The ESCAP programme of work for 2000-2001 was
endorsed by the Commission at its fifty-fifth
session in April 1999. The programme structure
of ESCAP during the biennium will comprise the
following seven subprogrammes:
Subprogramme
1
Regional
economic cooperation
Subprogramme
2
Development
research and policy analysis
Subprogramme
3
Social development
Subprogramme
4
Population
and rural and urban development
Subprogramme
5
Environment
and natural resources development
Subprogramme
6
Transport,
communications, tourism and infrastructure
development
Subprogramme
7
Statistics
For the Statistics subprogramme,
the programme of work 2000-2001 as approved by
the Commission is presented in Annex I. The format
resembles that of previous bienniums; the Secretary-General's
proposals to move towards results-based programme
budgeting have not yet been accepted by the General
Assembly. Prior to its submission to the Commission,
an earlier version of the programme of work was
reviewed by the Committee on Statistics at its
eleventh session, and by the Bureau of the Committee.
The next Commission session, to be held in April/May
2000, will provide another opportunity to fine-tune
the programme of work 2000-2001, by suggesting
modification, deletion or addition of outputs.
The Working Group is requested to make recommendations
on any programme changes that might be necessary.
II.
2000-2001 Programme of work in statistics
2.
The staff resources of the Statistics
Division are as follows:
1/
Increased to 9 as of July 1998, through redeployment.
3.
The 2000-2001 work programme
of ESCAP in the field of statistics will clearly
be a function of both the regular budget resources
available and the extra budgetary resources that
the secretariat may be able to mobilize. The Statistics
Division has been operating with three vacancies
at the Professional level for almost all the current
biennium. By the end of 1999, the secretariat
expects to have the full complement of staff resources,
including a Professional at the P4 level newly
allotted to the Division. This additional Professional
post, the first resource increase in over 20 years,
will help to strengthen the future efforts of
the Division.
4.
As regards extra budgetary staff
resources, the posts of two advisers funded by
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) remain
in the Statistics Division in terms of budgetary
allocation, but physically they are located with
the UNFPA Country Support Teams situated in Bangkok
and Kathmandu. There is technically a third post
in Suva, but it has been vacant since January
1999 and it is quite likely despite the appeals
by the Committee on Statistics and the Commission,
that UNFPA will suppress funding for the post.
In this event ESCAP will no longer be able to
provide advisory services in demographic statistics
to Pacific island countries. The Working Group
is requested to note this development and give
its views. In the area of gender statistics, the
secretariat has obtained the services of an expert
under a UNIFEM-funded project, initially on a
consultancy basis.
5.
In the narrative for the 2000-2001
programme of work in statistics, the secretariat
had earlier prepared outlines on the objectives
of the subprogramme, the users and anticipated
usage of its outputs and services, and the programme
areas and various elements within them. Those
broad proposals were reviewed by the Committee
on Statistics at its eleventh session. It is hoped
that most of the outputs appearing in Annex I
are self explanatory, while some require further
elaboration for clarity of understanding. The
details concerning the latter group are given
in the table below.
Table 1:
Details of selected outputs in the programme of
work 2000-2001 for the statistics subprogramme
Output
Title
7-4-201
Seminars
on organizational and institutional issues
affecting national statistical services
and on the development of government information
systems and the efficient use of information
technology (2000, 2001 ) (RB/XB) (35 participants).
The exact
focus of these seminars remains to be
determined. As funds are still to be secured,
the delivery of these outputs is not definite
at this stage.
In the
past, seminars on organizational and institutional
issues of concern to NSOs were organized
jointly by SIAP and ESCAP; attempts would
be made to pursue that approach.
One important
area is raising awareness among senior
managers of the need for exploiting new
information technology and that of the
best practices that exist in the region.
The Working Group is requested to give
its recommendations on the focus of these
meetings and comment on possible strategies
for resource mobilization.
7-4-202
Regional
workshops on various aspects of population
statistics, including sampling applications
(1 in 2000, 2 in 2001) (RB/XB) (60 participants).
The realization
of these three outputs depends on the
availability of extrabudgetary funds.
Informally, the secretariat has learned
that the modality of funding from UNFPA
for regional population programmes would
be drastically altered during the next
funding cycle whereby potential implementing
organizations would be asked to bid for
projects which have been essentially predefined
by UNFPA.
The Committee
at its eleventh session requested the
secretariat and SIAP to investigate the
possibility of organizing training on
database development, in particular in
data modeling and data warehousing.
