UNITED NATIONS STATISTCS COMMISSION SIDE EVENTMeeting on Strategic Statistical Planning for Small Island Developing States21 February 2009, New York
Overview of strategic statistical planning in the Pacific islands
Gerald Haberkorn
Statistics and Demography Program
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Noumea, New Caledonia
Structure of presentation
• Providing context – basic facts and figures • Current state of Strategic Statistical Planning• Existing challenges
SPC Member countries and territories
MAP LAYER
Marshall Islands
Kiribati
Tuvalu
French Polynesia
Tokelau
AmSamoa
SamoaWallis etFutuna
PitcairnIslands
CookIslands
Niue
Fiji
Vanuatu
New Caledonia
SolomonIslands
Papua New Guinea
Tonga
Nauru
Palau
Guam
CNMI
Federated States of Micronesia
TEXT LAYER
Population context
9.5 million (2008) increase of 2.6 million people since Cairo ICPD, 1994
Distribution remains largely unchanged 5 largest PICTs, those comprising Melanesia, account for 86.4% of the regional population, followed by much smaller PICTs in Polynesia (7.4%) and Micronesia (6.2%).
2/3 Pacific Islanders live in Papua New Guinea (6.5 million), followed by Fiji 840,000, Solomon Islands 520,000
8 countries and territories with populations of 20,000 or less (5 <10,000)
Our constituents – national statistics and planning agencies of 21 PICTS
• Statistics agencies – technical support and training covering collections, analysis, dissemination and utilization of statistics
• Planning agencies – ensure data and information needs are articulated and addressed, data easily accessible and utilized
Our constituents – Pacific Island NSOsCountry Staff Country Staff Country Staff
American Samoa
6(7)
Marshall Islands
7(7)
Samoa 49(27)
Cook Islands 11(10)
Nauru 3(3)
Solomon Islands
25(22)
FSM 20(19)
New Caledonia
40(41)
Tokelau 1(1)
Fiji 52(80)
Niue 2(3)
Tonga 29(25)
French Polynesia
29n.a.
Northern Marianas
6(6)
Tuvalu 5(5)
Guam 20(16)
Palau 4(5)
Vanuatu 18(14)
Kiribati 12(8)
PNG 91(140)
Wallis and Futuna
9(8)
Current State of Strategic Statistical Planning – Pacific Island NSOs
• All countries have some sort of (annual) corporate plan
• Most have some reference to statistical developments in their National Development Frameworks
• Up until last year – no country had a Statistical development strategy/Master plan/strategic Plan
Current State of Strategic Statistical Planning – Pacific Island NSOs (ctd.)
Catalysts for recent development • Paris21 getting more active
(including visit by Antoine Simonpietri to SPC as part of IAOS side meeting in Noumea, March 2006)
• PIC development partners getting more strategic (questioning wisdom of continued ad hoc investments in statistics, without overall strategic policy / planning framework)
• Growing interest by statistical agencies of Australia and New Zealand in contributing to statistical development of its PI neighbors
• Individual country initiatives (Samoa)
• Gentle, but persistent advocacy by SPC
Current State of Strategic Statistical Planning – Pacific Island NSOs (ctd.)
Country Population Staff Strat Plan Pipeline Assistance PNG 6,473,900 91 no unknown
Fiji 839,300 52 no unknown
Samoa 179,600 49 no 2009 AusAID/NZAid
Tonga 102,700 29 no TA requested
Solomons 517,500 25 no unknown
FSM 110,400 20 no 2009 (May) ABS-AusAID / SPC
Vanuatu 233,000 18 Yes (2008) ABS-AusAID
Kiribati 97,200 12 no 2009 (May) ABS-AusAID / SPC
Cook Islands 15,500 11 Yes (2008) Stats NZ-NZAid
Marshall Islands 53,200 7 Yes (2008) ABS-AusAID / SPC
Tuvalu 9,700 5 no TA requested
Palau 20,300 4 2009 (May) ABS-AusAID / SPC
Nauru 10,200 3 2009 (May) ABS-AusAID / SPC
Niue 1,500 2 Yes (2008) Stats NZ-NZAid
Tokelau 1,200 1 Yes (2008) Stats NZ-NZAid
Pacific Island NSOs – key challenges, common obstacles (country views)
Pacific Island NSOs – key challenges, common obstacles (our views)
• Endorse country views• In many countries, complete political disinterest in statistics
(evidence-based decision making -> long-term process of change)
• Inconsistent / ad hoc / donor-driven / or outright lacking international development support (difficult to really address – meetings like this lack the political cloud to tackle such issues; Catch22 – meetings that could tackle it, either lack interest, or the statistical knowledge)
• Lack of donor coordination • Operationalizing good intentions
(move from talking platitudes -> political commitment -> strategic planning ->budget allocation -> programme implementation: both by national governments and development partners)
Our role – where do we come in?
