private and civil sectors of LDCs that will be benefiting from the project while prioritizing those innovations in public service delivery that are best suited to assist the recipient LDCs to achieve the MDG targets. 

They further recommended that, in identifying relevant innovations, specific attention should be paid to simplicity, cost effectiveness and sustainability of recommended innovations, as well as those innovations that have enhanced potential to employ local human capital and encourage ownership on the part of the local counterparts.

For more information:

EGM “Transfer and Adaptation of Innovative Practices for Improved Public Service Delivery in LDCs”

Expert consultation on knowledge and capacity needs for sustainable development in the post-Rio+20 era will be organized on 6-8 March in Incheon, Republic of Korea

Over the past decades, there have been a number of initiatives aiming at providing knowledge and capacity building in the field of sustainable development. Following the Rio+20 Conference, several platforms, programmes, and training initiatives were launched, quickly making it challenging to determine who does what, and how.

Arranged by the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) in Incheon, the consultation aims to address this challenge, among others. It will bring together senior policy-making experts representing governments and a broad spectrum of organizations to develop a framework for action that meets the knowledge and capacity needs of the post-Rio+20 era.

The Consultation is preceded by UNOSD’s second Steering Committee meeting, which will be held on 5 March. The Committee will review the progress made and discuss activities to be carried out during 2013.

For more information:
United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)

Seminar on Population and Housing Census Practices of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) Member Countries will be held on 6-8 March in Ankara, Turkey

As part of its programme on the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme, DESA’s Statistics Division will participate in and contribute to the Seminar on Population and Housing Census Practices of the OIC Member Countries.

The objective of the Seminar is to discuss lessons learnt and share national experiences in innovations and best practices in census taking for the 2010 round in the Member States of the OIC. It will also provide a discussion forum for the countries on the likely future of their censuses for the 2020 round and on ways to enhance future cooperation among the Member States in census taking.

For more information:
2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme

Four regional consultations have been scheduled on the 2013 theme of the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), putting a spotlight on “Science, technology and innovation (STI) and culture for sustainable development and the MDGs”

DESA’s Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (OESC), in collaboration with relevant UN Regional Commissions and UN agencies have planned four regional Annual Ministerial Review consultations to take place in Africa, West Asia, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and Europe.

Regional meetings are key preparatory activities leading to the ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review (AMR). They focus on a topic related to the AMR theme that is of particular relevance to the region hosting the consultations and facilitate: a) exchange of views among different stakeholders; b) review of regional progress and challenges; c) sharing of good practices; d) generation of action-oriented recommendations; and e) identification of regional perspectives to be reflected in the AMR.

The schedule has been outlined as follows:

• West Asia: “Science, technology and innovation for sustainable development”, (Amman, 26 November, 2012). The meeting was hosted by the Government of Jordan in cooperation with UNESCWA, UNDESA, and UNESCO. Mr. Navid Hanif, Director of the Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination delivered a statement on behalf of the ECOSOC President.
  For more information: Regional Preparatory Meeting for Western Asia on “Science, technology and innovation for sustainable development”, 26 November 2012, Amman
  
• Latin America: “Science and technology for development” (Lima, Peru, 9 January 2013). The meeting was organized by DESA in cooperation with UNCTAD and was held in the context of the CSTD meeting organized by UNCTAD. Mr. Neil Pierre, Chief of the Policy Coordination Branch/OESC participated on behalf of DESA.
• Asia and the Pacific: “Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for Promoting Renewable Energy Technologies” (Bangkok, 13 March, 2013). The event will be hosted by the Government of Thailand in cooperation with ESCAP and DESA and held in conjunction with ESCAP preparatory meeting for the Asia and Pacific Energy Forum (14-15 March). It will provide a direct contribution to the meeting of the High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda on “means of implementation and global partnership” to be held in Bali, on 26 March. Mr.Thomas Stelzer, ASG for for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in DESA, will represent the department. A pre-recorded message from the President of the ECOSOC will open the meeting.
  For more information: Regional Preparatory Meeting for Asia and Pacific on “Science, technology and innovation for promoting renewable energy technologies for sustainable development”, 13 March 2013, Bangkok
  
• Africa: “Innovation for sustainable development” (Dar es Salaam, 14 March, 2013). The meeting will be organized by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with DESA and the Government of Tanzania, which will host the meeting. H.E. Mr. Néstor Osorio, the President of ECOSOC will participate. Mr. Wu Hongbo, DESA’s Under-Secretary-General and Mr. Navid Hanif, Director OESC/DESA, will represent the department.
  For more information: Regional Preparatory Meeting for Africa on “Innovation for Sustainable Development”, 14 March, 2013, Dar es Salaam

For more information:

2013 Regional Meetings on ECOSOC AMR

Workshop on International Statistical Classifications will be held in Kishinev, Moldova, on 19-21 March

DESA’s Statistics Division in cooperation with the Statistics Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) is organizing a Workshop on International Statistical Classifications.

Arranged primarily for CIS member countries, the Workshop will focus on the implementation of the recently revised activity and product classifications and will in particular review the current implementation and use of national activity and product classifications and their relationship to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC) and the Central Product Classification (CPC) in the region.

It will also provide information on methodological changes related to the application of the classification, such as outlined in the revised introductions and address implementation issues in connection with the revised classifications.

The workshop will address country experiences and case studies and discuss measures to facilitate cooperation in the field of classifications, including coordination of work on regional/sub regional cooperation in classifications.

For more information:
Workshop on International Statistical Classifications

The Second High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) will take place in Doha, Qatar on 4-6 February

The event will be convened at the Qatar National Convention Centre by the Secretariat of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), in collaboration with the Government of Qatar.

It will bring together government representatives from UN Member States as well as interested stakeholders from non-governmental organizations, academia and the private sector to address and discuss critical and cutting-edge issues on global geospatial information management. The Forum also seeks to promote greater usage of growing sources of geospatial information and best practices.

Preceded by An ‘Exchange Forum with the Geospatial Industry’ on Sunday, 3 February, the High Level Forum starts on Monday, 4 February, with an Opening Ceremony and Ministerial Segment, followed by five technical sessions over the next three days.

Bringing all stakeholders together, the Forum will address current critical matters such as: the importance of and drivers for building a sustainable national geospatial information system; future trends in geospatial information, including growing the information base and promoting its greater use; developing an effective global geodetic reference framework and leveraging location-based services; geospatial information and sustainable development (Rio+20); and challenges in developing core global reference datasets. Each of the sessions will consist of a keynote presentation, panel presentations and discussion with the audience.

For more information:
United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management

The 22nd and 23rd Meetings of Inter-agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators (IAEG-MDGs) will be organized back to back on 20 and 21 February in New York

During the meetings, the outcomes of the debates on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly as well as those of the Rio+20 Conference, will be reviewed.

Participants will also discuss how to prepare the 2013 global MDG report and the work towards the final evaluation of the MDGs in 2015. The meeting will be preceded by a half-day meeting by the Task Team on Lessons Learned from MDG Monitoring on 19 February.

For more information:
Calendar of Events of DESA’s Statistics Division

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

An International Workshop on Population Projections using Census Data will be arranged on 14-16 January in Beijing, China

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with China National Bureau of Statistics, is organizing the workshop with the aim to strengthen the technical capacity of National Statistical Offices of Asian countries to generate national population projections from census data.

Twelve Asian countries are invited to participate and the event will cover topics including assessing quality of census data; determining appropriate levels of fertility, mortality and migration; and techniques on making national population projections.

The International Workshop will be followed by a National workshop on 17-18 January, to be attended by representatives from provincial-level statistics offices in China and with a focus on techniques for making sub-national and sectoral population projections.

For more information:
Calendar of Events of the Statistics Division

Seminar on developing a programme for the implementation of the 2008 SNA and supporting statistics in the Caribbean region will be held in Kingston, Jamaica, on 30 January – 1 February

The event is organized by DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The goal is to assist participating Caribbean countries with initiating the formulation of a national strategy and implementation programme for the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) and supporting socio-economic statistics with the objective of strengthening the national statistical system in support of improved policy making.

It is expected that this initiative will lead to a multi-year statistical programme helping countries to change over to the 2008 SNA with a view to producing timely comparable national accounts statistics and short-term economic indicators which fully meets the user needs as well as complies with the international standards.

For more information:
Calendar of Events of the Statistics Division

Workshop for sub-Saharan African countries on Integrating a Gender Perspective into Statistics will take place in Kampala, Uganda on 4-7 December

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), is organizing a capacity building workshop for sub-Saharan African countries on Integrating a Gender Perspective into Statistics.

The purpose of the workshop is to present the newly developed Manual for Integrating a Gender Perspective into Statisticsand train national statisticians on the production and use of gender statistics.

For more information:
Calendar of Events of the Statistics Division

Capacity development workshop on citizen engagement and the post-2015 development agenda in the Arab Region will be held on 5-6 December in Beirut, Lebanon

Senior government officials and civil society representatives from the Arab region will discuss the intrinsic and instrumental benefits of engaging citizens in setting and delivering the national development agenda, beyond 2015. They will do so at a workshop organized by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), following up to the requests for further work on participatory governance, received during a seminar in Rabat, Morocco in October 2011, also organized by DESA with ESCWA.

In Beirut, around 30 delegates from 14 countries are expected to discuss how governments can foster more public participation and social inclusion in the region, in the transition after the 2011 uprisings. Workshop plenary and group sessions are designed to allow for an enriching exchange of views in anticipation of national consultations on setting the global, regional and national post-2015 development agendas. 

Participants will discuss the specific conditions that their countries are facing, taking into account the characteristics of gradual or more rapid transition, particularly in relation to public participation in development management and public policy setting. They will also make recommendations on how best to assess their public institutional capacities to provide information to and consult with the public and involve citizens in decision-making.  

An important focus of the workshop will be the presentation of a draft Citizen Engagement Self-Assessment Questionnaire, designed to assist governments in carrying out this assessment, for discussion and pilot. Other expected outcomes include a summary of deliberations and enhanced knowledge on the part of the participants on workshop topics. 

For more information:
DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)

UN Regional Workshop on Statistics of International Trade in Services will be held on 11-14 December in Bogota, Colombia

In 2010, the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS 2010) and requested the international community to make extra efforts in providing capacity building activities to developing countries. In this context DESA’s Statistics Division will organize a training workshop on compilation issues of MSITS 2010 for Latin American countries. The workshop is organized jointly with the national statistical office of Colombia and with support from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The agenda of the workshop will cover topics such as the general framework of MSITS 2010, the main data collection and data processing issues with special attention to enterprise surveys and the use of ITRS, the compilation issues related to measuring Travel services and Tourism-related international trade in services, the compilation of foreign affiliates statistics and some cross-cutting issues such as quality management, meta-data and the use of information technology.

For more information:
Calendar of Events of the Statistics Division

At a training workshop of the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) Partners and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Member States took place in Cape Town, South Africa, 10-12 October 2012

Ms. Haiyan Qian, Director of DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), delivered welcome remarks and a substantive presentation on “What is Open Data and Open Government Data Around the World” through pre-recorded video messages.

Participants agreed that : i) an enabling environment is fundamental to the effective implementation and sustainability of Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives and that the initiatives have to start at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom; (ii) creating open processes for design and implementation of OGD initiatives is equally important; (iii) political, legal, organizational, technical, economic and social dimensions should be carefully considered while developing benchmarking frameworks to measure open data progress in countries; (iv) records are fundamental to the effective implementation and sustainability of open government data initiatives in order to provide verifiable, quality sources of information; (v) more research is needed to measure the impact of open government data initiatives.

Participants also discussed the future of UNPAN, focusing on what the network needs to do differently to stay current and relevant to policy makers, experts and practitioners, particularly in view of deliberations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda which are underway. They also discussed the issues surrounding open government data and reviewed the draft open government data toolkit currently under development by DPADM.

Strong interest was registered by Member States, particularly from Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, and Zambia, to contribute to a global open data portal in the event that the platform is offered by DPADM. Introduction of the Open Government Data Toolkit was found very useful and timely not only by Member States but also by the regional organizations present in the Workshop.

The workshop was organized by DPADM in cooperation with the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) of the Ministry for Public Service and Administration of the Republic of South Africa.

More information:
DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)

Expert Group Meeting on the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics will be held on 5-7 November in New York

The United Nations Statistical Commission, at its 41st session, endorsed a work programme and the establishment of an Expert Group for the revision of the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES). After two years of intensive work the revised Framework, including a Core Set of Environment Statistics, has been submitted for pilot testing and global consultation. 

The revised FDES is a multipurpose conceptual and statistical framework that is comprehensive and integrative in nature. It provides an organizing structure to guide the collection and compilation of environment statistics and to synthesize data from various subject areas and sources. It is broad and holistic in nature, covering the issues and aspects of the environment that are relevant for analysis, policy and decision making.

The revised FDES together with a plan for its implementation, is expected to be submitted to the forty fourth session of the Statistical Commission for approval in February 2013. DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing this meeting to discuss the outcome of the pilot testing and the global consultation and develop a plan how to move the implementation of the FDES forward.

For more information:
DESA’s Statistics Division

Workshop on Next Stage in Open Government Data: Using Data for Transparency, Accountability and Collaboration will be organized in Cape Town, South Africa on 10-12 October

The workshop is arranged by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) and co-organized with the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) of the South African Ministry of Public Administration in conjunction with the annual United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN)-Southern African Development Community (SADC) Partners Meeting of CPSI. Taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, the workshop will focus on “Next Stage in Open Government Data: Using Data for Transparency, Accountability and Collaboration”. 

Open government data (OGD) is strongly linked with DPADM’s work areas as it is an online service by governments (electronic and mobile government) and an important initiative to strengthen participatory governance, which allows citizens to monitor data streams and thereby monitor the government (transparency, corruption). It also allows citizens to be aware of important issues and to be part of the decision-making process to address policy issues (citizen engagement, e-participation).

Aware of the emerging trends in the area of open data and challenges in legal, institutional and technical frameworks, DPADM is in the process of developing a toolkit on OGD which serves as an entry point for those UN Member States who plan to share data with their constituents. The toolkit includes strategies for opening government data, templates that governments can customize for their own needs, technologies for opening data, recommendations about the data hosting applications and platforms. In summary, step by step instructions for public officials interested in sharing government data online. 

During the workshop, participants, mostly from developing countries and particularly from Africa, will be trained not only on how to utilize technologies to publish their datasets, but also on the next steps after publishing government data to ensure that the effort in publishing data leads to its effective usage. Most inspiring examples from leading countries will be shared with the participants. Since the majority of the countries have inadequate resources to implement systems for publishing data, emphasis will be given to free or low-cost technology solutions for publishing government data.  

Approximately 60 participants are expected. Participants include Government and public administration officials, including a knowledge management coordinator from each of the SADC countries, key citizens’ e/m-government experts from academia and research institution, civil society and private sector representatives, officials from DPADM Partner Organizations, as well as staff from the United Nations system. 

For more information: 
United Nations Public Administration Network

Workshop on the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 for member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organisation, will be held in Tehran, Iran, on 14-17 October

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing a workshop on the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for member countries of the ECO in collaboration with the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and hosted by the Statistical Centre of Iran.

The purpose of the workshop is to initiate the formulation of an implementation plan for the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics in the ECO member countries with the objective of developing comparable economic statistics for monitoring the integration of their economies.

It is expected that this initiative would allow countries to set up priorities for the implementation of the 2008 SNA and improve the quality and the scope of existing economic statistics. It should also help international organizations and other donors supporting capacity building activities in the region to get information on the most urgent needs of countries and better coordinate their efforts.

For more information:

DESA’s Statistics Division

A redesigned version of the Support Measures Portal for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) will become available on 17 October

The Portal compiles and catalogues in one single place, information about LDC-specific international support measures. As the single source of information, the Portal can assist the LDCs to improve their understanding of what LDC-specific support measures are, who their main “suppliers” are, and what is needed to access these resources.

Users will have access to information about international support measures from the donor community (including bilateral donors and multilateral organizations) as well as from the special treatment accorded to LDCs by certain multilateral and regional trade agreements. The major support measures extended to countries with LDC status vary among development partners and relate primarily to trade preferences and the volume of official development assistance.

