Between December 2011 and March 2012, the Regional Institute Centre for the Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA) and the Statistics Division of ESCAP collaborated closely to enhance the services provided to member states in the area of agricultural statistics.

For approximately thirty years, CAPSA's database has provided statistical data on secondary crops for 17 Asian and Pacific countries. The focus of this database was on production and price data primarily for pulses, tubers and root crops. As CAPSA has recently shifted its mandate from socio-economic research on commodities to address sustainable agriculture in a systemic context across the Asia and Pacific region, a revision of the database became necessary. The Statistics Division of ESCAP provided assistance in this process to ensure that a revised database is of high quality and standards, fully reflects CAPSA's mandate, and adds value to ESCAP member states.

As part of the collaboration, the Statistical Information and Services Section, Statistics Division conducted three technical advisory missions to CAPSA in Bogor between December 2011 and Mach 2012.

Ms Jillian Campbell worked with CAPSA staff to conduct a review of the database. Based on this review, the Head of CAPSA, Ms Katinka Weinberger, determined to pursue an annual indicator framework that includes key indicators related to food consumption; poverty and inequality; sustainability; pesticide and fertilizer use; crop and livestock production; commodity trade; environmental indicators and general indicators (population, GDP and employment). The selection of the indicator framework serves as a research platform and has helped to define the relevant measures in the field of agricultural research in line with CAPSA's mandate.

Mr Artur Andrysiak visited CAPSA in January 2012 to assist CAPSA with the development of an action plan for the restructure of the database including a clear strategy and a work plan. During his mission, Artur worked closely with the CAPSA staff to understand the current situation, available resources and needs of the organization. Based on the available information and working closely with CAPSA colleagues Artur developed a comprehensive action plan for the restructure of the database that outlined the activities required to restructure the on-line database. The action plan provided different development scenarios including work plans under those scenarios, which has provided CAPSA with basis for deciding on resources allocation and time frame for the database restructure.

The third and the last mission in the series of technical advisory missions to CAPSA was carried out by Mr Eric Hermouet and Mr Habibur Rahman Khan. During their mission they developed a plan for improving the database system and data management process; provided practical recommendations related to expanding the database; explored and proposed different data dissemination tools in the context of CAPSA's needs.

The restructured database will provide CAPSA with the statistical information for in-house research and analysis in the field of alleviation of poverty through sustainable agriculture. It is also envisaged that the restructured database will provide statistics necessary for other agriculture research institutes to perform research in-line with CAPSA's mandate; and to support member States' policy and decision makers in developing evidenced-based policies. CAPSA aims to go online with the revised database in 2012.

The missions renewed commitment for collaboration in statistical information services between SD and CAPSA.

The SIAP Governing Council convened for an interim session in New York on 26 February in conjunction with the 43rd session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. Seven of nine members of the Council were represented at the session, including the host government, Japan. The session was chaired by Dr T. C. A. Anant, Chief Statistician of India.

The Governing Council members welcomed the new director of SIAP and Secretary of the Council, Ms Margarita Guerrero.

As agreed at its 7th session, held in Chiba, Japan in December 2011, the Council reviewed key recommendations pertaining to the financial status and plan of SIAP. The Council noted the necessity of a strategic approach, which would ensure long-term financial sustainability through the delivery of services of high relevance and quality. It thus recommended that SIAP map out a long-term strategy for programme development and operations.

The members floated several ideas to increase the resource base of SIAP including: establishing a system of SIAP affiliates to strengthen the expertise, quality assurance and credibility of SIAP services and products; certification of trainers; training of trainers' courses, trainings for different target groups such as junior, mid- and senior level statisticians, and statisticians from NSOs and other parts of national statistical systems. SIAP suggested that a “friends of the chair” group be formed to advise it in the development of the new programme strategy.

With this advice in hand, the new Director of SIAP should be well-equipped to address existing and future challenges.

The Bureau of the Committee on Statistics of ESCAP met on 26 February 2012 in conjunction with the 43rd session of the United Nations Statistics Commission to review and discuss the work programmes of the various working groups that were established for implementation of the 2020 strategy, covering the areas of economic statistics, agricultural statistics, social statistics, vital statistics/civil registration, the modernization of statistical information systems, as well as the coordination of statistical training. The Bureau also agreed to hold the third session of the Committee in Bangkok during 12-14 December 2012, and discussed issues to be included in a draft agenda.