The Workshop
on the application of new technology to
population data, held in October 1999,
recommended that further technical meetings
be held after the 2000 and 2001 censuses
to share information on technology lessons
learned, and to promote effective data
utilization and dissemination.
The final
meeting of the Working Party on the application
of new technology to population data,
to be held in 2000 under the UNFPA project,
is expected to focus on analysis, dissemination,
and storage of population data.
7-4-203
Regional
workshops on socio-economic and environment
statistics (2000, 2001) (RB/XB) (50 participants).
Although
there are only two outputs involved in
this subprogramme element, should all
the current extra-budgetary commitments
hold, as many as eight outputs might be
produced during the biennium.
Financial
support for the project on environment
statistics is expected to continue, though
at a reduced scale due to significant
cuts recently introduced by the donor
in its overall funding to ESCAP. Under
that project, seminars are planned to
be organized during 2000-2001 for four
subregions as follows: East and South-East
Asia(2000), Central Asia and Turkey(2000),
South Asia(2000 or 2001), and Pacific(2001).
In November
1999, ESCAP signed an interagency agreement
with the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP ) concerning implementation during
1999-2002 of a component on integrating
paid and unpaid work into national policies
within project RAS/97/001. Funds would
be made available by UNDP to conduct activities
to derive policy-related recommendations
on counting and valuing paid and unpaid
work. To steer the activities of the project,
a Regional Resource Group has been established
which will meet 5-6 times during the life
of the project. Among the major activities
are included a regional workshop for policy
makers and statisticians to develop advocacy
and policy recommendations (2000) and
a training workshop on advocacy and methodology
to integrate paid and unpaid work ( in
cooperation with SIAP in 2001).
The secretariat
is currently undertaking preparatory activities
for elaborating a project proposal on
"Improving Statistics on Gender Issues
- phase II", which is under funding consideration
by UNIFEM. Subject to availability of
funds, under the project one regional
workshop on gender statistics each will
be held on gender statistics during the
years 2000 and 2001. The project would
involve national level activities in six
developing countries, including 12 national
level workshops with assistance from the
secretariat.
7-4-204
Regional
workshops on various aspects of economic
statistics (2 in 2000, 1 in 2001) (RB/XB)
(75 participants).
The Statistics
Division recently submitted two projects
for bi-lateral funding as follows: Seminar
on Development of Statistics on Trade
in Services; and Subregional Workshop
at Suva on the 1993 SNA.
6.
Several outputs and activities
in the statistics programme of work are recurrent
in nature; and they are in fact many of the primary
functions expected of the Statistics Division.
These include coordination, the sessions of the
Committee and (de facto) the Working Group of
Statistical Experts, the statistical publications
and the newsletters. By contrast, the focus and
emphases of the operational activities, that is,
technical meetings, training and advisory services,
vary according to the priorities determined by
the Commission and the Committee. They are also
influenced by developments taking place in the
international statistical environment.
7.
At its tenth session, the Committee
highlighted priority areas that deserved attention.
Those included the implementation of the 1993
System of National Accounts, pilot studies and
other work on the statistical implications of
the global summit conferences held at Cairo, Copenhagen
and Beijing, services statistics, the informal
sector, price statistics, environment statistics,
and gender statistics. The Working Group of Statistical
Experts in its tenth session endorsed additional
priority areas, namely, poverty statistics; information
dissemination, including mode of dissemination,
sharing of micro data and confidentiality issues;
review of statistical legislation in view of changing
circumstances; data archiving; pricing of information;
and coordination, in particular in decentralized
systems. Other areas of interest identified by
the Committee at its eleventh session were strategic
planning and management of statistical services,
collection of statistics on information technology,
new and emerging issues relating to balance of
payments, including foreign direct investment,
international investment position and international
trade in services statistics. The ESCAP Commission
at its 1999 session endorsed the priority areas
identified by the Committee, specifically mentioning
the 1993 SNA, poverty statistics, gender statistics,
statistics on the informal sector and environment
statistics. It also felt that public sector computerization
and training middle- and senior-level management
in information technology should receive priority
in the 2000-2001 programme of work. The Commission
also made recommendations for technical meetings
or seminars in demographic statistics especially
in connection with the 2000 census round, implementation
strategies for SDDS and GDDS, compilation of social
accounting matrices, input-output tables, and
quarterly national accounts.
8.