The measures fall into three main areas: international trade; official development assistance, and other forms of assistance. By facilitating the utilization of the support measures, the Portal’s aim is to assist LDCs to meet the targets established in Istanbul and contribute to enable half of the LDCs to meet the criteria for graduation by 2020.

The Support Measures Portal for LDCs will be avialable at: www.un.org/ldcportal

For more information:
DESA’s Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD)

E-mail address to the DPAD/CDP Secretariat – ldcportal@un.org

DESA’s Statistics Division will conduct a Regional Workshop on Population Projections for English Speaking African Countries in Pretoria, South Africa, on 29 October-2 November

The purpose of the workshop, held within the framework of the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses, is to provide training to statisticians from national statistical authorities in Africa in producing projections of population based on census results.

The 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses was approved by the Statistical Commission at its 36th session and adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The programme recognizes population and housing censuses as one of the main sources of data for effective development planning and objective decision- making. In addition, the data are useful for monitoring population trends and programmes, as well as for evaluating policies. The 2010 World Programme is primarily aimed at ensuring that each Member State conducts a population and housing census at least once in the period from 2005 to 2014 and disseminates the results.

For more information:

Calendar of Events of DESA’s Statistics Division

The 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses

Since the beginning of 2012, DPAD has held workshops for government officials in a number of developing countries, offering practical training on the use of advanced tools for policymaking

DESA’s Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) continues its series of capacity development activities, as part of the project “Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling”. The objective of the project is to institutionalise the use of an integrated macro-micro modelling framework to help policymakers formulate strategies to mitigate external shocks and put their countries on track to achieve the MDGs by 2015.  

To achieve this, DPAD is conducting workshops in a number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The workshops provide extensive training in economy-wide modelling and microsimulation tools that support policy analysis and scenario analysis. The activities are divided into: i) inception workshops, where the modelling tools are described, real-time simulations are conducted to demonstrate how these tools produce results and their analysis, and the schedule of activities is agreed on; ii) intensive training workshops, where participants get hands-on experience to simulate scenarios using their country’s dataset and policy proposals; and iii) concluding workshops, where the trainees present policy notes.

DPAD provides the software tools (including user friendly interface solutions), background materials, training, and continuous guidance throughout the rigorous training process. The workshops culminate in the presentation of detailed policy notes to high level government officials, presenting policy alternatives and expected outcomes in relation to the MDGs and other national objectives.

Each of the workshops is jointly organized with local UNDP offices and the respective government counterparts. DPAD training activities are “demand-driven”, in that the project responds to requests by governments for this support. This helps ensure stakeholder commitment.

For more information:

Read more about the project “Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling”

Read more about the workshops (agenda, presentations, and participants) by clicking on the Activities tab of the previous link.

Read more about DESA/DPAD Capacity Development and Advisory Services

An expert group meeting on “Harnessing the Cooperative Advantage to Build a Better World” will be organized in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 4-6 September

Also including a capacity-building workshop, this event will provide a forum for examining the distinct ways in which the cooperative model promotes individual and collective self-help, contributes to socio-economic development, and strengthens communities around the world.

It will bring together cooperatives, researchers, NGOs, Government representatives, donors and international organizations,and allow participants to share experiences and develop strategies for engaging with, and advancing, the cooperative movement. Led by DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD), the event is one of the official United Nations activities for the International Year of Cooperatives.

For more information:

International Year of Cooperatives 2012

A workshop on population projections for French speaking African countries will be arranged in Rabat, Morocco, on 10-14 September

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing the workshop in collaboration with the Direction de la Statistique, Haut Commissariat au Plan du Maroc. It is held in the context of the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses with the objectives to strengthen the technical capacity of the participating countries to generate population projections at different geographical levels and sectors. In so doing, the workshop also aims to draw participants’ attention to the necessary preparatory work before undertaking the population projections.

These includes detecting and correcting errors in the base data, making assumptions about future trends in demographic parameters, and the choice of method to use to project the population, how far into the future to project the population, and for what level of geography it is feasible to generate the projections. 

The workshop will also provide the forum to discuss national practices and to exchange experiences and lessons learned among the participating countries. The attendees will also learn about available software packages for generating population projections. 

For more information:
2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme

A workshop on “Leadership Capacity-Development for Improved Delivery of Public Services in Africa using Information and Communication Technologies” was held in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, on 23-25 July

The workshop was organized by the e-Government Branch and Public Administration Capacity Branch of DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM).

At the African Ministerial Workshop on 24 July, Namibia’s Deputy Prime Minister expressed interest in collaborating with DPADM/ DESA, through the United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG) on e-government related issues. Additionally, the Seychelles, which ranked first in e-government development in the African region, requested UNPOG’s technical advice and support from the Korean Government in exploring relevant public and private institutions as well as applicable technologies.

These were the results of presentations made on “Enhanced Public Service Delivery Using ICT” and “Leadership in E-Government Development” by DPADM’s affiliate, UNPOG, as part of the workshop.

For more information:

DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)

A skills development activity for parliamentary libraries of the Arab region will take place in Helsinki at the Parliament of Finland on 8-10 August

The Division of Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments and the Parliament of Finland are co-organizing this event.

The Skills Development Activity envisages the participation of Heads of Parliamentary Libraries in the one-day workshop “Strategic Management of ICT in Parliamentary Libraries” on 8 August and the participation in the Annual Conference of the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments on 9 and 10 August.

The one-day workshop will focus on the use of new technologies to provide more effective information services to the parliament and the public, and on the creation, management and preservation of digital collections in parliamentary libraries. It will also provide an opportunity for parliamentary libraries of the Arab region to discuss common tools to be developed within the Arab Parliamentary Libraries Network. The Annual Conference of the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments will pay special attention to innovation in research services that support members of parliament, and innovation in library and information services for citizens.

During these events, the Handbook “Information and Communication Technologies in Parliamentary Library”, prepared by the Global centre for ICT in Parliament and published by the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) will be launched and distributed to participants.

For more information:

Global Centre for ICT in Parliament

The Library of Parliament in Finland

A workshop on “MDG Monitoring: to 2015 and beyond” will be arranged in Bangkok, Thailand, on 9-13 July

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing the workshop in collaboration with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

The event will bring together representatives from national statistical offices, line ministries and international agencies to review recommendations for calculating MDG indicators, reporting MDG data and establishing strategies for dealing with data discrepancies between national and international MDG figures, particularly for hunger, child, maternal and reproductive health indicators.

The workshop will also be an opportunity to review lessons learnt from monitoring the MDGs in view of the preparation of the post-2015 development agenda and the related new monitoring framework.

For more information:
DESA’s Statistics Division

An IT training workshop for key participants from the Morocco National Statistics Office (NSO) will take place in New York on 11-18 July

The workshop is organized by DESA’s Statistics Division (UNSD) as part of the UNSD-DFID Project on Improving the Availability, Collation and Dissemination of National Development Indicators.

The training will cover eXtensible Markup Language (XML), eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) and Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX), a cutting edge technology to facilitate data exchange and dissemination. The tools will help the Morocco NSO in automating their processes for producing statistical publications and in sharing data in a more automated, standardized way.

For more information:
DESA’s Statistics Division

An international capacity building workshop entitled “Future Government: A Global Perspective in Connection to Open Government Data and Citizen Engagement” was arranged in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16-17 May

The workshop was arranged by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), in cooperation with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), during the 2012 annual follow-up meetings of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

The workshop had around 55 participants including high-level officials including the Acting Minister of the Ministry of State for Administration Development from Egypt, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information Communication Technologies from Iran and Commissioner of the Regulation and Communication Body of the Republic of Colombia as well as academia, NGOs, private sector and international organizations including UNDP, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and regional UN commissions of UN-ESCWA and UN-ECLAC.

Key outcomes of the Workshop are: (i) formation of a voluntary taskforce to contribute to the implementation of the Toolkit for Open Government Data and Citizen Engagement; (ii) detailed recommendations to the DPADM on methodology to benchmark Open Data and Citizen Engagement in the UN E-Government Survey which will be detailed in the Workshop Report; (iii) identification of e-participation in the era of new media as the theme for 2013; (iv) detailed feedback on the Toolkit especially inclusion of Civil Society before opening any government data.

For more information:
DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)

‘CensusInfo’ is a central theme of UN DESA’s Statistics Division’s upcoming National Workshop from 25-29 June held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

CensusInfo is a platform for disseminating census data at various geographical levels. The workshop organized jointly by UN DESA’s Statistics Division (UNSD) and the Cambodian National Institute of Statistics, will develop the national CensusInfo application with accompanying databases and customized features.

Fifteen professionals from the NIS will take part in the workshop which constitutes just one part of a broader series of national training workshops developed by UNSD. The workshop series is intended to build capacity and to put in place national CensusInfo applications for dissemination of population and housing census statistics using new technologies.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm#25-29June2012

From 20-22 June, the Philippines will host a workshop dedicated to data dissemination and communication.

The workshop, part of a global series on the topic, has been organized under the broader umbrella of United Nations Development Account projects. This 3-days event will include discussions surrounding emerging trends overall, emerging trends in data exchange and data hubbing, strategies for web-based data dissemination, integrating statistical and geospatial information, the challenges associated with promoting data dissemination and lastly, emerging user needs and requirements.

The workshop will provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences, provide a basis for assessing existing strategies and technologies used by national statistical offices and review innovative approaches and technological tools used to disseminate data.

Best practice shared through the course of the workshop, alongside ideas and recommendations generated through discussions will contribute towards the drafting of a technical report and/or the creation of a knowledge base on the United Nations Statistics Division’s website.

For more information:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Dissemination/workshops/Dissemination_Philippines_w1/default.html

A Regional Seminar on International Trade Statistics, will take place 12-14 June 2012 in Amman, Jordan.

International statistical comparisons depend heavily upon a solid foundation of reliable, high-quality, trades statistics. The upcoming Seminar provides an important opportunity to share best practices and build the capacity of national statistical systems in Arab countries.

The regional seminar, a close collaboration between UN DESA’s Statistics Division (UNSD), the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Department of Statistics of Jordan, the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) and the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), will feature an opening statement and a roundtable discussion on future developments of international trade statistics. 

It is expected the seminar will focus on the compilation of statistics surrounding international trade in services, and on linking trade and enterprise statistics in view of an increasing globalization of production of goods and services.

Lessons learned from the regional workshop on international trade in services statistics held in January 2011 will also be discussed alongside quality assurance and institutional arrangements and dissemination of statistics. For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

On 27 April, the UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) had a presentation on Singapore’s e-government.

A presentation on Singapore’s e-government and e-governance strategy for the development highlighted Singapore’s new coordination structure among government agencies in order to promote the whole of government approach and the citizen centric service delivery. This presentation was made by the Government Chief Information Office (GCIO) of Singapore and his delegation of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).  The participants learned how government engages other stakeholders including private sector, civil society and citizens at large for better coordination for the seamless services to meet citizen’s needs most effectively. 

Singapore ranked 10^th in the e-government development index of the United Nations E-Government Survey 2012, and 2nd in e-participation index.

The Second Workshop on ICT Strategic Planning in the SADC Parliaments will be held from 14 to 16 May 2012 in Windhoek, Namibia.  

The purpose of the second Workshop is to provide a forum for parliaments to discuss how the UN DESA Project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in the SADC Parliaments”, funded by the European Commission, through the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, lead to any particular achievements, challenges and all other related experiences obtained during their respective ICT strategic planning process.  The Workshop will also allow participants to jointly identify needs and promote opportunities going forward for the greater use of ICT in SADC Parliaments while also solidifying an ongoing and supportive community of practice. 

The Workshop will be attended by key decision makers in the SADC Parliaments such as Members of Parliament, Secretaries General and ICT Directors. It is jointly organised by UN DESA, through the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), its Global Centre for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Parliament, and the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF).

For more information:  http://www.ictparliament.org/node/4647

A workshop on “Future Government: A Global Perspective in Connection to Open Government and Citizen engagement”, will take place in Geneva on 16-17 May 2012.

This international workshop will serve as an enabling platform of WSIS, for an international and multidisciplinary (public officials, academia, civil society and private sector stakeholders) group of experts, and national practitioners, to share their experiences and exchange practices on open government data and citizen engagement.

The Workshop has the following objectives:

• Strengthen the participants’ capacity in policy and program formulation, implementation and evaluation of open government data initiatives;
• Understand the value created for governments, citizens, civil society, and the business community, by opening government data;
• Share open government initiatives based on experiences of early adopters and also identify challenges, especially in the area of data security and privacy;
• Accelerate participants’ learning on implementation of legislation concerning access to government data and personal data privacy;

The main output of the workshop will be an Open Government Data (OGD) Toolkit which will serve as the entry point for those UN Member States who plan to share data with their constituents. The toolkit will include strategies for opening government data, templates that governments can customize for their own needs, technologies for opening data, recommendations about the data hosting applications and platforms.

The event, organised by The Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of UN DESA, in cooperation with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), will take place during the 2012 annual follow-up meetings of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). 

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/ogdce

A Regional Workshop on CensusInfo will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, 15-18 May 2012 for nine Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region countries.

One of the major lessons from the 2000 round of population and housing censuses points to the necessity of taking full advantage of the data collected through censuses via appropriate dissemination and analysis mechanisms. Often, census results are disseminated only in a tabular format—whether in print publications or on the web—which potential data users find unappealing. Interested data users often encounter language and other data access barriers (for example, the data is restricted or only available in print form). For census data to be truly useful, it needs to be easily accessible via the Internet and access to data should be provided in an interactive manner along with tools for visualization and analysis.

The goal of the Regional Workshop is to provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination of census data as well as highlighting CensusInfo’s software potential as a platform for disseminating census data at any geographical level. The workshop will demonstrate the various processes involved in the adaptation of CensusInfo, including the preparation of CensusInfo template and database, importing data, language translation and customization of the software package. The workshop sessions will also include hands-on training on using the CensusInfo User Interface and Database Administration applications.  It is primarily intended for census experts and census data managers. This event is organized by UN DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the Agency of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/cwp2010/docs.htm

A workshop on “Collection and Dissemination of Socio-economic Data from Population and Housing Censuses” will take place in New Delhi, India, from 28 to 31 May 2012.

The purpose of this workshop, aimed for South Asian countries and organised by the UN Statistics Division is to present international standards and country practices for conducting population and housing censuses with a focus on recommended core topics and tabulations as identified in the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2.

The workshop will also offer an opportunity to discuss the use of technological tools and of GIS web-based mapping and spatial analysis in the dissemination of census data as well as of the CensusInfo software as a tool for data dissemination. Lastly, the workshop will also provide a forum for sharing of national practices and experiences regarding determination of census topics and tabulations and also strategies for dissemination of census data. 

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/cwp2010/docs.htm

A workshop on “The Impact of New Technologies in the Transformation of the Legislative Branch” will be held from 30 May to 1 June 2012, in Bridgetown, Barbados.

This regional workshop intends to serve as a forum for participants to discuss how the recently developed Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Strategic Plans can be implemented in each of the beneficiary Parliament of the UN DESA Project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in the Caribbean Parliaments”. It is entitled  “The Impact of New Technologies in the Transformation of the Legislative Branch: From Awareness, to Planning, to Action”.

This workshop also intends to provide exposure to ongoing regional developments and trends in parliamentary ICT within the context of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Programme “Connected Parliaments”. Finally, the Workshop will explore regional opportunities and identify synergies for solidifying a supportive regional community of practice aimed at continued e-Parliament learning and capacity building. 

This workshop is organized by UN DESA, through the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) and its Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD). It will convene around 75 participants from Caribbean parliaments, including presiding officers (Speakers, MPs and Clerks) and senior ICT staff, as well as senior ICT experts from other more ICT advanced parliaments. 

For more information:  http://www.ictparliament.org/node/4648

The “Super Session on Public Administration and Poverty Eradication beyond 2015” was held by UN DESA through Division of Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) .

This session was organised on 2-6 March, in cooperation with the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) Working Group on Public Administration and Poverty Eradication as part of the Annual Conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in Las Vegas, USA.

Mr. John-Mary Kauzya, Chief from DPADM made a presentation on “Public Administration and Poverty Eradication: Preventing Corruption in Public Administration through Developing Professionalism in Public Sector Institutions”.  It was the first time in its history that ASPA annual conference addressed the issue of poverty eradication and was concluded that henceforth poverty eradication will appear as a prominent topic in the ASPA Annual conferences in the future, especially in New Orleans, USA in 2013.