The Second Group Training Course in Production and Development of Official Statistics in Support for National Development including the Achievement of MDGs was conducted in the premises of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) from 22 August 2011-22 December 2011. The course was organized by SIAP jointly with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with 30 junior and middle-level statisticians from 14 countries completing the full course of three modules. The 14 countries were Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Lao P.D.R., Lesotho, Micronesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, and Zambia.

The course aimed to improve knowledge and skills of the participants on compilation, analysis and dissemination of official statistics. As a result of the course, participants are expected to be able to define, analyze and interpret key official statistics and MDG related indicators in support of policy analysis as well as to demonstrate ability to carry out full survey operations and to have a good understanding of the System of National Accounts (SNA) framework and compilation of main economic aggregates including GDP. The training course was conducted by SIAP faculty members and lecturers from several universities as well as government agencies in Japan, and international organizations including the Asian Development Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the World Bank. Participants also observed the prefectural level statistical activities and advanced technological application in the industries in Japan while enjoying the rich cultural and social experience during the field visits to the prefectures of Shimane and Yamaguchi. During the training, all participants were involved in a project work on the process of the statistical survey cycle, from planning to production of statistics and its dissemination. They also developed their respective action plans which would be implemented after their return to their counties. This enables participants to disseminate their acquired knowledge and skills during the training to their colleagues.

The closing ceremony was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, JICA, Institute of Developing Economies of JETRO and several embassies of the countries who sent their government officials for training in this course.

SIAP conducted its first e-learning course on “Introduction to System of National Accounts” from 1 November 2011 to 31 December 2011. Thirty-six participants from 8 countries - Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Solomon Islands, and Thailand - completed the course. This e-learning course was designed to give participants an overview of the basics of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA); no prior knowledge on SNA was required. The e-learning system utilized for the course was developed by the University of Tokushima, a national university in Japan.

During the 2-month course, the participants were able to use the system at anytime and from any place where internet was accessible. Participants could post questions related to course materials on the Q&A corner and receive answers from SIAP faculty. Participants could also view these interactions of other participants with the SIAP faculty; thus, the online dialogue helped them all. After finishing all the lessons, the participants were requested to complete a test of 30 questions. They were free to repeat the test to improve their scores. Participants were rated as having successfully completed the course with a test score of 27 (90%) or higher.

SIAP aims to increasingly expand its development and conduct e-learning courses. The second run of this SNA course as well as a course on the use of census data for planning are planned to conduct in 2012.

SIAP in collaboration with the National Statistical Office of Mongolia and the World Bank conducted a Country Training Course on Sampling Design from 19-23 December 2011 at the National Statistical Office, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The main objective of the course was to strengthen the capacity of the national statistical system in designing sample surveys and reviewing the current sampling strategies for improving the quality and coverage of survey results. A total of 23 participants – 5 from the National Statistics Office of Mongolia; 1 from Mongol (Central) Bank and 7 academicians from Universities of Mongolia and 4 from other Government offices – attended the training course. Most of the participants were either middle-level government statisticians with long experience in survey sampling or academicians engaged in teaching statistics in Universities of Mongolia. Some of the participants were, however, new to the field of survey sampling.

The course is expected to have equipped the participants with the ability to make appropriate choice of sampling strategies with the available resources and suggest application of techniques for improving the quality survey results. The discussions and the issues raised by the participants indicated that all the participants gained a fairly comprehensive understanding of the elements of sample design. In spite of the diverse levels of exposure to sampling in practice, a majority of the participants (75 %) stated that the course level was just right. The course content was found to be ‘useful' by all and ‘very useful' by about half of the participants. About 25 % of the participants found the duration of the course too short. All participants thought the course was relevant to their work. The course materials/handouts were assessed positively by the participants; a majority of the participants (94%) rated them either ‘very good' or ‘good'. Presentation techniques were rated either ‘good' (25%) or ‘very good' (75%) by the participants.

SIAP in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted the 2-month course in Analysis, Interpretation and Use of Official Statistics (Social Statistics) from 16 January 2012 to 16 March 2012. As a result of the course, 25 middle-level government statisticians from 15 countries, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iraq, Lao P.D.R., Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Senegal, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan and Viet Nam, improved their knowledge and skills in analyzing and interpreting official statistics, especially in the fields of social statistics, and its effective use and dissemination. The training course was conducted by SIAP faculty members and many experts from relevant offices of the host Government of Japan and universities in Japan as well as the World Bank. Participants also observed the prefectural level statistical activities while enjoying the rich cultural and social experiences during the field visits to the prefecture of Akita.