While the secretariat is of
course pleased at the number and diversity of
statistical topics in which member States think
it can play a useful role, the above does represent
a very long list of areas and it needs to be kept
in mind that almost, if not all of them depend
on availability of extra budgetary resources for
implementation. As some 25 fields have now been
mentioned as warranting some degree of priority,
the secretariat strongly suggests that the Working
Group attempt to 'prioritize among the priorities'.
Indeed this will be de facto necessary for the
2000-2001 biennium; the question of extrabudgetary
funds aside, the secretariat has the human resource
capacity to organize around 6 to 8 technical meetings
per year at most, and funds for some of those
have already been secured (see Table 1). The Working
Group may therefore wish to categorize the priority
areas identified into two groups, one for possible
implementation in the coming biennium, and the
balance for the medium term. This exercise would
help the secretariat start constructing, obviously
on a tentative basis, its 2002-2003 and 2004-2005
programmes. It would also help the secretariat
if the Working Group could highlight issues that
should be addressed against each topics. Additionally,
national statistical organizations are encouraged
to offer to work jointly with the secretariat
in contributing technical inputs on the topics
identified.
III.
POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
9.
The Working Group is invited:
To give its views on any
changes that may be deemed necessary to the
2000-2001 work programme of statistics; such
changes will be presented for the endorsement
of the Commission at its fifth-sixth session
in April/May 2000;
To review the list of priority
areas listed in paragraph 7, and to reassess
priorities in terms of the timing of secretariat
implementation;
To respond to the other
suggestions in paragraph 8.
ANNEX
I
Subprogramme
7. Statistics
The subprogramme
encompasses the work that had been carried out
previously in 1998-1999 under subprogramme 9,
Statistics. The subprogramme is carried out by
the Statistics Division, which is headed by a
division chief who is accountable to the Executive
Secretary.
Consistent with
the terms of reference of the Commission, the
main objectives of this subprogramme are to continue
to facilitate the development of sustainable national
statistical capabilities in the Asian and Pacific
region, to disseminate comparable social, economic
and other relevant statistics on the regional
members and associate members of the Commission,
and to promote the effective utilization of information
technology within the public sector. The main
activities are: (a) to assist and provide substantive
and other services to the Committee on Statistics,
which plays a central role in promoting and coordinating
regional statistical development; (b) to organize
technical cooperation activities, including advisory
services and technical seminars, and disseminate
technical material with the aim of promoting skills
development and sharing of experience and technical
knowledge in statistics and information technology;
(c) to organize workshops and training programmes
in statistics and information technology, especially
in association with the statistical training programmes
of SIAP; (d) to prepare, review and coordinate
at the regional level the development and revision
of statistical standards and their eventual implementation;
(e) to undertake the collection, compilation and
dissemination of statistical information on the
region, and to provide statistical support for
analytical work undertaken within the secretariat;
and (f) to maintain close collaboration and cooperation
with relevant regional, subregional and international
organizations to promote improved coordination
of technical assistance in statistics.
The end-users of
the outputs of this subprogramme are national
statistical offices, computerization and information
technology focal points, and planning, monitoring
and decision-making agencies in the member and
associate member governments; regional, subregional
and international organizations; non-governmental
organizations, national and international institutes,
and scholars concerned with economic, social,
demographic and environmental research and policies;
and individual firms and persons. In implementing
the subprogramme, the secretariat will take due
account of the different stages of statistical
development among countries of the region, paying
particular attention to the needs of the least
developed countries and the disadvantaged economies
in transition. Greater reliance will be placed
on enhanced cooperation among countries and coordination
of inputs from statistically advanced countries.
Outputs
I. Servicing
of intergovernmental and expert bodies (RB)
1.
Substantive
servicing of meetings:
(a)
Commission:
7-1-101
Plenary and committees
(2000) (8 meetings: 6 plenary and 2 committee
sessions)
7-1-102
Plenary and committees
(2001) (8 meetings: 6 plenary and 2 committee
sessions)
(b)
Committee on
Statistics:
7-1-103
Plenary (2000) (6
meetings)
2.
Parliamentary
documentation:
(a)
Commission:
7-1-201
Report on issues
related to statistics (2000)
7-1-202
Report of the Committee
on Statistics (2001)
7-1-203
Reports on the progress
achieved and difficulties encountered by members
and associate members in addressing the Y2K problem
(2000, 2001)
(b)
Committee on
Statistics:
7-1-204
Report of the Working
Group of Statistical Experts (2000)
7-1-205
Report on selected
issues in statistical development (2000)
7-1-206
Report on issues
in computerization in the public sector (2000)
7-1-207
Report on an integrated
presentation of work programmes on statistics
in the region (2000)
7-1-208
Report on activities
of the secretariat since the eleventh session
of the Committee (2000)
3.