More information:
Super Session on Public Administration and Poverty Eradication beyond 2015

UN DESA organised the International Meeting on “Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Documents Standards”.

The meeting, held on 27-29 February in Washington D.C. through the Division of Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)’s Global Center for ICT in Parliament and the United States House of Representatives, provided an excellent opportunity to advance policy dialogue and technical exchanges among the 16 Parliaments represented to further develop cooperation to take advantage of available knowledge, tools and best practices in open documents standards. During this session, a strong convergence was highlighted between the promotion of transparency, parliamentary democracy, participation, and the use of information and communication technologies, including the use of open document standard.

This discussion showed that there is a need to identify a series of internationally-agreed criteria and benchmarks for assessing the contribution of the use of open document standards to the values of a democratic parliament: representation, transparency, accessibility, accountability and effectiveness. These benchmarks should guide parliaments in their implementation of open document standards as well as help them determine the degree of their success in advancing both their efficiency objectives and overall transparency goals.

More information:
The international meeting’s website

The Kenya Seminar on Census Data Analysis is scheduled to be held on 19-22 March in Nairobi, Kenya

The main objective of the national seminar is to provide an opportunity for the staff members of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics to further analyze data from the 2009 population and housing census of Kenya on selected topics. The ultimate objective is to promote greater analysis and dissemination of the data collected from the Kenya 2009 census. After the seminar, participants are expected to produce thematic analytical reports, based on analysis generated during the seminar.

The national seminar will cover the following topics:

• population projections at sub-national and sectoral level,
• analysis of data on international migration, and
• analysis of data on gender issues.

For more information:
2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme

International workshop on Household Income, Consumption and Full Accounting of the Households Sector will be held in Beijing, China, on 26-28 March

UN DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics of China is organizing this workshop as part of the project to strengthening statistical capacity development in China and other developing countries in Asia funded by the Chinese Government.

It will present an overview of the Households Sector as an institutional sector in National Accounts and will train participants on how to compile a full sequence of non-financial accounts for it.

Particular attention will be given to the compilation of GDP by income approach with emphasis on the income by corporations and households, adjustments for the conceptual differences between the estimates derived using the results of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey and National Accounts, and the use of extrapolation and benchmarking techniques for compilation of annual accounts for the Households Sector.

For more information:
UN DESA’s Statistics Division Calendar of Events

4th Global Forum on Gender Statistics will be held at the Dead Sea, Jordan on 27-29 March, back-to-back with the 6th Inter-agency and Expert Group Meeting on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS) on 25-26 March

The Forum is being organized by UN DESA’s Statistics Division and the Department of Statistics of Jordan, in collaboration with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN-Women and the World Bank. It is held as part of the Global Gender Statistics Programme promoted by the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS) with the purpose of enhancing the capacity of countries to collect, disseminate and use quality gender statistics.

The forum will provide an important opportunity to review and discuss new initiatives and data collection tools for the improvement of gender statistics and focus on women’s empowerment, including: economic empowerment, autonomy and physical empowerment, adolescent girls, and knowledge empowerment.

The 6th Inter-agency and Expert Group (IAEG) meeting will bring together representatives of international agencies within and outside UN system, statisticians from National Statistical Systems, and development partners, to review progress and provide guidance on future activities geared at advancing gender statistics.

For more information
UN DESA’s Statistics Division’s site on gender statistics

International Meeting on “Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Document Standards” was arranged at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. on 27-29 February

The meeting was organized by UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) and its Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the U.S. House of Representatives.

It convened Secretaries-General and staff of Parliaments, currently using Extensible Markup Language (XML) for parliamentary records with a view to: a) determine how XML has been implemented by parliaments around the world and how it is being used by them and by civil society organizations to enhance citizens’ participation; b) exchange experiences about the policy and organizational challenges faced by Parliaments’ senior management to increase transparency; c) identify current best practices and state of the art applications; d) outline projects anticipated by legislatures over the next five years and explore venues of possible collaborations and synergies to reduce costs; and e) elaborate policy and technical recommendations for the use of open document standards in parliaments.

Other invitees included legislative and legal informatics experts from a selected number of international organizations, universities, foundations and civil society organizations. Approximately 100 participants took part in the policy and technical debates during the three-day agenda.

For more information:
Event website highlighting “Achieving Greater Transparency in Legislatures through the Use of Open Document Standards”

The Government of the Republic of Moldova, through its e-Government Centre (eGC), partners with UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) to make e-learning courses available

In its endeavour to strengthen the capacity of its public service, the Government of the Republic of Moldova, through its e-Government Centre (eGC), recently requested DPADM to partner with them in making DPADM’s e-learning courses on United Nations Public Administration Network’s (UNPAN) Online Training Centre available for their use on a larger scale and in a more systematic way.

They propose to make the courses mandatory for all public servants as part of their ambitious Strategic Programme for Technological Modernization to bring services closer and more accessible to citizens and businesses and to improve quality through the intelligent use of ICT. In response to this request, DPADM is working with the government focal point to develop a concrete plan for implementation.

The UNPAN Online Training Centre delivers courses on various topics in public administration. Its main goal is to increase opportunities for government officials and citizens from all over the world to access training materials on e-government, human resources, knowledge management and the Millennium Development Goals.

For more information:
UNPAN Online Training Centre

In an ongoing series of workshops hosted by UN DESA, training will be offered to Major groups on the margins of the 12^th Governing Council Session of UNEP in Nairobi on 20-22 February

Developed for trainers, the workshops are designed to enhance awareness of the themes of sustainable development and build stakeholder capacity to engage with the intergovernmental process.  Each workshop builds on previous training and provides participants with the most current information relevant to the Rio+20 process. 

Workshops will be hosted in New York in January, March and April; in Porto Alegre, Brazil on the margins of the World Social Forum; and in São Paulo, Brazil in early February.

For more information:
http://hqweb.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=75

Haiyan Qian, the Director of UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) delivered a keynote address at the “International Seminar on e-Government Best Practices” taking place in Bogotá, Colombia on 13-14 December, 2011

Ms. Qian highlighted the importance of e-government as the foundation for holistic government operations as opposed to a technological add-on, in government relations with citizens and the private sector.

She further pointed out objective indicators and benchmarking policy tools to engage citizens as co-producers in decision-making processes leading to enhanced public service delivery. Noting Colombia’s leading position in Latin America and 9^th position worldwide in relation to having an online presence and based on the most recent UN e-Government Survey, she acknowledged the high level leadership of the government in harmonizing national development policies with their e-Government Programme.

Columbia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology organized the seminar and heard Haiyan Qian’s statements via video. DPADM’s IRA, Mr. Jonas Rabinovitch added to Haiyan Qian’s statements by elaborating on how e-government (including e-infrastructure, e-literacy and e-service) and e-governance (comprised of e-information, e-consultation and e-decision-making) can compliment each other.

For more information:
http://www.unpan.org/DPADM/Home/tabid/420/language/en-US/Default.aspx

There are no current articles featured under the Capacity development section in this issue.

Workshop on Environment Statistics will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 5-7 December for the South-East Asian countries

DESA’s Statistics Division, in cooperation with the General Statistics Office of Viet Nam, will organize the workshop within the framework of the UNDESA Development Account Project on Building Statistical Capacity in the Low Income Countries of South-East Asia.

This workshop is aimed at assisting the participating countries by providing the fundamentals of environment statistics from the global and national perspectives, while learning more closely about the environmental challenges and statistical needs from the countries; introducing the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics, the Core Set of Environment Statistics and the UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics.

The need for environment statistics and indicators, methodological developments, global data collections and international sources of environment statistics, as well as resources needed to engage in production of environment statistics will also be discussed at the workshop. 

Participating countries will include the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (host), the Kingdom of Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

For more information:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Workshop on environment statistics for the francophone Central African countries will be organized in Yaounde, Cameroon, on 5-9 December

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Economic Commission of Africa, is organizing a workshop with the main objectives to: (a) adopt a list of environmental statistics and indicators for the Central African region for national and regional reporting; (b) review methodologies for the ECOWAS regional core set of environmental indicators for use in this region; (c) develop a way forward for a draft regional programme on environment statistics; (d) train participants from national statistical offices and environmental ministries/agencies on basic concepts, methods and best practices in environment statistics; and (e) provide a forum for exchange of information on the status of national environment statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

National Workshop on CensusInfo will be organized in Kampara, Uganda, on 5-9 December

Organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), the workshop is designed to demonstrate through in-depth, hands-on experiences, the potential of CensusInfo as a platform for disseminating census data at any geographical level.

The participants of UBOS will learn various processes involved in the adaptation of CensusInfo including preparation of CensusInfo template and database, importing data, language translation and customization of the software package.

The sessions will include hands-on training on using CensusInfo User Interface and Database Administration applications as well as an introduction in the process of web-enabling the CensusInfo database. The objective of the training is to create a first version of a Uganda CensusInfo application including maps and a subset of data/indicators based on data of the 2002 census and earlier censuses if available.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Meeting will be held on compilation issues of IMTS 2010, on 6-9 December in Mexico City

DESA’s Statistics Division and INEGI (the national statistical office of Mexico) will jointly organize a meeting on compilation issues of international merchandise trade statistics.

The purpose of the meeting is to review the full draft Compilers Manual for the collection, processing and dissemination of trade statistics and to gather country experiences and good practices. Participants in this meeting will be trade statistics experts from developing and developed countries.

The meeting will cover all aspects of quality assurance of merchandise trade statistics and will discuss issues like data sources (customs administration and enterprise surveys), institutional arrangements for data exchange, integration of trade data from different sources, data processing, preparation of meta-data, dissemination of data and the calculation of external trade indices.

For more information:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

National Seminar on Census Data Analysis will take place in Monrovia, Liberia, on 12-14 December

DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) will organize a National Seminar on Census Data Analysis in the context of the 2010 World Programme for Population and Housing Censuses.

The purpose of the Seminar is to assist the LISGIS on undertaking in-depth analysis of census data to produce an analytical report on the selected topics. The national seminar will cover the following topics: (i) youth and internal migration and (ii) employment and education. During the national seminar, the staff of LISGIS will attend the lectures on the topics of focus and engage in preliminary data analyses of 2008 census data.

After the seminar, participants are expected to produce thematic analytical reports, based on analyses generated during the seminar.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Consultative Meeting on Guidelines for Producing Statistics on Violence against Women will be held in Beirut, Lebanon from 8-10 November

DESA’s Statistics Division will conduct a Consultative Meeting to Review the Guidelines for Producing Statistics on Violence against Women. The draft guidelines provide comprehensive methodological guidance regarding the selection of core and additional topics, sources of data, relevant statistical classifications, outputs, wording of the questions and all other pertinent issues related to conducting statistical surveys to measure violence against women. The meeting will review the text in detail and, upon incorporation of all the inputs, the final version will be submitted to the United Nations Statistical Commission for approval.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm

Expert Group Meeting on “Strategies for Attracting the best talent in the Public Service in Africa” to be held on 14-18 November in Lilongwe, Malawi

A workshop on Strengthening Public Administration and Leadership Capacities at Local Level for the Achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be held during the 33rd Annual Round-Table Conference of AAPAM. The workshop, a collaboration of DESA through the Division for Public Administration & Development Management (DPADM) and the African Association for Public Administration and management (AAPAM) aims to contribute to the strengthening of the capacity of public administration at local level for effective, efficient and equitable delivery of services through identifying strategies that strengthen local government capacities.

Local government officials will discuss challenges facing local level public administration and leadership within the context of achieving the MDGs under globalization and how such challenges can be overcome, to ensure developmental institutions at local level and achieve the intended results of decentralized governance.

Local governments are increasingly expected to be responsive to the needs and problems facing their communities and more often than not, they do not possess the necessary resources, administrative and leadership capacities to effectively address such problems. Consequently, in many developing countries public administration capacity in local governments is generally very weak posing a threat to the achievement of the MDGs.

Poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality, child mortality, HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases are prevalent at local levels, leading to the belief that this is where efforts to achieve MDGs are best suited. The workshop provides DESA with an opportunity to engage high level policy makers in Africa, including Ministers responsible for local governments, senior local government officials and development partners, who will eventually champion implementation of ensuing strategies, to propose standards of excellence that need to be further developed to serve as a framework for guiding effective public administration in local governments.

During the same period, DESA through DPADM in collaboration with the African Public Sector Human Resource Managers’ Network (APS-HRMnet) will also hold an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on “Strategies for attracting the best talent in the Public Service in Africa”. The quality of human resources in the public sector is critical to the development of any country and to the achievement of the MDGs and other internationally agreed development objectives. Global, regional and national commitments to sustainable development and poverty reduction need human capacities as the translation of such goals into tangible results is in the hands of human resources. It is through the knowledge, know-how and skills, networks and attitudes of human resources that services are planned and delivered, critical innovations conceived and realized and needed reforms carried out.

The objective of the EGM is two-fold:

i) to highlight the challenges related to attracting and retaining high performing public servants to serve in the public service, and especially in local governments in rural Africa

ii) to propose strategies for attracting and retaining the best talent to boost improvement in the delivery of public service at local level.

The EGM will provide a forum for sharing knowledge as well as provide advice to policy formulators, especially human resource managers in the public service, on elements of policies and strategies that should be instituted to attract and retain the best human resources to serve at local level for effective implementation of government policies and programs especially those related to the achievement of the MDGs.

For more information:
http://www.unpan.org/DPADM/Home/tabid/420/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Burkina Faso National Seminar on Census Data Analysis to be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 14-16 November

The main objective of the national seminar is to provide an opportunity for the staff members of the Burkina Faso Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie to further analyze data from the 2006 population and housing census of Burkina Faso on selected topics.

The ultimate objective is to promote greater analysis and dissemination of the data collected from the 2006 census. The national seminar will cover the following topics:

(i) population projections at municipal level,

ii) analysis of data on migration, and

(iii) analysis of data on educational characteristics.

After the seminar, participants are expected to produce thematic analytical reports, based on analyses generated during the seminar.

For more information:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/cwp2010/docs.htm

UN Sub-regional Workshop on Census Data Evaluation will be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 14-17 November

DESA’s Statistics Division in cooperation with the Cambodian Institute of Statistics will organize a Workshop on Census Data Evaluation. This workshop will be organized within the framework of the UN/DESA Development Account project for strengthening the statistical capacity of countries in South-East Asia. The objectives of the workshop are to strengthen the technical capacity of the participating countries to identify types of errors in census data and to apply methods of evaluating the quality of census data. Representatives from national statistical offices of Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam are invited to the workshop. The workshop will also provide the forum to discuss national practices and to exchange experiences and lessons learned among the participating countries.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm

Regional Workshop on CensusInfo arranged in New Delhi, India on 28-30 November

Organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, the Regional Workshop on CensusInfo is expected to gather representatives from about 20 countries from the Asian region. It is intended to provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination of census data as well as highlight CensusInfo’s potential as a platform for disseminating census data at any geographical level.

The workshop will demonstrate the various processes involved in the adaptation of CensusInfo, including the preparation of CensusInfo template and database, importing data, language translation and customization of the software package. The workshop sessions will also include hands-on training on using the CensusInfo User Interface and Database Administration applications.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm

Focusing on statistics in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and South and East Europe (SEE) region, this workshop will take place in Kiev, Ukraine on 29 November – 2 December

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), is organizing this workshop on the implementation of the 2008 SNA, hosted by the State Statistical Committee of Ukraine. The purpose is to initiate the formulation of an implementation plan for the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics in the EECCA and SEE region with the objective of developing comparable economic statistics for monitoring the integration of their economies.

The regional plan will be part of the global implementation programme for the 2008 SNA and supporting statistics. The workshop will also discuss the treatment of conceptual issues, such as the recording of financial services and research and development in the national accounts. The expected outcome is consensus among participants on the implementation of the 2008 SNA.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

On 19 October, UNDESA officially launched a new UN Office for Sustainable Development in Incheon, Republic of Korea

The Office, housed in Yonsei University, is co-sponsored by UN DESA, the Korean Ministry of Environment, the City of Incheon and Yonsei University.

