UN DESA’s Statistics Division, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) are launching a project “Advancing the System of Experimental-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA) Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in 7 pilot countries”. 

UN DESA’s Statistics Division will conduct scoping missions to Indonesia (1-3 October 2014) and Bhutan (6-10 October 2014) in an effort to advance the SEEA by initiating the testing of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting. The scoping mission will mark the beginning of the inception phase of the project that will assess data availability and measurement practices, and develop a SEEA work programme based on policy priorities in Indonesia and Bhutan.

The project will build capacity to develop national strategies and formulate the way forward on how to engage national, sub-regional, regional and international organizations and institutions in developing strategies for the testing of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting, with the objective of strengthening the national statistical system in support of developing comparable ecosystem accounts for policy making in Indonesia and Bhutan.

For more information: UN DESA’s Statistics Division

The e-Government Branch (eGB) of UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) is organizing the 2014 United Nations Global e-Government Forum (GeGF) in partnership with the Agency for Communication and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 6-8 October.

Taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan, the event will focus on ‘Smart Governance for Sustainable Development: New Opportunities for Partnership in a Networked Society’. The Forum will be opened by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan and representatives of UN DESA top management.

It is expected that the president of Kazakhstan will attend the event and that almost 30 Ministers will participate in this high-level event.  During the Forum the winners of the 2014 United Nations E-Government Survey Special Award will be recognized for their leadership and outstanding achievements in the field of e-government during the Awards Ceremony.

For more information:  2014 United Nations Global e-Government Forum

The 26th Meeting of Inter-agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators (IAEG-MDG) will be organised by UN DESA’s Statistics Division on 7-9 October in Geneva, and will be hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

The IAEG-MDG has been responsible for data development, compilation and analysis for the assessment of trends in Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators. During the meeting, the outcomes of the debates on MDGs at the 69th session of the General Assembly as well as on outcomes of various post-2015 development-related processes and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be reviewed. The participants will also discuss how to prepare the 2015 final global MDG report.

The Inter-Agency and Expert Group (IAEG) on MDG Indicators includes various Departments within the United Nations Secretariat, a number of UN agencies from within the United Nations system and outside, various government agencies and national statisticians, and other organizations concerned with the development of MDG data at the national and international levels including donors and expert advisers.

IAEG is responsible for the preparation of data and analysis to monitor progress towards the MDGs. The Group also reviews and defines methodologies and technical issues in relation to the indicators, produces guidelines, and helps define priorities and strategies to support countries in data collection, analysis and reporting on MDGs.

Over the past few years, the IAEG has worked to promote improvement and better documentation on the standards and methods used in compiling and analyzing MDG indicators, including finding ways to aggregate country data in a meaningful way, overcoming problems of comparability and, even more importantly, providing a meaningful analysis of the aggregate figures that represents the local situation. This work is undertaken through thematic sub-groups established within IAEG and through other inter-agency mechanisms bringing together specialized agencies in the various fields covered by the MDGs.

For more information: Millennium Development Goals Indicators

The London Group on Environmental Accounting is holding its annual meeting in New Delhi, India, on 15-17 October.

Comprising of experts from national statistical offices, as well as international organizations, the London Group plays a leading role in advancing the methodologies of environmental-economic accounts.

This year the group will discuss, among other things, Integrated Approaches to the implementation of the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA), the Technical Notes and Core Tables for the SEEA Central Framework, issues relating to SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting, Training and Capacity Building, and the SEEA-Agriculture.

The London Group on Environmental Accounting is a city group created in 1993 to allow practitioners to share their experience of developing and implementing environmental accounts linked to the System of National Accounts. It generally meets annually and the meetings provide a forum for review, comparison and discussion of work underway by participants towards development of environmental accounts.

The London Group has played a leading role over the years in advancing the methodologies of environmental-economic accounts and in providing a forum for sharing national and international expertise in the field. The most notable accomplishments have been its contribution to the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA-Central Framework) which was adopted as the international statistical standard for environmental economic accounts at the forty-third session of the United Nations Statistical Commission, and to the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEA-Water), which was adopted as an interim international statistical standard at the thirty-eighth session of the United Nations Statistical Commission.

For more information: London Group on Environmental Accounting

Leading experts from academia, government and civil society organizations will meet in Paris, France, on 20 and 21 October at a meeting on Formal/Informal Institutions for Citizen Engagement for implementing the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Expert Group Meeting, organized by UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) in collaboration with ESCWA, OECD and UNESCO, will examine ways in which governments can leverage opportunities for collaboration with non-State actors to better address sustainable development challenges. Engagement practices will be analyzed, including in contexts where institutions are under pressures due to conflict and its spillover effects. At the end of the Meeting, experts are expected to provide recommendations on ways to achieve greater coherence between formal and informal citizen engagement in development management.