Ad hoc expert
groups and related preparatory work (intermediate
outputs):
7-1-301
Meeting of the Working
Group of Statistical Experts (2001)
II.
Other substantive
activities (RB/XB)
4.
Mandated recurrent
publications:
7-2-101
Statistical Newsletter
(4 in 2000, 4 in 2001) (RB)
7-2-102
Government Computerization
Newsletter (2 in 2000, 2 in 2001) (RB)
7-2-103
Statistical Yearbook
for Asia and the Pacific (2000, 2001) (RB)
7-2-104
Foreign Trade Statistics
of Asia and the Pacific (2001) (RB)
7-2-105
Statistical Indicators
for Asia and the Pacific (4 in 2000, 4 in 2001)
(RB)
7-2-106
Asia-Pacific in
Figures (2000, 2001) (RB>
5.
Electronic,
audio and video issuances, including films, video
tapes, radio broadcasts, tapes of news, documentary
and feature programmes (number of the activities
for each type):
7-2-501
ESCAP Homepage on
Statistics on the World Wide Web <http://www.
unescap.org/stat/index.htm> (monthly updating,
2000-2001) (RB)
7-2-502
ESCAP Homepage on
Public Sector Computerization on the World Wide
Web <http://www.unescap.org/stat/gc/pschome.htm>
(monthly updating, 2000-2001) (RB)
6.
Exhibits:
7-2-601
Exhibit for the
Committee on Statistics (2000) (RB)
7.
Booklets, pamphlets,
fact sheets, wall charts, information kits:
7-2-701
Wall chart on general
statistics (2000, 2001) (RB)
8.
Technical material
for outside users (databases, software etc.):
7-2-801
Data and information
disseminated on electronic media (CD-ROM, diskettes
etc.) (2000, 2001) (RB)
7-2-802
Operation and maintenance
of the ESCAP Statistical Information System (2000,
2001) (RB)
7-2-803
Responses to ad
hoc requests from outside users for statistical
information (2000, 2001) (RB)
III.
International
cooperation and inter-agency coordination and
liaison (RB/XB)
7-3-001
Collaboration with
intergovernmental organizations outside the United
Nations system, including the East-West Center
and the Pacific Community (2 in 2000, 2 in 2001)
(RB)
7-3-002
Collaboration with
non-governmental organizations, including the
International Statistical Institute (2001) (RB)
7-3-003
Collaboration with
United Nations bodies and specialized agencies,
including the United Nations Statistical Commission
and Working Group, regional conferences of statisticians,
city groups and the FAO Asia-Pacific Commission
on Agricultural Statistics (2 in 2000, 2 in 2001)
(RB/XB)
7-3-004
Collaboration with
the ACC Subcommittee on Statistical Activities
(2000, 2001) (RB)
7-3-005
Technical and substantive
support to UNFPA Country Support Teams in the
region (3 in 2000, 3 in 2001) (RB/XB)
7-3-006
Technical and substantive
support to the Statistical Institute for Asia
and the Pacific (2000, 2001) (RB)
IV.
Technical cooperation
(RB/XB)
1.
Advisory services
at the request of the governments (number of missions):
7-4-101
Advisory services
on analysis and dissemination of population data,
and utilization of census data (2000, 2001) (RB/XB)
7-4-102
Advisory services
on organizational and institutional issues affecting
national statistical services and on the development
of government information systems and the efficient
use of information technology (2000, 2001) (RB/XB)
2.
Group training
(seminars, workshops, symposia) (number of events
and number of officials to be trained):
7-4-201
Seminars on organizational
and institutional issues affecting national statistical
services and on the development of government
information systems and the efficient use of information
technology (2000, 2001) (RB/XB) (35 participants)
7-4-202
Regional workshops
on various aspects of population statistics, including
sampling applications (1 in 2000, 2 in 2001) (RB/XB)
(60 participants)
7-4-203
Regional workshops
on socio-economic and environment statistics (2000,
2001) (RB/XB) (50 participants)
7-4-204
Regional workshops
on various aspects of economic statistics (2 in
2000, 1 in 2001) (RB/XB) (75 participants).