It will serve as training and research institution and a centre for pooling together all knowledge on sustainable development. In addition, it will provide a sustainable development knowledge portal uniquely integrating the three pillars of sustainable development—economic growth, improving the quality of life, and protecting the environment.

As a resource center, it will also provide training and capacity building by organizing training programmes for national representatives and major groups from developing countries to advance the sustainable development agenda and enhance the implementation of sustainable development goals and targets.

The event was attended by Mr. Sha Zukang, DESA’s Under-Secretary-General, and the Rio+20 Secretary-General and Ms. Yoo Young Sook, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Korea and other high-level officials.

For more information: http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/

Regional Seminar on International Trade Statistics will be held in Beijing, China on 24-26 October

The seminar will be held as a follow-up to the Global Forum on Trade Statistics which took place in Geneva in February. Policy makers and chief statisticians then made explicit demands to improve the relevance of international trade statistics by connecting and integrating them with other economic statistics.

DESA’s Statistics Division in cooperation with the National Bureau of Statistics of China will therefore conduct a regional seminar for countries of Asia, focusing on the implementation of the new recommendations for international trade statistics, which were adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 2010, while emphasizing the linking of trade and business statistics. Special attention will be devoted to the issue of the measurement of trade in the global production processes.

For more information:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/s_geneva2011/outcome.htm http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/beijing11/default.htm

Seminar on developing the capacity to produce economic statistics, including national accounts in accordance with the 2008 SNA, in the Asian and Pacific region, will take place in Bangkok on 10-13 October

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is organizing this seminar on the implementation of the 2008 SNA. Hosted by ESCAP, the purpose is to develop a clear implementation plan for the improvement of the capacity of countries in the Asian and Pacific region to produce economic statistics including the National Accounts in accordance with the 2008 SNA.

The seminar will also discuss ways to ensure that plans for implementing the 2008 SNA and ESCAP’s Regional Programme for the Improvement of Economic Statistics in Asia and the Pacific are consistent and mutually reinforcing, effectively incorporating national implementation plans for the 2008 SNA into the regional implementation plan. The expected outcome is consensus among participants on the implementation plan.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm#10-13oct2011

The fifth Meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics will be held in New York on 4-6 October

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing a meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS), aimed at continuing the dialogue on the coordination of gender statistics activities, in light of the conclusions and recommendations made by the 42nd session of the UN Statistical Commission.

It will present the on-going activities of the advisory groups. The resulting recommendations and decisions of the meeting will form the work plan for the IAEG-GS.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm#4-6oct2011

United Nations Regional Seminar on Census Data Archiving will be arranged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 20-23 September

UN DESA’s Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, is organizing a Regional Seminar on Census Data Archiving. The purpose is to provide a forum for sharing of national practices and experiences in archiving census data.

The event will provide a basis for assessing existing national archiving strategies and technologies used, as well as for identifying good practices and lessons learned in census data archiving. It will also review major issues in archiving census data with a view to identifying challenges as well as considerations for formulating and implementing an effective national archiving plan.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm#20-23 Sept2011

Workshop on National Adaption of CensusInfo to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 19-23 September

The workshop is intended to develop the capacity of the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka to adapt CensusInfo to its full potential as a platform for disseminating census data. The participants will learn various processes involved in the adaptation of CensusInfo, including the preparation of CensusInfo template and database, importing data, language translation and customization of the software package.

The sessions will include hands-on training on using the CensusInfo User Interface and Database Administration applications as well as an introduction to the process of web-enabling the CensusInfo database.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm#19-23Sept2011

International Workshop on Energy Statistics will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 27-30 September

UN DESA’s Statistics Division (UNSD), in cooperation with the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, is organizing this workshop as part of the implementation process of the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES) which have been recently adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission.

The main objectives are to train participants in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the IRES; to review and discuss issues that countries face in the collection, compilation and dissemination of energy statistics, and share national experiences. The discussions will also contribute to the development of the Energy Statistics Compilers Manual (ESCM).

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/energy/Workshops/Azerbaijan2011.htm

Interview with Keiko Osaki Tomita, Chief, Demographic and Social Statistics Branch, UN Statistics Division, DESA

Can you please briefly present yourself?

“I am a demographer from Japan. I now lead the area of demographic and social statistics in the UN Statistics Division, DESA, here in New York. This includes a programme to support censuses held in practically every country.”

Why is the UN Statistics Division involved in censuses?

“The importance of population census as a procedure to systematically acquire and record information about the members of a population has long been recognized. Since the end of the 19th century, all countries in the world have been encouraged to conduct censuses. Since the 1950s, the Statistics Division has promoted population censuses as the secretariat to the decennial World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses, under the authority of the UN Statistical Commission.”

What is your office actually doing?

“The Statistics Division has played a central role in supporting national census taking, especially for developing countries. Our office coordinates work on setting standards and methods, for instance, through publishing Principles and Recommendations for the Population and Housing Censuses. We provide technical assistance to enhance national statistical capacity to undertake censuses through arranging thematic seminars and workshops or by providing advice. We also compile and disseminate census results from countries or areas on-line as well as in print.”

Are there countries where there is no census at all? Which ones?

“The current 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses, adopted in 2005 by the UN Statistical Commission, spans from 2005 to 2014. An overwhelming majority of countries or areas in the world have committed to conduct a census at least once during this period. However, six countries have not yet indicated when they would carry out a census: Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Somalia, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara. Still, this represents a significant improvement over the 2000 round, when 27 countries did not conduct a census.”

How many censuses are scheduled this year and how many people have been counted so far in the 2010 world programme?

“Since the beginning of the current census round in 2005, 155 countries and areas have already conducted a census (by 1 July). This year, 2011, is one of the peak years of the 2010 round, with 69 countries conducting censuses, enumerating an estimated 2.3 billion people (33 % of the world population). It is expected that by the end of the round in 2014, almost 99 % of the world’s total population will have been enumerated.”

Why is it so important that everyone be counted?

“The data collected by census help a nation, region or community make major decisions for the future. Censuses are a comprehensive source of statistical information for economic and social development planning and for administrative purposes. For example, the results of a census are used to distribute and allocate government funds for education, health services and delineating electoral districts. Census data can also be used for academic research or business marketing.”

Are censuses playing a role to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015?

“Some MDG indicators, such as literacy rate and unemployment rate of youth, can be computed from census data, hence allowing governments to measure and monitor the progress made in a comparable manner. Also, note that the denominator for most MDG indicators is the total population figure, which can be produced by population census.”

What new developments do you observe in nowadays’ censuses?

“The main innovations of the 2010 round of censuses are the use of new methods to obtain data and modern technology. While most countries still conduct their census in a traditional manner, an increasing number of countries are producing census data by using registers either alone of in combination with other data collection mechanisms. We also witness that many countries have adopted new technologies such as mobile devices, geospatial information systems and the Internet in phases of a census operation. According to a recent survey, more than 30 countries or areas are providing an option for Internet-based self-enumeration. New technologies contribute to improving the completeness, timeliness and quality of census results.”

Are censuses somewhat reflecting the changes in people’s lifestyle?

“People have become more migratory and, in urban areas, a growing number of individuals live alone in a single household. Such changes in lifestyles sometimes make difficult for census enumerators to identify and reach out respondents. It is said that there has been a growing concern about privacy and confidentiality of the information collected, which might have affected the response rate of censuses. Changes in lifestyles, coupled with the growing cost for census, have led several Governments to look into other options for enumeration, such as the use of internet.”

What message would you like to convey in this week during which World Population Day is celebrated (11 July)?

“I am pleased that the World Population Day this year focuses on population’s size and growth. At a time when the world’s population is expected to reach the seven billion mark, it is important to reflect on the challenges that the sheer size of population poses on Earth, and to reassess how to cope with or maximize people’s power. Population and Housing Censuses reveal key population data, ranging from the size, growth, age structure, poverty to the spatial distribution of a population. Such information increasingly becomes critical to plan the future and improve people’s lives. Let me also emphasize these important words from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the Day: ‘Promoting the Millennium Development Goals fosters prosperity and peace. And protecting our planet safeguards the natural resources that sustain us all’.”

Samples of upcoming censuses:

Suriname: 1 August
Botswana: 22 August
Namibia: 28 August
Uruguay: 1 September
Pakistan: 12 September
Estonia: 18 September
Hungary: 1 October
South Africa: 10 October
Romania: 22 October
Austria: 31 October
Spain 1: November
Sweden: 31 December

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_PHC/default.htm

Principles and Recommendations for the Population and Housing Censuses: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/docs/P&R_%20Rev2.pdf

An International Seminar on Green Economy and Official Statistics will be held in Seoul, Republic of Korea on 6–8 July

This Seminar is being organized by DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with Statistics Korea, the national statistics office of the Republic of Korea. A green economy has been recognized as one of the critical development models for the future which improves well-being and social equity while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. The concept of a green economy has become a centre of policy debates in recent years. During the recent global financial crisis, the UN General Assembly and several UN agencies underscored that the crisis represented an opportunity to promote green economy initiatives as part of the stimulus packages being put in place to support the recovery.

The General Assembly has decided that one of the major themes for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro is “a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.” The following outcomes are envisaged from the Seminar:

• A recognition that official statistics will be required to inform on green economy issues and that national statistical systems will accordingly need to adapt.
• An emerging understanding of the key issues/indicators that official statistics will need to focus on.
• A sense of the work that international agencies and the United Nations Statistical Commission might best focus on, over and above what they are already doing, to support countries in this work.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/green_economy/korea/default.htm

Enhanced knowledge-sharing on e-governance

Conference on e-Government in Asia and the Pacific to enhance e-Government policy making capacity was organized in Seoul, Republic of Korea on 11-13 May

The conference was organized by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) through the UN Project Office on Governance (UNPOG) and Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The purpose was to enhance e-government policy making capacity and the conference also provided an opportunity through the Chief Information Officer’s (CIOs) and the e-Government Officials’ Forum to discuss e-government policy issues, institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks and strategies in the region.

The conference resulted in enhanced experience and knowledge-sharing among CIOs and e-government officials while exploring ways to enhance cooperation among Asia-Pacific e-government officials. A summary of its deliberations, including the list of validated CIO/e-government officials is to be prepared.

United Nations Public Administration Country Studies (UNPACS) was introduced to the audience and received recognition and many compliments. Several countries expressed interest in contributing to these studies particularly in the area of e-government at the country level.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/

With a focus on transfer pricing for developing countries

An Informal Meeting on Practical Transfer Pricing Issues for Developing Countries was held in New York on 7-8 June

The event was organized by the Financing for Development Office (FfDO) of DESA, in cooperation with three NGOs, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Center of Concern and Christian Aid. The main objective of the event was to discuss draft chapters of the UN Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries, which is being prepared by a subcommittee of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, with the view of ensuring that developing country perspectives, priorities and experiences are fully represented in the Manual.

The meeting featured presentations by Committee members, Government representatives, OECD, IMF, Academia, Civil Society, the Business Sector and FfDO/DESA. Assistant Secretary-General Jomo Kwame Sundaram delivered a keynote address on the burdens of complexity and the disproportionate effect of these on developing countries in this area.

The morning session on the first day focused on: (1) the role of the UN in international tax cooperation; (2) the impact of transfer pricing on sustainable development and possible responses; and (3) overview of specific transfer pricing issues on the agenda of the international community. This session, aiming to familiarize the UN delegations with the issue of transfer pricing and the costs to development of “improper pricing” by multinational enterprises, was well attended and positively assessed by many UN delegates.

The remaining sessions were of a practical and rather technical nature, as transfer pricing involves very technical issues of what profits can probably be ascribed to activities and functions located in a particular country, by comparison to what would happen between independent entities. Each session began with panel presentations on country experiences focused on a draft chapter of the Manual, followed by interactive discussions.

During the discussions, the following issues were emphasized: (1) the importance of the Manual as a tool for developing countries in dealing with complex transactions; (2) the critical importance of capacity building in developing countries in the area of transfer pricing; (3) how much flexibility should there be within the “arm’s length” price, and could more flexible approaches reduce the costs and resource implications of transfer pricing analysis, especially for developing countries?; and (4) the need for dispute resolution mechanism, which would give equal footing to developed and developing countries.

As a result of the meeting, new developing country inputs will be introduced into the draft chapters of the Manual. A report on the meeting will be submitted to the annual session of the Committee in October 2011.

For more information: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/tax/2011_TP/index.htm

Updating the UN Model Double Taxation Convention

Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on “2011 Update of the UN Model Double Taxation Convention” was arranged in New York on 9-10 June

The meeting was arranged by DESA’s Financing for Development Office with the purpose of bringing together Members of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters and other specialists with expertise in international taxation and tax treaties in order to consider the 2011 update of the UN Model, with a view to assisting the Committee in making it as modern, developing country needs-responsive, polished and consistent as possible. It will be the first update of the Model since 1999 and should set the scene for more regular updates of the Model, which is heavily relied on by developing countries in double tax treaty negotiations.

Following a short session devoted to general considerations and reflections, the discussions spanned all 30 Articles of the UN Model and their commentaries. The focus remained on what could realistically be agreed upon by the Committee during its annual session in October 2011. The Secretariat also recorded the longer-term proposals that naturally emerged from these discussions for the future work of the Committee.

The following issues were emphasized: (1) the wide reliance of developing countries on the UN Model in their bilateral treaty negotiations; (2) the importance of finalizing the update of the UN Model during the annual session of the Committee in October 2011 for the benefit of such countries; and (3) the need for more frequent updates to the UN Model. It was also agreed that a background paper considering inclusion of developing country positions in the UN Model or as a separate document would be prepared for the 2011 session of the Committee.

As a result of the meeting, a draft of the 2011 update of the UN Model was verified and refined for further consideration by the Committee at its annual session in Geneva on 24-28 October. A report on the meeting will also be submitted to the annual session of the Committee.

For more information: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/tax/2011EGM/index.htm

Launch of Russian version of the E-Government Interoperability Interactive Course

DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) recently launched the Russian version of the E-Government Interoperability Interactive Course

The translation of the course was a joint initiative of DPADM and the Institute of the Information Society (IIS), Russia. The course highlights the value of e-government interoperability and the steps required to achieve effective interoperability. It explains the standards and architecture in interoperability, and the Government Interoperability Framework (GIF) and its development.

It is available at the UNPAN Online Training Centre free of charge, with government officials as its target audience, especially those from developing, post-conflict and post-crisis countries: www.unpan.org/elearning

Regional Seminar on Census Data Dissemination and Spatial Analysis for Latin American Countries, will be arranged in Santiago, Chile, on 31 May – 3 June

The Regional Seminar, which is being organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with ECLAC and UNFPA, will provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination and use of census data.

It will aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of census data users as well as review emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of census data. Furthermore, the seminar is expected to help in identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and analysis of census data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Workshop will be held in Pretoria, South Africa on 6-8 June

The objective of the workshop is to provide focalized technical assistance to some countries in southern Africa for the institutionalization of water accounts and statistics. The workshop will be based on the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEA-Water) and the International Recommendations for Water Statistics (IRWS), adopted by the UN Statistics Commission (UNSC).

The workshop will be jointly organized by DESA’s Statistics Division and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The participants include experts from the National Statistics Offices and Water Agencies from Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Zimb abwe.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Dissemination of the Analytical Reports of the 2007 Ethiopian Population and Housing Census, June 2011

As a part of the Regional Project to Strengthen National Capacity to Analyse, Present and Disseminate Census Data, and within the framework of the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme, DESA’s Statistics Division is supporting the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia in conducting in-depth analyses of its 2007 Population and Housing Census.

Four teams comprising the staff of the CSA, national and international experts worked from 11 April to 6 May on four topics selected by CSA: fertility, mortality, housing and the situation of the elderly in Ethiopia.

The final drafts of the analytical reports are ready for professional editing of the language. A dissemination seminar will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the 3rd week of June, where about 300 persons from line ministries, government agencies, national and international non-governmental organizations, UN and other international agencies, the media, academic and research institutes and users in general are expected to attend.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm

Using macro-micro modeling framework in decision-making

DPAD’s capacity development project on “Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling” was launched through training workshops in Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador with the most recent one taking place in Quito on 10-12 May

Recent UN-DESA studies have revealed that progress toward the MDGs is expected to slow down as a consequence of the global economic downturn as well as high energy and food prices. Lower government revenue and income per capita will lead to reduced public and private spending on social services. It is estimated that the cost of achieving the MDGs will rise by 1.5-2 per cent of GDP, which will require that countries mobilize additional resources in order to prevent social and economic setbacks.