A New Public Engagement Framework

Particularly in the period after 2015 when the MDGs timeframe is up, governments will need to examine their frameworks and practices for better engaging citizens and the broad public. This will be necessary if they are to “ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels” as emphasized by the Open Working Group (OWG) on SDGs.

Meeting’s discussions on this topic will be informed by a background document distilling learnings from various forms of engagement through examples in Asia and North America. The paper argues that, considering, for example, the proposed SDG 1, which is to “End poverty in all its forms everywhere.” It takes little reflection to realize that such a goal will not be achieved by governments alone. Poverty is a complex condition whose causes reach into all parts of a community, from family relationships to conditions in the workplace.

Unsurprisingly, a sustainable solution to poverty will require effort and action from across the community, including governments, NGOs, businesses and individuals. For instance, governments must provide the right regulations, policies, programmes and services; businesses must pay fair wages and use fair hiring practices; NGOs must provide appropriate forms of relief; and families must provide support to individuals in need. Poverty reduction requires a community effort in which everyone must participate.

In view of this, the Meeting will examine ways in which governments can address increasingly complex realities, including those resulting from conflict, by leveraging opportunities for collaboration with non-State actors.

Towards an alignment between formal and informal engagement

Experts will share experiences from around the world on ways of engaging non-State actors through formal and informal means. The Meeting will consist of an opening and a closing ceremony and a total of six plenary sessions. Discussions will focus on the options for participatory decision-making for implementing the post-2015 development agenda, as well as whether informal systems are a resilience mechanism or an obstacle to governance reform, particularly in post-conflict settings. The Meeting will also reflect upon engagement in the context of information and communication technology, social media and open government. It will then examine leadership requirements and changes in the public sector to enhance engagement for better service delivery and accountability.

The limits encountered by formal institutions when attempting to influence and tap into informal engagement systems will also be analyzed. At the end of the meeting, participants are expected to make recommendations on enhancing coherence between formal and informal engagement and the framework to be provided by national policies.

For more information:

Formal/Informal Institutions for Citizen Engagement for implementing the Post 2015 Development Agenda

International Conference on Big Data for Official Statistics will be held on 28-30 October in Beijing, China.

Innovations in technology, broad use of electronic devices and the all-around generation of digital information bring fundamental changes to the availability of real-time information, such as data from GPS devices, from mobile phones or from social media. These high-volume and sometimes loosely structured data sources, commonly referred to as Big Data, are different from conventional data sources for official statistics, and have many challenges in their application. The business case still needs to be made for many statistical offices if, why and how Big Data are useful for official statistics.

The potential of Big Data sources resides in their timely (sometimes real-time) availability of large amounts of data. The traditional data sources, such as household and business surveys are often costly and slow in the production of statistics. Big Data could supplement, reduce or replace such data collections. However, the statistical community is conscious of the fact that in order to be able to take advantage of these innovative data sources, it needs to adequately address issues pertaining to methodology, quality, technology, legislation, privacy, management and finance. It is also of utmost importance to create an environment where public trust in the use of Big Data for official statistics is established and where privacy and confidentiality of personal information can be assured.

The statistical community has recognized the potential use of big data for official statistics. The UN Statistical Commission therefore established in March 2014 a global working group mandated to provide strategic vision, direction and coordination of a global programme on Big Data for official statistics, to promote practical use of sources of Big Data for official statistics, while finding solutions for their challenges, and to promote capacity building and sharing of experiences in this respect. Currently, mainly developed countries have started using various Big Data sources, such as Mobile phone data, Traffic loop data, Twitter data and Satellite imagery. Whereas national circumstances can be fairly unique, the objective of the Conference and of the global working group is to generalize the use of such Big Data sources to other countries, especially also in developing parts of the world. The Conference will bring together statisticians, data scientists and academia, who are interested in making Big Data sources useful for statistical applications.

For more information: International Conference on Big Data for Official Statistics

In 2013, the Development Management Branch (DMB) of UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) launched the project entitled “Developing capacity for e-Participation: Engaging citizens in development policy and decision-making processes through Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)”.

Funded under the Development Account, the project emphasizes governments’ use of e-participation – engagement via electronic means – to bring citizens into the development policy-making process and improve the delivery of public services.