• TA / training activities, 2008• Upcoming challenges (SDP view)
– Assist / collaborate with countries in developing sustainable systems of collections/compilations to facilitate access to real-time monitoring of development progress across sectors
– Move from ad-hoc to long-term plan (and political/financial commitment) of statistical collections, and in parallel re-develop central role of administrative databases (includes development of SPC Statistics2020 strategy)
– Consolidate producer-user dialogue and collaboration
Development of Statistics2020 Comprehensive strategic concept note currently under discussion
with AusAID and other key development partners (NZAid, ADB)
Address critical data gaps across sectors, including development of a common core set of National Minimum Development Indicators across sectors for all PICTs;
• Strategic focus: provide factual basis for regular monitoring/ reporting of progress regarding national (National Sustainable Development Strategies) and international development progress indicators (e.g. MDG, CRD, CEDAW)
• Operational focus: – development of long-term programme of statistical collections,
commensurate with national policy/ planning requirements, not with ad hoc availability of development finance;
– (re)-develop administrative databases.
Stock-take of available MDG indicators in15 Pacific island countries (October 2008)
Millennium Development Data availability for 15 PICS Inadequate for
Goals real-time
unavailable up-to-date 3 - 5 years > 5 years TOTAL monitoring
1. Eradicate extreme poverty 56 37 14 28 135 and hunger (N=9) 41.5 27.4 10.4 20.7 100.0 62.2
2. Achieve universal primary 0 9 20 16 45 education (N=3) 20.0 44.4 35.6 100.0 35.6
3. Promote gender equality/ 0 25 9 11 45 empower women (N=3) 55.6 20.0 24.4 100.0 24.4
4. Reduce child mortality (N=3) 2 18 5 20 45 4.4 40.0 11.1 44.4 100.0 48.9
5. Improve maternal health (N=6) 27 26 9 28 90 30.0 28.9 10.0 31.1 100.0 61.1
6. Combat HIV/Aids, malaria 25 54 13 7 99 and other diseases (N=6/7) +3/3 25.3 54.5 13.1 7.1 100.0 32.3
7. Ensure environmental 66 11 56 17 150 sustainability (N=10) 44.0 7.3 37.3 11.3 100.0 55.3
8. Develop a global partnership 197 6 6 16 225 for development (N=15/16) 87.6 2.7 2.7 7.1 100.0 94.7
Summary: availability 373 186 132 143 834 of MDG Indicators (N=58) 44.7 22.3 15.8 17.1 61.9
Upcoming Statistical Collections, 2009 - 2013
PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
MELANESIA
Papua New Guinea CEN Fiji DHS
Solomon Islands CEN HIES
Vanuatu CEN DHS HIES
MICRONESIA
Kiribati DHS CEN HIES
FSM CEN DHS HIES
Marshall Islands CEN HIES
Nauru HIES CEN Palau CEN HIES
POLYNESIA
Samoa DHS CEN
Tuvalu HIES CEN Cook Islands CEN HIES
Niue HIES CEN Tokelau CEN HIES
Tonga HIES DHS
Summary
Three-way cooperation/planning/commitment critical to success• Country: support/commitment to provision of basic statistical
services and outputs, incl. statistical collections (censuses) and compilations (e.g. education and health information systems)
• SPC: ongoing commitment to provide technical backstopping/ capacity building where human resources allow, with stronger focus on capacity supplementation for small island states NSOs through regional technical support team.
• Development partners: long-term commitment to sustaining viable national statistical systems as indispensable prerequisite for maintaining culture of evidence-based (informed) decision-making