Given the effects of the global economic crisis, the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) has been receiving requests from Governments of several developing countries for capacity development support, as they see it necessary to strengthen their analytical capacity to assess the impacts of the crisis and other external shocks. This would further enable them to design policies and/or request financial support from the international community to help revert the situation and to ensure the timely achievement of the MDGs and its continued sustainability beyond 2015.

Capacities had already been built in almost thirty countries from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa through projects that UN-DESA/DPAD has completed, covering a wide range of issues from financing strategies to achieve the MDGs, to social protection policies that may help countries alleviate the impact of unfavourable external shocks. These completed studies have helped set up the foundations for pursuing more capacity development efforts.

In response to Governments’ requests, DPAD initiated in 2011 the capacity development project “Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling”, funded by the Development Account, and which will be implemented in close collaboration with other partners including UNDP and the World Bank. It builds on the accumulated work of previous capacity development projects and aims at providing support in strengthening the ability of policy makers to understand and use an integrated macro-micro modelling framework in decision-making.

Integrated macro-micro modelling framework

The integrated macro-micro modelling framework combines an economy-wide model and methodologies at the micro and sectoral levels. At the core is a special module which specifies the main determinants of MDG achievement and the direct impact of enhanced public expenditures on MDG-related infrastructure and services. It also shows how the financing of these may affect the economy at large and the feasibility to achieve targets on poverty reduction, primary education, maternal mortality and access to safe water and basic sanitation. As part of one of the project’s pilot studies, the framework will be extended to incorporate targets for MDG 6 on combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases in countries where this is relevant.

Inception workshops for institutional capacity building

The project was launched through inception training workshops in Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador. The most recent workshop took place in Quito, on 10-12 May. The main objective of these workshops has been to present the macro-micro modelling framework and to brainstorm on the key policy questions to be addressed, data challenges and design a work plan. In addition, the institutional arrangements for project implementation have been discussed with the Governments, with a view to form an inter-institutional technical team to be trained in the application of the modelling tool.

Upcoming activities

Inception workshops are scheduled to be conducted in the second half of 2011 in Costa Rica, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan and Uganda. At the same time, follow-up training workshop will be organized for the other four countries.

By the end of the project in 2013, it is envisaged that three intensive training workshops and technical backstopping from DPAD for each of the participating countries would have been completed. In addition, a methodological toolkit will be transferred to the Governments with a view to initiate a policy dialogue in support of policy making.

For more information: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/index.shtml

Second Meeting of the Expert Group on the Revision of the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES) will be held in New York on 4-6 May

The main objective of the second meeting of the Expert Group is to discuss and reach agreement on the fundamental structure and main building blocks of the revised FDES based on the analysis of relevant key concepts, scientific, policy and statistical frameworks. The meeting is expected to agree on the contents and detailed annotated outline of the revised FDES handbook. The experts will also discuss the criteria and process for the selection of a core set of environment statistics. The revised FDES is expected to be presented to the 43rd session of the Statistical Commission in February 2012.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/fdes/fdes_egm.htm

Regional Seminar on Census Data Dissemination and Spatial Analysis for Arabic speaking Countries arranged in Amman, Jordan on 16-19 May

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Jordan Department of Statistics and the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics, is organizing a Regional Seminar on Census Data Dissemination and Spatial Analysis.

The purpose is to provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination and use of census data. Emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of census data will be reviewed. The seminar will also aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of census data users. In addition, the event is expected to help in identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and analysis of census data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd

Meeting of the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications to be held in New York on 18-20 May

The Expert Group will discuss a variety of topics, including a review of the International Family of Classifications and criteria for the development of international classifications, the assessment of the implementation of newly revised standard classifications, as well as ways to improve communication with users of classifications. It will also review newly developed or revised classifications, their linkages with other standard classifications and evaluate the need for revision of a number of classifications, including the Classification by Broad Economic Categories (BEC), the Standard International Energy Product Classification (SIEC) and the Central Product Classification (CPC). The Expert Group is also expected to discuss necessary updates to its mandate to allow it to react appropriately to new demand in the area of classifications work.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/class/intercop/expertgroup/2011/ac234-2.asp

Knowledge-sharing on census data use and dissemination in Latin American countries

Regional Seminar on Census Data Dissemination and Spatial Analysis for Latin American Countries arranged in Santiago, Chile on 31 May – 3 June

The Regional Seminar, which is being organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination and use of census data. The Seminar will aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of census data users as well as review emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of census data. Furthermore, the Seminar is expected to help in identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and analysis of census data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd

The Inter-regional Advisor on censuses at DESA’s Statistics Division will participate in the international monitoring of enumeration activities on 1-15 April

An International Monitoring Operation (IMO) is closely following census preparations for the 2011 Kosovo census. The IMO also includes the Management Group, of which the Statistics Division is a member, which monitors all methodological aspects and provides guidance for the census.

International observers are selected by the Management Group to monitor activities to ensure that census data are collected in line with international standards and recommendations.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/default.htm

DESA’s Statistics Division is coordinating the review in Addis Ababa on 11 April- 8 May

The evaluation is arranged by DESA’s Statistics Division as part of the regional project to strengthening the capacity to analyze, present and disseminate census data.

The staff of the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia will work closely with national and international experts during this period to look into four selected topics of importance – fertility, mortality, housing and elderly. After three weeks’ intensive research, they are expected to produce an analytical report for each topic.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/default.htm

Implementing the System of National Accounts 2008 in the African region

DESA’s Statistics Division will organize the seminar together with the UN Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank and the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa on 11-15 April

The System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) is an updated version of the System of National Accounts, 1993 (1993 SNA). It is the fifth version, the first of which was published over fifty years ago, and it was prepared under the auspices of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts. This working group consists of five organizations: the Statistical Office of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, DESA’s Statistics Division and the regional commissions of the UN Secretariat and the World Bank. The 2008 SNA is published jointly by these five organizations.

The seminar will be hosted by the African Centre for Statistics at the ECA, with the purpose of assisting the African Group on National Accounts in applying the regional implementation programme of the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics. The objective is to develop national implementation programmes for the compilation of comparable economic statistics and national accounts for countries in Africa to monitor the integration of their economies. The regional programme is part of the global implementation plan for the 2008 SNA and supporting statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/default.asp

An international workshop arranged in Shenzhen, China on 25-27 April

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics of China is organizing an international workshop on measuring gross domestic product (GDP) by final demand approach. It is being conducted as part of the project on strengthening statistical capacity development in China and other developing countries in Asia funded by the Chinese Government.

It will give an overview of one of the main approaches to GDP compilation – the final demand approach – and will address specific issues of measuring the final consumption expenditures of households, government and non-profit institutions serving households, and estimating gross capital formation for the economy and by sector. The estimation of national accounts’ imports and exports of goods and services from foreign trade statistics and other sources will also be discussed.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/economic_stat/China/GDP-FE-China-Workshop.htm

e-Government procurement consultations

A regional meeting discussed opportunities and challenges of electronic Government Procurement (eGP) and outlined partnerships with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in Seoul on 10-11 March

The consultation meeting, organized by DESA in partnership with the UN Project Office on Governance (UNPOG), was held with concrete emphasis on toolkits, approaches and case studies aimed at capacity development of public officials initially in Asia and the Pacific as the first step towards a global eGP alliance.

Considering that some 15-20 per cent of countries’ GDP is disbursed via procurement systems, the consultation explored both the potential of electronic procurement to promote transparency and efficiency, as well as the opportunities for enhanced public service delivery. Developing countries with relevant experience such as the Philippines, Mexico and China presented their cases.

Institutions such as the World Bank and Asia Development Bank also shared their experience and agreed to formalize a partnership with DESA to address concrete follow-up objectives including: Joint capacity development and assessment activities in the field addressing current demand for improving eGP services; joint participation in the Ministerial e-Procurement meeting planned by ADB for October 2011 in Asia; information exchange and dissemination of case studies via the UN Public Administration Network (UNPAN) and UN Public Administration Country Studies (UNPACS); and development of a network with participants of the consultation for the consolidation of a road map.

Participants also agreed to start an informal network for e-Procurement, following an invitation by Italian IT services and Procurement Agency (CONSIP) to hold the next regional meeting possibly in Italy during the last quarter of 2011. The focus would then be on Eastern European, Commonwealth of Independent States and Balkans countries, willing to give priority to anti-corruption and transparent public sector practices.

Values and the principles of Public Service and Administration

United Nations and African human resources managers met in Addis Ababa to discuss the charter on 14-18 March

The workshop brought together human resource managers in the public sector, trainers in management development institutes and public service commissions and other appointing authorities from over 35 African countries. The purpose was to discuss how promoting professionalism and strengthening the role of human resource managers in the public sector, facilitates the implementation of the charter.

The event was also attended by representatives of the African Union, the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR), the UN Development Programme and the World Bank. In addition, they were joined by Ministers responsible for public service in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, as well as several Permanent Secretaries and Director-Generals of the public service in Africa.

Participants shared information and experiences on how to promote and sustain professionalism in the public service on the continent. They also discussed the challenges and obstacles in the implementation of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Public Service and the Administration.

The workshop was organized by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Africa Human Resource Managers’ Network.

It is the third of its kind since the launch of the Africa Human Resources Managers’ Network – APS-HRMnet in Arusha, Tanzania in February 2009. The network aims to sustain capacity development by institutionalizing professional human resource management in the public sector in Africa.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/DPADM/ProductsServices/APSHRMnet/tabid/1114/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Workshop on “Managing Economic and Social Councils (ESCs) as a Driving Force of the National Dialogue on Economic and Social Policies” will be held in Nairobi from 7 – 8 March

On the basis of their partnership, DESA and the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS) have organized several actions that have been undertaken to strengthen the role of ESCs in Africa (survey; conference on ICTs, Paris, December 17-18 2009; conference on ESCs for inclusive development, Ouagadougou, June 1-3 2010).

During the last AICESIS Board meeting (Tunis, December 2-3, 2010), it was agreed that a capacity building workshop for staff of 4 Economic and Social Councils in Africa will be organized. DESA, AICESIS, National Economic Social Council of Kenya and UNDP have partnered to organize the capacity building workshop in Nairobi. The workshop will focus on management development in face of the challenge to achieve Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. Participants will come from Benin, Guinea, Kenya and South Africa.

For more information: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/

Workshop on “Promoting Professionalism in the Public Service: Strengthening the Role of Human Resource Managers in the Public Sector for the implementation of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Public Service and the Administration” will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 14-18 March

The capacity building workshop will be organized by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Ministry of Civil Service of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

This is a follow-up to the two previous capacity building workshops on human resource management in the public sector in Africa that were organized by the Division.  The Africa Public Sector Human Resource Managers’ Network (APS-HRMnet) was launched during the first workshop on “Capacity Building for Human Resource Development Policy and Strategy in the Public Service in Africa”, which was held at Arusha, Tanzania, from 23 to 27 February 2009.

The second workshop on “Strengthening Human Resource Capacities for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Africa’s Development” was held in Cotonou, Republic of Benin from 12 to 16 April 2010 followed by an Expert Group Meeting on “Human Resource Management Policy in the Public Sector in Africa” held in Durban, South Africa, from 15-19 November 2010.

The main objective of the current workshop is to contribute to the development of capacity for professionalism in Africa’s public services and more specifically to: (a) provide a platform for African Ministers responsible for public service, human resource managers in the public sector, and experts in human resource management, to discuss how professionalism can be promoted and sustained in the public service on the continent. (b) bring to the attention of human resource managers the challenges and obstacles in the implementation of the “African Charter on the Values and Principles of Public Service and the Administration”; and (c) discuss strategies for the domestication of the key provisions of the Charter in the codes, standards and regulations at the national level in order to promote professionalism in the public service.

For more information: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan044035.pdf

Seminar on the in-depth analysis of Ethiopia’s 2007 population and housing census will take place in Addis Ababa from 14-18 March 2011

In many countries, the voluminous data collected through censuses is only partially analysed and disseminated, and often late, resulting in its underutilization. To address this challenge, DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the Italian Government has initiated a project to strengthen national capacity to analyse, present and disseminate census data in selected developing countries, Ethiopia being one.

Based on a needs assessment mission launched by the Statistics Division, the Central Statistical Authority (CSA) of Ethiopia has identified four areas for in-depth analysis: Fertility, mortality, housing, and the situation of the elderly. The national seminar is preparatory work for the preparation of monographs on the identified topics and in the process build capacity among CSA’s census analyses teams tasked with the preparation of analytical reports through on-the-job knowledge transfer. The final outputs are expected to be useful for effective development planning and monitoring population and socio-economic trends.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Students to collect data for the e-Government Survey

Partnership between DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) and the Cornell University

A partnership between DPADM and the Cornell Institute on Public Affairs (CIPA), Cornell University (United States), was finally established to engage CIPA graduate students in the data collection for the new edition of the UN e-Government Survey. Beginning in February 2011, CIPA students, based on a for-credit, project-based agreement, will assist in carrying out survey of national e-government facilities and capacities of the 192 Member States, including translation services, literature reviews, best practices research and other related quantitative and qualitative research.

The next edition of the UN e-Government Survey is due to be completed by the end of 2011. This legal agreement was made possible through the assistance of the Executive Office of DESA and the Office of Legal Affairs (OLA).

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/08report.htm

Recognition of DESA’s e-government work

DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) presented its e-government work at the Fullbright Academy on 24-25 January in Washington DC

DPADM was invited to attend a workshop organized by the Fulbright Academy, an international educational exchange programme for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists, artists and others interested in science and technology innovation.

During this workshop on digitalization of libraries, DPADM presented its work on e-government including the UN E-Government Survey, Compendium of Innovative E-Government Practices, Knowledge Base on E-Government Survey and the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies. The participants expressed interest in contributing case studies of their own countries to DPADM for inclusion in the upcoming new edition of the Compendium of Innovative E-Government Practices.

The High-Level Regional Meeting brought together regional practitioners and experts to identify integrated approaches and concrete policy measures that the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) can promote in the context of the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), and more particularly on the role education can play in contributing to the realization of all the MDGs. The key policy recommendations put forward during the discussions will be reflected in a summary report to be presented at the AMR ECOSOC session next July.

The objective of the AMR is to assess progress made on different aspects of the United Nations Development Agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals. The AMR was mandated by the 2005 World Summit and has been held during the Council’s High-level Segment since 2007. In 2011, the AMR will focus on Education.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/08report.htm

DESA and UNDP team up to support national preparations for the UN Conference for Sustainable Development (UNCSD – Rio+20)

The main objective of the project is to assist selected developing countries to prepare for and contribute effectively to the UNCSD process based on their expression of demand and their particular needs.

The project should enable developing countries to participate effectively in formal and informal preparatory meetings of the UNCSD, including preparatory committees, intersessionals, regional meetings, and expert meetings, with preparation of technical inputs, responses to questionnaires, mobilization of national stakeholders, and identification of opportunities for national action.

At the same time, the project will include a more in-depth analysis and synthesis of experiences in up to 10 countries where green economy concepts and institutional reform for sustainable development are beginning to take root.

For more information: http://tinyurl.com/4ps8e6b

Supporting developing countries to prepare for Rio+20

Cooperation between DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) initiated for 2011

DPADM will produce by the end of 2011 a publication on innovative practices for Governments to enhance accountability (including social accountability) in order to better advance towards the Millennium Development Goals. The publication will also address how improved accountability helps prevent corruption.

To prepare this publication, DPADM will carry out several meetings, some of these in cooperation with UNODC, which acts as Secretariat to the UN Convention against Corruption. To kick-start cooperation, a representative from DPADM attended the first meeting of the interim open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption in Vienna, from 13 to 15 December 2010 and made two presentations: one on citizen engagement and e-government in the fight against corruption, and another on the United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) in the category of fighting corruption.