The linchpin of the project is a survey tool developed by DMB known as ‘METEP’, the Measurement and Evaluation Tool for Engagement and e-Participation. Substantial input for its realization was derived in part from the experiences and best practices of international policymakers, experts and practitioners on e-participation, gathered by DMB during a seminar in Geneva in July 2013.

A dynamic self-assessment and recommendation guide, METEP is aimed at both national and local government officials. It seeks to raise awareness of the benefits of e-participation and increase the deployment of e-participation strategies by government agencies in charge of development policy. The most critical phase of DMB’s project will be the roll-out of METEP over the course of national capacity building workshops in select developing countries. The first of these is projected to take place in Kazakhstan in October 2014, concurrently with the 3rd Global e-Government Forum, with two more to follow in Kenya and Indonesia this year.

Training on METEP provided to government officials during the workshops, as well as future field advisory services, will contribute to national capacity development for harnessing e-participation – to ensure development management becomes more citizen-centric, demand-driven and realistic.

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

The theme of the 9th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which took place on 2-5 September in Istanbul, was ‘Connecting Continents for Enhanced Multi-stakeholder Internet Governance’. More than 3,500 participants (approximately 2,400 on-site and 1,100 online) from more than 140 countries attended, from governments, the technical community, civil society, private sector, media and academia.

It was the most attended IGF to date and can be compared to the 8th IGF in Bali, where over 2,000 participants from 111 countries attended. The official hashtag was tweeted more than 40,000 times and reached more than 29 million twitter users. For the 8th IGF, the official hashtag reached an estimated 10 million users.

Mr. Thomas Gass, the Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, represented the United Nations. The ASG made a statement at the High-Level Leaders Meeting preceding the IGF, on capacity building for economic development, organized by the host Government.  He also opened the 9th IGF.

The main sessions and workshops addressed a wide range of Internet governance issues under the sub-themes of: Policies Enabling Access; Content Creation, Dissemination and Use; Internet as an Engine for Growth & Development; IGF & The Future of the Internet Ecosystem; Enhancing Digital Trust; Internet and Human Rights; Critical Internet Resources; and Emerging Issues.

The NETmundial Initiative announced by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and ICANN in late August was also discussed in Istanbul. The IGF presented an excellent opportunity for WEF representatives to hear from diverse stakeholders.  “NETmundial Initiative needs to be more inclusive, transparent, focused, and it should not duplicate or undermine existing efforts” was the common message delivered by the majority of the IGF stakeholders.

The IANA transition and ICANN’s broader accountability were also hot topics and were featured in a main session and a number of workshops. In the main session entitled “Enhancing ICANN Accountability and Governance Town Hall Meeting”, participants found an opportunity for an open dialogue to address and clarify any concerns regarding to enhancing ICANN’s accountability and governance process.

Initiatives to produce tangible outputs that catalogue successful policies and activities, identified during the IGF, were introduced.  Among several, they included five Best Practices Forums: online child protection; regulation and mitigation of unwanted communications or spam; coordinated responses to cyber-security threats; development of local content; and multi-stakeholder participation mechanisms. The draft Chair’s Summary was distributed at the Closing Ceremony, at the initiative of Ambassador Janis Karklins (IGF’s Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group Chair).

There was a strong support for further strengthening the IGF and extending its current mandate that ends in 2015. The donors also echoed similar support during a meeting that took place on 4 September. A multi-stakeholder group of participants drafted a statement that it intends to submit to the United Nations, requesting the renewal of the IGF mandate with a longer cycle.

The Internet Governance Forum Support Association was also officially launched during the ninth IGF at its inaugural General Assembly meeting in Istanbul. The establishment of the IGF Support Association is an initiative of the Internet Society, with the main objectives of promoting and supporting the global IGF, as well as the national and regional IGF initiatives.

Participants in a range of workshops kept the links between human rights and Internet policy front and center, and the week culminated in the launch of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms, a document developed through extensive multi-stakeholder processes to promote human rights in Internet policy in Africa, and to serve as an advocacy and organizing tool.

About the IGF

The IGF was established as an outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003 and Tunis, 2005). DESA has been convening annual meetings since its inception in 2006.  While not a decision-making body, the IGF has become the major multi-stakeholder platform for discussions on internet-related policy issues.

The United Nations General Assembly agreed in December 2010 to extend the IGF’s mandate for another five years.  In 2015, the General Assembly will assess the progress with the input of the broader WSIS review process that is scheduled to take place in December 2015. The 10th IGF, the last meeting under the current mandate, will be held in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil from 10 to 14 November 2015.

For more information: Internet Governance Forum