Moreover, in bilateral conversations with UNODC, it was agreed that DPADM will organize a meeting of experts and practitioners on accountability and prevention of corruption, back-to-back with the global conference UNODC will host in Morocco in October 2011, namely, the Fourth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/unpsa

Partnering for expanding e-governance

DPADM welcomes the World e-Governments Organizations of Cities and Local Governments (WeGO) as its newest United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) Partner Organization

In order to further expand UNPAN and strengthen the Division’s work in the area of local e-government, DPADM welcomed the World e-Governments Organizations of Cities and Local Governments (WeGO) as its 32nd UNPAN Partner Organization. Based in Seoul, Republic of Korea, WeGO is a worldwide association of e-governments that aims to share the practices of world e-governments, develop joint projects on e-governments, and bridge the digital divide between and among cities.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/

DESA’s Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination (OESC) will commence implementation of the Development Account project “Strengthening Regional Knowledge Networks to Promote the Effective Implementation of the United Nations Development Agenda and to Assess Progress”

The project aims to contribute strengthening the capacity of government officials/experts responsible for the formulation of national development strategies (NDS) and to increase knowledge sharing among policy-makers, development experts, and DESA divisions on development strategies that work. The project highlights the importance of coordinating efforts of DESA divisions in supporting NDS and making available the knowledge generated by the Department to policy makers.

The project will be implemented with similar projects managed by other DESA divisions that support NDS. With this in view, representatives of those projects will participate in the Steering Committee that will guide the implementation of the Regional Knowledge Networks (RKNs). The RKNs will be established in conjunction with four Regional Commissions that will be the main partners in executing the project.

For more information: http://www.un.org/esa/devaccount/projects/proposed_projects.html

UN Public Administration Network (UNPAN) Online Training Centre’s new improved face, which was launched on 1 November 2010, has been positively received by its learners

The 7 interactive courses available were upgraded with an improved assessment and certification engine and three new courses were launched – one in English and two in Spanish. The courses, which are free of charge, cover various topics on electronic and mobile government, institution and human resources management in public administration, knowledge management in government and millennium development goals.

Already 67 users enrolled in the courses in less than four weeks and more than 80 per cent of these learners completed the courses. One of the learners, Mr. Abbas S. Kudrati, Head of E-Government Authority of Bahrain, praised the new platform and courses by stating that “these are amazing and eye openers”. Another learner, from the Economics and Finance Department of the Catalonia Regional Government of Spain, informed DESA that his institution has agreed to include UNPAN courses in the annual training record of staff.

A new course on “Introduction to Citizen Engagement in Public Governance for the Realization of the Millennium Development Goals” provides an overview of the ideas, issues, tools and examples of practices and methodologies of participatory public governance that can be effective in fostering the achievement of the MDGs. The objective of the training course is to enhance knowledge and capacities, and to motivate for action. It is addressed to practitioners, including community leaders, responsible for the formulation and implementation of development policies and programmes, as well as scholars and students of public administration.

The new training course is integrated by eight modules: Awareness of Development Needs and the MDGs; Awareness of Citizen Engagement to Promote Gender Equality and Women Empowerment; Public Governance for MDGs Achievement; Citizen Engagement Fundamentals; Framework of Participation; Role of Intergovernmental Organizations, Government and Civil Society; Modalities and Practices of Participation; and e-Participation. The course will be launched to the public in early January on the UNPAN online training platform.

More information: http://www.unpan.org/elearning

CARICOM Regional Workshop on Population and Housing Census Data Editing will be held in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda from 6-11 December

DESA Statistics Division is organizing a regional workshop on census data editing in collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat to develop the capacities of the staff of National Statistical Offices of the CARICOM member countries with the techniques and procedures used in editing population and housing census data.

The training will develop a set of standard census data edit, which can then be customized and used as reference of good practices by countries. The standard census edits developed at the workshop will also be posted on the Statistics Division website for other countries to adopt as needed.

The expected outputs of the Workshop are: enhancement of the requisite data editing skills using the CSPro software; improved knowledge-base in census data editing; improved capabilities to customize and use the standard census data edits; and strengthened capacity in general, in producing better quality census data and specifically greater timeliness in the dissemination of this data for decision-making. The workshop is timely as most of the CARICOM member countries will conduct their censuses in 2010 and 2011.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Workshop on updated and new recommendations for International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS 2010) will be held in Lusaka, Zambia, 1-5 November

At its forty-first session (23 – 26 February 2010) the Statistical Commission adopted IMTS 2010 and endorsed the implementation programme as contained in the Secretary General’s report, including the preparation of the revised IMTS Compilers Manual and continued technical assistance activities.

This workshop focuses on the implementation of IMTS in countries of the Sub-Saharan Africa region and is organized by DESA’s Statistics in cooperation with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Participants will learn about the new and updated recommendations and share their experiences in the compilation of IMTS and the implementation of the international recommendations (old and new) on IMTS, also with view on identifying issues and best practices for inclusion in the updated IMTS Compilers Manual.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/WS%20Lusaka10/ws_imts_lusaka10.htm

Developing census capacities in Malawi

National CensusInfo Training will take place in Zomba, Malawi from 9-12 November

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing this training in collaboration with the National Statistical Office, Malawi. It is intended to develop the national census technical teams’ capacities to adapt CensusInfo as platform for disseminating census data. Participants will learn various processes involved in the adaptation of CensusInfo including preparation of CensusInfo template and database, standard report and profile templates, language translation and packaging the software.

The sessions also includes hands-on training on using CensusInfo User Interface and Database Administration applications, designing and creating templates and databases to house country-specific census data, learning various data administration utilities including importing census data to facilitate uploading of data into the CensusInfo system, and generating relevant tables, graphs, maps, reports and profiles for reporting purposes.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_PHC/default.htm

Seminar on the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 in the Latin America and Caribbean Region will be held in Lima, Peru, 9-12 November

The System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) is an updated version of the System of National Accounts, 1993 (1993 SNA). It is the fifth version of the SNA, the first of which was published over fifty years ago.

The 2008 SNA was prepared under the auspices of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA), which consists of five organizations: the Statistical Office of the European Commission (Eurostat), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), DESA’s Statistics Division and regional commissions of the United Nations Secretariat and the World Bank. The 2008 SNA is published jointly by these five organizations.

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean, is organizing this seminar to support the regional implementation programme of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA). The seminar will be hosted by the National Statistics and Informatics Institute of Peru.

The purpose of the seminar is to assist the Working Group on National Accounts of the Statistical Conference of the Americas in implementing the regional implementation programme of the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics with the objective of developing comparable economic statistics for countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region as a whole to monitor the integration of their economies. This regional programme forms part of the global implementation programme for the 2008 SNA and supporting statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sna2008.asp

Various methods for evaluating censuses

Workshop on the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses: Census Evaluation and Post Enumeration Surveys, for Arabic speaking Countries will be held in Amman, Jordan, 21-24 November

DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the Jordan Department of Statistics and the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics, is organizing this workshop to present an overview of the various methods of evaluating censuses with a focus on the post enumeration survey (PES) methodology.

More specifically, the workshop will cover elements of the PES with regard to planning and implementation, frames and sample design, methodologies for evaluating content and coverage errors. It will also focus on matching procedures, imputation of missing values, and tabulation and dual system of estimation. The workshop will offer the possibility to the participants to present and discuss the experience of their countries on different aspects of census evaluation and the post enumeration survey.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/wshops/Jordan_21Nov10/default.htm

International Workshop on Social Statistics will take place in Beijing from 22-26 November

DESA’s Statistics Division and the National Bureau of Statistics of China are organizing this workshop as part of the social statistics programme of the Statistics Division with the purpose of enhancing the capacity of countries to collect, disseminate and use quality statistics on time use and on violence against women.

This workshop is also intended to provide an opportunity to review and discuss new national initiatives and data collection tools for the improvement of these two areas of social statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/wshops/China_22-24Nov2010/default.htm

Training of trade in services statistics

Workshop on Statistics of International Trade in Services will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 30 November-3 December

DESA’s Statistics Division in cooperation with the General Statistical Office of Vietnam is organizing this workshop within the framework of DESA’s Development Account project for the strengthening of the statistical capacity of countries in South East Asia.

The objective of the workshop is to train representatives from national statistical offices and central banks of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Vietnam on the methodology of trade in services statistics and on current country-practices in compilation of trade in specific services sectors.

The training focuses on both the interpretation of conceptual issues and options for the implementation of the international recommendations, taking account of country specific circumstances and facilitating the establishment of a network of statisticians among these South East Asian countries. The workshop reviews particularly the travel item and tourism statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradeserv/default.htm

Linking capacity of local leadership and local development

Ministerial Workshop on leadership capacity building for decentralized governance and poverty reduction in Africa was held in Kampala, Uganda from 4 to 7 October in conjunction with the Global Forum on Local Development

Key stakeholders in local governance in Africa recommend the strengthening of public administration and leadership capacities to enhance accountability and improve the delivery of services at local level which will speed up the achievement of MDGs.

Leaders from 22 African countries attended the Forum including Ministers responsible for local government, senior public service officers from central and local governments, leaders of local government associations, political leaders in local governments, International and Regional Organizations representatives, management experts and practitioners as well as representatives of civil society organizations.

The focus of this workshop was on the linkages between the capacity of local leadership and local development, strengthening public administration in local governments for effective delivery of services, improving the delivery of services through application of ICTs, and how to implement the recommendations made by the Global Forum on Local Development to speed up the achievement of MDGs at the local level.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/Events/BrowseEventsbyCalendar/tabid/94/mctl/EventDetails
/ModuleID/1532/ItemID/1607/language/en-US/Default.aspx?selecteddate=10/4/2010

Global Forum on Local Development & Pan African Ministerial Workshop on Leadership Capacity Development will be held from 4-7 October at the Serena Hotel Conference in Kampala, Uganda

The convening of the Global Forum on Local Development is timely and strategic, bringing all the key players to the table to support the growing importance and significance of democratically elected Local Governments and making them champions for the achievement of the MDGs. The Forum is holistic taking into account both rural and local governments; and it strongly recognizes local governments as an important agent in state building, including in fragile post-conflict states.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Government of Uganda are organizing the Global Forum. DESA through the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) is collaborating with UNCDF in facilitating the organization of the Global Forum and will organize the Pan African Ministerial Workshop on Leadership Capacity Development for Decentralized Governance and Poverty Reduction in Africa.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/Events/BrowseEventsbyCalendar/tabid/94/mctl/
EventDetails/ModuleID/1532/ItemID/1607/language/en-US/Default.aspx?selecteddate=10/4/2010

Regional Seminar on Census Data Dissemination and Spatial Analysis will be held in Bangkok from 5-8 October in the context of the 2010 World Programme for Population and Housing Censuses

Organized by DESA’s Statistics Division, in cooperation with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the seminar will provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination and use of census data.

The seminar will review emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of census data. The seminar is expected to provide a basis for assessing existing national dissemination strategies as well as technologies used by national statistical offices. It will also aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of census data users.

Furthermore, the seminar is expected to help in identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and analysis of census data. The ideas generated by the discussion and the recommendations made by participants will contribute towards the drafting of an international guideline for effective dissemination and utilization of census data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/wshops/Thailand_5Oct10/default.htm

Global Forum on Gender Statistics will be held from 11-13 October in Manila, followed by the 4th meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics

The Global Forum is being organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the National Statistical Coordination Board of the Philippines. This Forum will be the third in a series of international meetings on gender statistics with the purpose of promoting the advancement of gender statistics among decision makers and all other user groups.

The focus of the 2010 Forum will be on the gender dimensions of health statistics, including measurement of maternal mortality, causes of death and disability, and related methodological advances. National practices in the incorporation of a gender perspective in national statistical systems and in the measurement of women and men’s health will be reviewed.

The 4th meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics is being held following the Global Forum in Manila on 14 October. The objectives of the meeting are to further define priorities for the overall Global Gender Statistics programme, update the group on the work of the three advisory groups (gender statistics and indicators database, gender statistics training activities and curricula, and statistical legislation for gender statistics) and share agency and expert experiences in gender statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/wshops/
Philippines_Globalforum_Oct2010/default.htm

Kick off of the Project on National Development Indicators for the African region

National experts on development indicators and national data managers from seven African countries will launch the project from 18-20 October in Nairobi

DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing a meeting to launch the project on “Improving the Collation, Availability and Dissemination of Development indicators, including MDGs.” The meeting will bring together national experts on developments indicators as well as national data managers from the seven African countries covered by the project (Burundi, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania).

The experts will review and discuss the following points: (a) Aims and objectives of the project and lessons learnt from the pilot phase and the Asian region; (b) How to improve reporting of development indicators at the country and international level (issues of coordination, availability and frequency of data, agreement on metadata and data discrepancies); (c) Improving dissemination of development indicators (data dissemination policies, current country data dissemination practices, systems and platform for development indicators).

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Improving capacity for LDCs through trade

Least Developed Country (LDC) members of WTO were working in Geneva from 28-29 June, 9-12 August and 23-24 September to strengthen their capacities in making use of the special trade-related support measures

As part of its work on improving the capacity of LDCs in making use of the special support measures available to them, DESA’s Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) developed a set of surveys addressed to LDCs and their trading partners. The objective of the trade-related surveys is to gain a better understanding of the international support measures and the extent of their use by the LDCs.

The workshops for LDCs focused on specific capacity-building activities related to the surveys and on enhancing the participants’ ability to provide meaningful responses. With the assistance of trade experts and officials from ITC, UNCTAD and WTO, the workshops provided an excellent learning opportunity for all participants through the sharing of experience and approaches taken in collecting the information. In addition to assisting the participants in finalizing their surveys, the workshops also improved the quality of the responses.

The information gathered from these surveys and the results of another set of surveys addressed to LDCs, OECD DAC members and international organizations about LDC-specific official development assistance, technical cooperation and other forms of assistance will be used as an input to the web-based information portal implemented by DPAD. The portal is dedicated to providing information about the support measures available to LDCs and will provide these countries with increased opportunities for accessing the actual benefits associated with the LDC category.

The portal will also contain information about graduation. In this regard, the CDP Unit will also focus its activities in the coming months on a country-specific macroeconomic model framework to assess the likely impact of graduation on countries, and to assist in building capacity and promoting strategies in preparation for a smooth transition and adjustment to the phasing out of advantages associated with LDC status.

For more information: http://www.un.org/esa/policy/devplan/ldcproject.html

Regional Seminar on Census Data Dissemination and Spatial Analysis will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14-17 September

DESA’s Statistics Division, in cooperation with Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, is organizing this regional seminar in the context of the 2010 World Programme for Population and Housing Censuses. The purpose of the Seminar is to provide a forum for sharing national practices and experiences in the dissemination and use of census data.

The Seminar will review emerging trends, innovative approaches and technological tools employed in the dissemination of census data. The Seminar is expected to provide a basis for assessing existing national dissemination strategies as well as technologies used by National Statistical Offices. It will also aid in taking stock of national capacities and challenges for meeting the increasing requirements of census data users.

Furthermore, the Seminar is expected to help in identifying good practices and lessons learned in the dissemination and analysis of census data. The ideas generated by the discussion and the recommendations made by participants will contribute towards the drafting of an international guideline for effective dissemination and utilization of census data.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/wshops/Kenya_14Sept2010/default.htm

National Advanced Training Workshop on CensusInfo will take place in Cairo, Egypt, from 20-23 September

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is organizing this workshop with the purpose to enhance the capacity of CAPMAS staff to use CensusInfo software as a tool for disseminating population and housing census results.

The workshop has been designed using an outcome-based training methodology consisting of a series of demonstrations followed by practical exercises based on the 2008 census results of Egypt. Participants will learn how to customize CensusInfo software according to national requirements in order to finalize the national application of CensusInfo which was drafted during the basic training held in Cairo from 2-6 May 2010.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_PHC/CensusInfo/index.htm

Workshop on Harnessing Knowledge Management through Web 2.0 Tools in the Era of Government 2.0 will take place in Shanghai, China, from 25-27 September

The workshop aims to enhance participants’ capacity for interaction with their clients through their introduction to and education about cutting-edge Gov 2.0 tools. Furthermore, the workshop aims to improve the quality of participants’ knowledge management through their introduction to the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies (UNPACS) platform and their subsequent training on related Web 2.0 tools. Moreover, participants will be provided with opportunities to share experiences, lessons learned and good practices from their countries and regions with respect to Knowledge Management.

This workshop is co-organized by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) in collaboration with the Regional Cooperation Office for City Informatization (RCOCI) of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/Events/Conferences/tabid/94/mctl/EventDetails/ModuleID/1532
/ItemID/1584/Default.aspx

Integrating ICT in parliamentary processes

Workshop on ICT Strategic Planning in the SADC Parliaments was held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 26-28 July

Awareness was raised among the Southern African Development Community (SADC) parliaments on the potential of ICT in parliament and the importance of strategic planning for the effective integration of ICT in parliamentary processes.

The event was co-organized by DESA, through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, and the SADC Parliamentary Forum, in coordination with the Africa i-Parliaments Action Plan and brought together over 40 participants including Members of Parliament, Secretary-Generals and ICT Directors from Parliaments in the SADC region.

During the event, the APKN Draft Guidelines for Strategic Planning in Parliaments prepared by the African i-Parliament Action Plan were presented as well as the structure of the Handbook for ICT Parliamentary Committees that is being prepared by the Global Centre within the framework of the Project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in the SADC Parliaments”.

The Workshop is one of the activities of the Project “Support to ICT Strategic Planning in the SADC Parliaments” funded by the European Commission and implemented by DESA in collaboration with the SADC Parliamentary Forum.

For more information: http://www.ictparliament.org/en/node/830

Advanced Training Workshop in SAS software applications will be held in Pretoria from 2-6 August

This five-day intensive course, organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in close collaboration with Statistics South Africa in the context of the UN/DESA Development Account project for SADC member states, aims at strengthening IT skills in the National statistical offices as well as providing all SADC member states with a common understanding of IT related data editing issues which creates the possibility that the NSOs find common software solutions in the future.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Workshop on the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses: Census Editing, for Countries in the Caribbean Region will be held in Castries, Saint Lucia from 23-28 August

DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the CARICOM Secretariat, is organizing a Regional Workshop for countries in the region on census editing in the context of the 2010 World Programme for Population and Housing Censuses.

The purpose of the workshop is to develop capacities of CARICOM national statistical offices (NSOs) with the techniques and procedures used in editing population and housing census data. The Workshop will cover elements of edit specifications and implementing the specifications in CSPro. The Workshop will also offer the possibility to the participants to present and discuss the experience of their countries on different aspects of census editing.

The workshop will be very hands-on, using the common core census questionnaire shared by many CARICOM member countries and sample data from some countries. Participants will be trained well enough to implement standard census edits at the workshop and be able to customize them after they return home.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/globalstat_unsd_calendar.htm

Government partnerships to promote innovation

Capacity building workshop on “Promoting Innovation in Public Service Delivery for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” was held 21 – 23 June in Barcelona, Spain

Organized by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) and the Government of Catolonia as part of the Public Service Awards Celebrations, over 80 people from 22 countries from around the world participated in the workshop which took place as part of the Public Service Awards Ceremonies and Celebrations.

As a result of the Capacity Building Workshop, government officials have created partnerships to continue sharing knowledge about innovation in government. The discussions and recommendations from the workshop were included in the Barcelona Declaration which was read prior to the Ministerial Round Table.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/Events/Conferences/tabid/458/mctl/EventDetails/ModuleID/1510/
ItemID/1541/Default.aspx

e-Government development necessary to promote transparency

Capacity building workshop on “Advancing e-Government Development and Knowledge Management” was held in Barcelona from 21-23 June in line with the Public Service Day and Awards

On the occasion of the World Public Service Day and Awards, DPADM organized in co-operation with the Government of Spain and Catalonia this workshop to explore policies, strategies, best practices and tools to promote e-government and knowledge management in government with a particular focus on the achievement of the MDGs.

Winners of the inaugural UN e-Government Survey Special Awards 2010 presented cases from Australia, Bahrain, Japan, Oman, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, and Tunisia, among others. Regional presentations about e-government challenges and solutions in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America were also featured and discussed.

The break-out session focused on the UN e-Government Survey, with an emphasis on how to advance e-government and knowledge management to facilitate the provision of public services. The workshop also provided time for discussions on innovative approaches, methodologies, and technologies in these critical areas.

Key lessons learned were incorporated into a set of recommendations, reflected in the Barcelona Declaration. Among them were the issue of considering e-government not as an additional technological option but as a duty of the state to promote engagement, transparency and accountability, which was defended by various government representatives.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/DPADM/UNPSDayAwards/UNPublicServiceDay/2010PublicServiceDay/tabid/1306/language/en-US/Default.aspx#Link_3

The draft of the Government of Turkmenistan’s 2030 Socio-economic Strategy was reviewed by DESA’s Inter-regional Advisor Mr. Tikhomirov during a mission from 30 May to 5 June

As a result of Mr. Tikhomirov’s additional comments and advice on the strategy, it was approved and preparations for its implementation were commenced.

In addition, Mr. Tikhomirov met with Mr. Lenni Montiel, UN Resident Coordinator, to discuss a project proposal for support to the Government of Turkmenistan for the implementation of the 2030 Socio-Economic strategy. The UN Resident Coordinator expressed an interest in fundraising for this project in the amount of more than 2 million dollars for the period 2010-2012. Other international organizations such as EBRD and the British Embassy also expressed a wish to participate in the fundraising and implementation of the project.

During his mission, Mr. Tikhomirov met with H.E. Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Turkmenistan, Mr. Rashid Meredov, Deputy Prime-Minister (Foreign Affairs), Mr. T. Japarov, Deputy Prime-Minister (Economics), Mr. H. Muhamedov, Deputy Prime-Minister (Office of the President), Mr. R. Saparaliev, Deputy Prime – Minister (Academy for Public Service under the President of Turkmenistan, Education and Science) and Ministers of Finance, Economics and Development, and other high-level officials.

Mr. Tikhomirov delivered a presentation and participated in a high-level management meeting on capacity development issues of public service and establishing a public administration knowledge base, which was held under the supervision of Mr. T. Japarov, the Deputy Prime-Minister.

Coping with challenges of the 21st Century

Advisory Mission to Burkina Faso and Regional Workshop on 1 June, co-organized by DESA, increased the visibility of the Economic and Social Councils (ESCs)

Council Presidents, Secretary Generals and council members came from Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Rwanda, Senegal and Italy attended the workshop and participants discussed the requirements for ESC to cope with the challenges of the twenty-first century. More specifically, it was discussed how councils can contribute to national development strategies and policies in response to the current economic crisis.

Prime Minister of Burkina Faso Mr. Tertius Zongo and the President of the African Union of ESC (UCESA) Mr. Michel Kamano expressed their gratitude for the involvement of DESA and wished that it may continue.

Towards the end of the workshop participants discussed their demand for capacity building and listed the following future activities, which can be at least partly supported in the framework of the ongoing Development Account Project, aimed at strengthening ESC in Africa:

• Development of a Knowledge Base on ESC (ongoing; DESA/AICESIS)
• Training on Knowledge Management (fall 2010; Kenya)
• Workshop on Citizen Engagement and the Global Employment Pact (2010; Benin)
• Workshop on public policies and the development of a toolkit (early 2011; Senegal).

NATO to fund governments of CIS

Advisory Mission to Poland from 11 – 15 May and to Italy from 16 to 22 May to establish an e-government knowledge base

One of the major outcomes of an advisory mission to Poland and Italy by the DPADM Interregional Advisor, Mr. Alexei Tikhomirov, was the agreement of the NATO Institute to provide funding and support to the governments of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the establishment of an e-government knowledge base covering topics such as the integrity, accountability, confidentiality of information, as well as the development of a secure information systems, for the delivery of services to citizens.

DPADM/UNDESA was invited to participate as a key partner with NATO on this initiative. Mr. Tikhomirov’s mission to Italy was funded by a NATO grant.

Improving management with ICTs

Proposed advisory services to the Government of the Republic of Mozambique

It has been proposed that DESA provides advisory services to the Government of the Republic of Mozambique for a project on improving the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation using ICT tools. This proposal resulted from a meeting on future cooperation with the Director that was requested by Ambassador José Rui Amaral, Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, of the Republic of Mozambique.

At this meeting, the Ambassador sought advice how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. The Ambassador stated that based on this meeting his recommendation to the Minister would be to establish a technical cooperation advisory service project, funded by UNDP, and to request advisory services from DESA on institutional reform through the application of ICT tools.

Workshop for enhancing the role of National Economic Social Councils (ESCs) for Inclusive Socio-Economic Policy Development will be held on 1-3 June in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The main objective of this workshop is to strengthen the capacity of ESCs in Africa to support the participatory process in public policy making, implementation and monitoring, in order to enhance design and implementation of National Development Strategies and improve service delivery for the achievement of the MDG.

In this regard, the workshop particularly aims at allowing the exchange of practices and experiences on how ESCs can contribute to National Development Strategies and the achievement of the MDGs, discussing the findings from the ad-hoc Survey and studies on African ESCs and proposing an in-country training plan for subsequent months.

The meeting will also seek to create awareness about the importance of citizens’ engagement and knowledge management as cross-cutting elements in National Development Strategies and establish a dialogue among ESCs about strategies and actions to promote further citizens’ engagement, particularly to reach the MDGs.

It will also facilitate networking among participants coming from all different ESCs, and UN officials from DESA, to jointly promote further participation of civil society about development policies. The meeting will mobilize the network of ESCs to contribute to DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management knowledge base on citizens engagement for development.

For more information: http://www.unpan.org/Events/BrowseEventsbyCalendar/tabid/94/mctl/EventDetails/
ModuleID/1532/ItemID/1543/language/en-US/Default.aspx?selecteddate=6/1/2010

Seminar on the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 in the CARICOM Region will be held in Kingston, Jamaica from 14 to 16 June

The System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) is an updated version of the System of National Accounts, 1993 (1993 SNA). It is the fifth version of the SNA, the first of which was published over fifty years ago.

The 2008 SNA was prepared under the auspices of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA), which consists of five organizations: the Statistical Office of the European Commission (Eurostat), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), DESA’s Statistics Division and regional commissions of the United Nations Secretariat and the World Bank. The 2008 SNA is published jointly by these five organizations.

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, is organizing this regional seminar to help develop a programme for the implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for countries in the CARICOM region. The seminar is hosted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica.

The purpose of the seminar is to initiate the formulation of an implementation programme for the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics with the objective of developing comparable economic statistics for member states in the CARICOM region as a whole to monitor the integration of their economies. It is expected that this initiative would lead to a multi-year programme to move the countries over to the 2008 SNA and to establish a minimum common data set of annual and high frequency statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sna2008.asp

Enhancing industrial statistics in Asia

International Workshop on Industrial Statistics will be held in Dalian, China from 21-23 June

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics of China, will organize this workshop to enhance the capacity of National Statistical Offices of Asian countries in the area of industrial statistics. This workshop is part of a series of events organized under the project on strengthening statistical capacity development in China and other developing countries in Asia funded by the Chinese Government.

The workshop will address specific issues in industrial statistics, namely, the compilation of the index of industrial production, following the revision of the International Recommendations for the Index of Industrial Production, the production of statistics on capacity utilization for manufacturing units and the conduct of business condition surveys for manufacturing units.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/industry/meetings

Supporting older persons in Cameroon

National Workshop to finalize a National Policy and Plan of Action for Older Persons in Cameroon will take place in Kribi from 28-30 June

This activity is a follow up to work undertaken under a Development Account project. Following national consultations with stakeholders in all regions of the country, a national consultant, in collaboration with the Ministry for Social Affairs and DESA’s Division for Social Policy and Development, produced a draft policy and plan of action.

This workshop will bring together approximately 50 stakeholders, including civil society, central and regional government representatives and UN agencies from around the country to review, suggest changes and endorse the draft to be submitted to Government for approval.

Developing National Systems of Tourism Statistics: Challenges and Good Practices will be discussed at a workshop for CIS countries in Chisinau, Moldova from 29 June-2 July

The Workshop is organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Interstate Statistical Committee of the CIS (CISSTAT) and National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova and hosted by the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova.

The objective of the workshop is to assist countries in strengthening their statistical capacity in the area of tourism statistics by training them in the International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 39th session in February 2008 as well as by providing advice on practical issues of the implementation.

The training will focus on both the conceptual issues and good practices in organizing and improving the national programmes of tourism statistics under various country specific circumstances. The workshop aims also to promote and facilitate the inter-agency cooperation to ensure that tourism statistics is compiled in an integrated and efficient way and the disseminated data serve the needs of national tourism agencies, national statistical offices and central banks in the best possible way.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/tradeserv/cooperation.htm

Reviewing recommendations of MDG data

Workshop on MDG Monitoring will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 29 June-2 July

The Workshop, which is organized by DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), will bring together representatives from national statistical offices and line ministries to review recommendations for reporting of MDG data and to establish strategies for dealing with data discrepancies and data gaps at the national and international level, particularly for health related MDG indicators.

In addition, the workshop will provide participants with skills needed to improve the production and dissemination of MDG indicators.

Strengthening e-government programmes

Missions and meetings with Brunei, Portugal, Albania, Tunisia to support the 2010 United Nations e-Government Survey

Mission to Brunei on e-Government

At the International Conference on e-Government and Administration Simplification in Brunei Darussalam, 11-13 May, the results of the 2010 UN e-Government Survey attracted significant international interest. The impact of the Survey was evident as many of the participants referenced either the 2008 or the 2010 UN e-Government Survey. In particular, reference was made to the stages of e-government preparedness and the criteria used for the Survey. A number of countries also indicated that they use the Survey as a benchmarking tool as part of their e-government development programme.

The host country, Brunei Darussalam, noted with satisfaction that they jumped 19 places since the 2008 Survey and expressed an interest in sending a delegation to New York to meet with the Haiyan Qian and representatives of the e-Government Branch, Division for Public Administration & Development Management (DPADM), to learn more about the UN e-Government Survey.

Haiyan Qian was invited to give a presentation and to chair a panel at the conference by the OECD/Korea Policy Centre. She was also interviewed on the results of the 2010 UN e-Government Survey and invited by the Government of Brunei Darussalam to visit their centre on e-government.

Meeting with a Delegation of Portugal

In response to the results published in the UN e-Government Survey 2010, the Mission of Portugal requested a meeting to discuss the criteria used in the Survey to assess e-government preparedness. The delegation, consisting of Counsellor Manuel Silva Pereira of the Permanent Mission and Mr. Luis Goes Pinheiro, Chief of Staff of the State Office for Administrative Modernization in Lisbon, also took the opportunity to share the latest developments in the field of e-government in Portugal.

Some of these developments will be featured in DPADM’s knowledge base (PAKS – Public Administration Knowledge Space) and publications such as the Compendium on e-Government Innovative Practices. Noteworthy examples shared by Portugal include the recent law enacted by the Portuguese Government to promote inter-agency connectivity, the development of citizen-centric online services such as the citizen card, the e-little school for children, the e-procurement system, and toolkits to support public administration and e-government in post-conflict countries in lusophone Africa and in East Timor. Overall, it was a mutually beneficial meeting, in which the technical products of DPADM were positively highlighted by a Member State.

Advisory mission to Albania

The Government of Albania’s e-government strategy and implementation of the e-government programme was the subject of a mission to Albania. Discussions focused on how DESA could provide support towards strengthening Albania’s e-government capacity in key ministries and institutions.

DESA, through DPADM, presented a half-day workshop on the methodology of the UN e-Government Survey, the ranking as it pertains to Albania and the identification of strengths and challenges that exist in Albania, as well as DESA tools that could be used to provide support to the Government of Albania.

This led to enhanced awareness on the part of public officials about e-government issues to be tackled in a comprehensive manner and increased level of commitment for IT managers to become more e-government savvy and to create opportunities to increase citizen engagement through the use of blogs. Each IT Manager committed to developing his/her own blog.

In addition, a meeting with UNDP-Albania led to an agreement in principle to work together more closely in providing support to Albania. DESA was requested to develop a proposal to see how its expertise on e-government and public sector management could be used in the next Country Programme for Albania.

Advisory mission to Tunisia

The strengths and challenges of Tunisia in developing a way forward towards strengthening its e-government programme were the subject of a mission to Tunisia. This mission was undertaken within the framework of the UNDP project to support the Office of the Prime Minister.

As for the advisory mission to Albania, a half-day workshop was presented on the methodology of the UN e-Government Survey, the ranking as it pertains to Tunisia and the identification of strengths and challenges that exist in Tunisia, as well as DESA tools that could be used to provide support to the Government of Tunisia, with similar outcomes.

The mission also finalized the terms of reference of the UNDP project, for which DESA is the implementing agency, of both the international and national consultants that would be recruited to support local governance and enhance e-content and accessibility as highlighted in the project document.

During the mission, the UN e-government methodology was presented to the UNDP-Tunisia country team, which led to some fruitful discussions between UNDP and UNDESA, and strengthened the foundation of cooperation between the two organizations.

For more information: http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/global_reports/10report.htm

Egypt National Seminar on Census Data Analysis will be held in Cairo from 17-19 May

The main objective of the seminar is to provide an opportunity for the staff members of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), in collaboration with the Cairo Demographic Center and Cairo University, to further collaborate on the analysis of data from the 2006 census in Egypt on selected topics.

The seminar will cover an overview of calculation of the wealth index, gender analysis and use of the CensusInfo software for data presentation and dissemination. After the seminar, participants are expected to produce thematic analytical reports, based on analysis generated during the seminar.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/2010_PHC/default.htm

Seminar on the implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 in the Western Asia Region will be held in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman from 23 to 26 May

The System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) is an updated version of the System of National Accounts, 1993 (1993 SNA). It is the fifth version of the SNA, the first of which was published over fifty years ago.

The 2008 SNA was prepared under the auspices of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA), which consists of five organizations: the Statistical Office of the European Commission (Eurostat), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), DESA’s Statistics Division and regional commissions of the United Nations Secretariat and the World Bank. The 2008 SNA is published jointly by these five organizations.

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the UNESCWA and the GCC Secretariat, is organizing this regional seminar to help develop a programme for the implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA) for countries in the ESCWA region. The seminar is hosted by the Sultanate of Oman.

The purpose of the seminar is to initiate the formulation of an implementation programme for the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics with the objective of developing comparable economic statistics for member states in the ESCWA region as a whole to monitor the integration of their economies. It is expected that this initiative would lead to a multi-year programme to move the countries over to the 2008 SNA and to establish a minimum common data set of annual and high frequency statistics.

For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sna2008.asp

Meetings with delegations from Governments of Oman, Norway and Columbia to discuss e-government activities

Meeting with a delegation from the Government of Oman

The ongoing activities of the Government of Oman in delivering e-services and the ranking of Oman in the United Nations E-government Survey were the topics of a meeting between a delegation from Oman and DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) on 14 April.

The Omani Delegation was led by the Chief Executive Office of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), Dr. Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, while Ms Haiyan Qian led the DPADM team.

The Government of Oman noted that the United Nations e-Government Survey was one of the instruments used in their pillar of “Global ranking” within their national policy to promote investment within the country.

DPADM presented the methodology of the 2010 UN Survey as well as a proposed plan of action to support the Government. The Government of Oman agreed with DPADM’s plan of action and requested an advisory mission to take place at the end of June 2010.

Meeting with Norwegian Government Delegation

A high-level delegation from Norway of 20 government officials came to the United States for a Study Tour to examine the United States’ e-government strategies, policies and e-services and met with the Director and the e-Government Branch to share their e-government activities and to learn more about the United Nations e-Government Survey.

In the pilot dissemination of statistical data of the 2010 Survey on the Divisional website, Norway was ranked 6th globally as compared to 3rd in the 2008 Survey. There are two specific reasons why Norway dropped slightly in the rankings, namely: lower e-participation and transaction services as compared to the upper echelon countries such as the Republic of Korea, the U.S. and Canada.

After a presentation by the Director, the delegation from Norway observed that their own assessment of their e-government services and participation closely matched the results of the 2010 Survey. In addition, they also noted that their Government lagged behind in terms of mobile services.

On the positive side, Norway was ranked 7th globally in the online service index, which indicates that its national portal and ministry sites had a wealth of information for its citizens as well as numerous e-services. As a high-income country, Norway benefited from its investment in infrastructure, education and e-services. Its Internet penetration and broadband access of users was one of the highest in the world.

As part of the dialogue, DESA, through DPADM, and the Delegation from Norway agreed in principle to cooperate and to provide possible technical advisory services to developing countries on e-government issues.

Meeting with the Director of the e-Government Programme in Colombia

At the request of the Government of Columbia to the Director, the e-Government Branch were assigned to meet with the Director of the e-Government Programme in Colombia, Ms. Diana Parra Silva, who requested DESA’s cooperation in the field of e-government development.

The following cooperation possibilities have been requested: DESA to assist the Government of Colombia (GoC) in developing their next e-Government Strategic Plan, Capacity Development and training activities to enhance vision, processes and direction setting for e-government development in Colombia. The GoC requested DESA to plan a diagnostic mission to address the issues above and confirmed that they already have funds that would be made available for the development of these activities.

They also suggested a meeting between Mr. Sha, Under-Secretary-General of DESA and the Minister responsible for Information and Communications during Mr. Sha’s visit to Colombia from 22-26 March. It was noteworthy that Ms. Parra Silva said at the end of the meeting: “we do not need money; we need your brains”. DPADM has already submitted talking points for this meeting to the Under-Secretary-General.

For more information: http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/

DESA will be organizing a second capacity building workshop for public sector human resource managers in Africa from 12-16 April in Cotonou, Republic of Benin.

Following the establishment of the Africa Public Sector Human Resource Managers’ Network (APS-HRMnet) in Arusha in February 2009, DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management designed a project financed under the “Development Account” in order to provide assistance to APS-HRMnet.

The activities planned under the project include capacity building workshops, expert group meetings, study tours, on-line training programmes and a publication on human resource management in the public sector.

The first activity under this project is a capacity building workshop on “Strengthening Human Resource Capacities for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Africa’s Development” scheduled to take place from 12 – 16 April in Cotonou, Republic of Benin.  The main objective is to enhance the capacity of human resource managers in the public service in Africa to carry out the various functions of Human Resource Management with the aim of achieving the MDGs and Africa’s development.

More information on the workshop

Advisory Mission to Turkmenistan and Belarus

Policy advice through DESA’s technical assistance on public sector and e-government has resulted in new capacity development initiatives in this region.

Mr. Alexei Tikhomirov, DESA’s Interregional Adviser, met with H.E. Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Turkmenistan, four Deputy Prime-Ministers, and other Ministers.

As a result of this mission, the Government is now reviewing and revising its socio-economic strategy up to 2020 and is preparing a 2030 socio-economic strategy, including elaboration of the e-government programme and related public sector reform activities.

The mission also contributed to the preparation of a public budget charter and the design of normative documents in the area of public service. Mr. Lenni Montiel, United Nations Resident Coordinator, expressed UNDP’s interest in funding a project framework for DESA to support the Government in the above areas for 2010-2012.

During the mission in Belarus, Mr. Tikhomirov met with Mr. Usevalad Yanchuski, Assistant to the President of Belarus (public administration and e-government issues), Mr.Siarhei Tkachou, Assistant to the President of Belarus (economics issues), and other officials to discuss the implementation of their e-government policy and the design of a new e-government programme to be launched in 2011.

As a result of the analytical output of the 2010 e-Government Survey, DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management, through Mr. Tikhomirov was requested by the Government of Belarus to assist their government leaders with the revision of their e-government programme. Mr. Tikhomirov was able to generate an agreement with UNDP and the World Bank to establish a project for DESA to help improve online services in Belarus through their e-government programme.

Supporting the Caribbean e-Government Strategy

Training for permanent secretaries senior officials to improve the framework for e-government in Dominica, Antigua and Montserrat.

The Government of Dominica has decided to design an integrated framework for the concrete implementation of e-government by combining the actions of the Public Service Reform Unit with those of the Information and Telecommunication (ICT) Unit as a result of a training workshop organized by DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) together with the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD).

The Government of Dominica also agreed to work on the development of a human resource information system, on computerized leave records, on having a robust and secure Intranet for governmental offices, and on the development of a comprehensive information management policy. DPADM advised on initial steps that are not capital intensive.

In addition, in a meeting with permanent secretaries, it was agreed that there is a need for the definition of a clear coordination mechanism through policy directions from the Cabinet.

Jonas Rabinovitch, DPADM, also met with the Minister for Public Services, the Minister for Information, Telecommunications and Constituency Empowerment, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs within the Office of the Prime-Minister and with the Cabinet Steering Committee for Information, Telecommunications and e-Government, among other senior officials. The mission was considered timely by the Government, given recent elections.

DPADM obtained consensus from the Governments of Dominica, Antigua and Montserrat that e-government is much more than a mere technology fix and presents a real opportunity to transform the way governments do their business. A few concrete and detailed follow-up steps were designed with these governments, which will be monitored during the next few months.

Expert group meeting on indigenous children and youth in detention, custody, foster care and adoption will take place in Vancouver from 4-5 March

The Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (SPFII) is currently working with First Nations Summit to organize this event that will be attended by Permanent Forum members, indigenous experts from the seven UNPFII socio-cultural regions, government officials and representatives from UN Agencies and Funds. Representatives of indigenous peoples’ organizations are welcome to attend.

More information on the Expert Group meeting

DESA’s Statistics Division, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics of China, will organize an International Workshop on Regional Products and Income Accounts from 15 to 17 March in Beijing

The workshop aims to review the current practices of various countries in regional accounts and propose best practice approaches in compilation of Gross Regional Product and Income. This workshop is part of a series of events organized under the project on strengthening statistical capacity development in China and other developing countries in Asia funded by the Chinese Government.

It will give an overview of the conceptual framework and different approaches for allocation of national economic activities to regions and address some measurement issues on the inconsistency between the national aggregates and the sum of regional data. The workshop will also offer the opportunity to exchange experiences and discuss the optimal approach in the calculation of Gross Regional Product and Income.

More information on DESA Statisics Division upcoming events

The United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) online training center has re-opened its courses for the year 2010 in English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Arabic and soon in Spanish

The training center delivers courses on various topics in public administration with the main objective to increase the opportunities for government officials from all over the world to access training materials on e-government. Each course is self-guided, and must be completed within 60 days of registration. A certificate of completion will be awarded at the end of the course.

The online training courses will also be translated into Spanish as a result of collaboration between Hunter College, City University of New York and DPADM. Ms. Maria Cornelio, Coordinator of Spanish Major Concentration in Translation/Interpretation of Hunter College, proposed the translation of these online courses into Spanish at a recent meeting with Ms. Haiyan Qian, Director, DPADM.

As per Ms. Cornelio’s proposal, it was agreed to arrange the translation of the UNPAN online training courses from English into Spanish without cost. The training courses in Spanish will increase the opportunities for government officials from Spanish speaking countries to access training materials on e-government.

UNPAN online training courses are available to anyone with Internet access and are provided free of charge by DESA. They are currently available in English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Arabic.

More information on the online training

Workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 2-5 February will focus on the methodology and data compilation of international merchandise trade statistics

This workshop is part of DESA’s Development Account project “Building Statistical Capacity in the Low Income Countries of South East Asia” which aims to strengthen and sustain the capacity of Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and Vietnam for the production, analysis and dissemination of benchmark statistics.

The focus of the workshop which is organized by DESA’s Statistics Division cooperation with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP) and the National Statistical Institute of Cambodia will be on the concepts and definitions for international merchandise trade statistics (IMTS) and their application in countries. Countries are expected to develop country specific action plans which will serve as guidance for national data compilers to improve IMTS compilation and dissemination.

More information workshop on Statistical Classification.

DESA’s Interregional Advisers participated in the inaugural Gulf Cooperation Council e-Government Conference in Muscat, Oman from 21-23 December 2009

The number of submissions for the 2010 United Nations Public Service Awards from Western Asia has more than doubled and the awareness and visibility of this Awards programme increased significantly as a result of the participation of Ms. Adriana Alberti, Coordinator of the United Nations Public Service Awards Programme, and Mr. Richard Kerby, Inter-regional Adviser, DESA’s Division for Public Administration & Development Management, at the inaugural Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) e-Government Conference.

Ms. Alberti gave a presentation on “Innovation in Governance and Public Administration” and Mr. Kerby on “E-participation and Citizen Engagement in the GCC”. Synergies with other relevant awards programmes were also established.

Moreover, a number of contacts were made with government officials from all countries of the region in order to build together the Knowledge Base on Public Administration and Governance, particularly in the area of principles and standards of excellence in the public service in Western Asia.

The Conference resulted in a final declaration containing recommendations on how to further advance e-government services for the benefit of all citizens in the Gulf region. Sharing of best practices and expertise was one of the top recommendations.

More information on Gulf Cooperation Council e-Government Conference

DESA will organize in cooperation with the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration a capacity building activity from 10-11 February in Dominica

The workshop will help to materialize the implementation of the Caribbean e-Government strategy through selected activities for officials from Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat that would result in the formation of in-country teams and training modules for the entire region.

A key objective will be to assist government officials in aligning national public administration frameworks and e-government strategies with the forthcoming CARICOM Caribbean e-Government Regional Strategy, thus facilitating its implementation.

The training will not focus on tools and technology, but mostly on public administration and governance — thus representing a new way of doing business and an opportunity to revamp integrated public service delivery through the use of information and communication technology.

The meeting will be hosted by the Government of Dominica. Permanent Secretaries for the areas of health, tourism, education, agriculture, social services, housing, public works, human resource development and others are likely to attend.

DESA’s Inter-regional Advisor facilitated a workshop to assist the country in the public administration reform programme

Guidelines and priorities for the 2010 Work Plan of the Public Administration Reform Programme for the Government of Togo were established as a result of a workshop with government officials and the UNDP country office that was facilitated by Mr. Alphonse Mekolo Inter-regional Advisor, DESA’s Division for Public Administration & Development Management, as part of his mission to Togo, 5-19 December 2009.

The mission was part of the technical support DESA is providing to the Government of Togo for strengthening and modernizing public administration in the country and coincided with the commemoration of the first year of Public Administration Reform in Togo.

Achievements of the Public Sector Reform Programme to-date were exhibited and communicated to the public by the Public Service of Togo through an exercise facilitated by Mr. Mekolo, together with government officials, including the Prime Minister of Togo.

Workshop on International Economic and Social Classifications will be held for statisticians of French-speaking countries from 25-28 January in Bamako, Mali

DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with AFRISTAT and the National Statistical Office of France (INSEE) is organizing a workshop that will present the conceptual as well as main structural changes for the revised International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) and the Central Product Classification (CPC).

The workshop will also review the current implementation of activity and product classifications in the region and will try to coordinate the work on a regional classification for AFRISTAT member countries.

More information workshop on International Economic and Social Classifications.

Mission to Chad from 13-22 November to recruit additional national experts to support the Government

Mr. Gustave Nébié, Inter-Regional Adviser of DESA’s Division for Public Administration & Development Management, went on mission to Chad from 13 to 22 November. The main objective was to participate in a recruitment panel for 4 additional national experts for the project “Implementation of National Development Strategy” and for the elaboration of a 2010 work plan and budget of this project.

After successfully supporting the elaboration of a National Development Strategy for Chad in 2008, the project now focuses on supporting the implementation and monitoring of the National Strategy. In this regard, more resources are needed (both financial and human) to support the Government. With these 4 additional experts, the project will be able to scale-up its activities, and a budget of around $1.7 millions is planned for 2010.

During the International Symposium on Public Personnel Management in Beijing from 25 – 28 October a proposal was made to set up this network

Following a presentation of the Africa Public Sector Human Resource Managers’ Network (APS-HRMnet), which was established in February 2009 with the support of DESA, to the participants at the International Symposium, a proposal to establish a human resource managers’ network in Asia, similar to the one already implemented in Africa, was made.

This proposal was accepted by the participants with enthusiasm and appreciation and was discussed along with a presentation made by a participant from Sri Lanka. An agreement was reached to establish a small working group that would meet virtually and continue to work on the proposal.

It was also agreed that the working group will inform the Symposium participants on progress made regarding the establishment of the Human Resource Managers’ Network in Asia and on the way forward.