As part of the training curriculum, the participants carried out an individual project featuring research on analysis and interpretation of appropriate primary and secondary data on a topic related to social issues of the respective country, such as poverty, unemployment, migration, housing conditions, gender, etc. Most participants brought micro data sets of surveys from their countries and applied statistical analysis methods by using statistical tools such as STATA. The project work enabled participants to apply newly acquired knowledge and skills to produce knowledge from the data about development issues in their countries. Participants also demonstrated their ability in applying training and presentation techniques during the presentation of their project results which was the culminating activity of the course. Participants also developed their respective action plans, to be implemented upon their return to their countries, for disseminating their acquired knowledge and skills to their colleagues.

SIAP in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted a training course on Integrated Economic Statistics, including SNA, for the Central Asian Countries from 23 January 2012 to 23 March 2012. The main objective of the course was to provide the participants with a comprehensive view of the concepts, principles, and macroeconomic accounting framework of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) and the related economic statistics. The course also helped the participants in developing skills of statistical analysis and interpretation of economic statistics.

The course was designed for middle level statisticians/ government officials engaged in data collection, analysis and use of national accounts and other economic statistics, with sufficient experience in compilation or use of economic statistics. The course was conducted by SIAP faculty members and supported by lecturers from several universities and government agencies in Japan. The visits to Japanese government statistical organizations exposed participants to the advanced features of statistical system of Japan. As a standard component of all SIAP-JICA training courses, each participant undertook a project work. For this course, participants focused on exploratory studies on a selected field of economic statistics of their respective countries. This helped them in applying the analytical skills acquired during the course. They also prepared an action plan, another standard component, which would be implemented upon their return to their respective countries. The participants are now expected to take on the role of trainers and disseminate the knowledge and skills acquired during the training to their colleagues. All participants thought the course was relevant to their work and a majority of them found it ‘very useful'. They suggested that SIAP should continue conducting similar courses for the central Asian countries in the future.

Meetings in New York focus on the transfer of experiences for global monitoring beyond 2015

As 2015, the deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), comes closer, the international community is considering the future global monitoring of development.

The Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators (IAEG), which has been operating since 2002 as a network of experts from international development agencies involved in the global monitoring of the MDGs, met in February 2012 in New York to:

• Discuss, compile and document lessons learned on MDG monitoring, with a view to informing the formulation of a framework for monitoring development beyond 2015;
• Hold its 21 st regular meeting to address issues related to the current MDG indicators.

In order to guide the selection of development indicators beyond 2015, while addressing some of the statistical issues of the current framework, a Task Team on lessons learned on MDG monitoring, operating under the IAEG, is examining data availability, looking into possible sources, setting definitions and suggesting possible indicators to monitor development beyond 2015.

The IAEG, reviewing the preliminary work of the Task Team, underlined the importance of the following issues for the future monitoring exercise:

• More attention needs to be devoted to measuring inequalities.
• Synergies between the progress made towards the achievement of different goals and targets should be taken into account.
• Consistency between goals, targets and indicators is necessary.
• The indicators should be well established, and sufficient data should be available so not to represent an additional burden to countries.
• Development goals are global and should not be automatically translated into national targets. Countries might wish to set their own national targets and have ownership of their indicators.
• Agencies who propose the inclusion of particular indicators in the post-2015 framework should be responsible for providing the necessary assistance to countries for their compilation.

The IAEG concluded that reviewing the accumulated experience with MDG monitoring would continue to be a priority for its work in order to ensure that the expertise of the group would influence the identification of indicators to monitor global development beyond 2015.

The 3 rd meeting of Partners for Statistics Development in Asia-Pacific was held on 26 February 2012, at UNHQs in New York, in conjunction with the 43 rd session of the United Nations Statistical Commission. The meeting participants consisted of a number of member countries, intergovernmental organizations, donors, and UN organizations. Partners who attended the meeting are:

• Member countries: Australia, China, India, Russian Federation
• Intergovernmental organizations: ADB, OECD, SPC, SESRIC, Eurostat
• Donor: DFID
• UN System: UNODC, UNICEF, UNFPA, FAO, ILO, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNIDO, World Bank, WHO, UNWTO, UNSIAP, UNESCAP (organizer)

At the meeting, the key findings from the PRESS 2011 round, including the Special Asia-Pacific Spin-off Report, chosen as the main modality for information sharing among Partners, were presented. Discussion during the meeting resulted in renewed and additional commitment from Partner agencies in the following strategic areas of collaboration:

• Coordination of Statistical Training,
• Economic Statistics,
• Agricultural and Rural Statistics
• Social Statistics
• Civil registration and vital statistics

Partners also discussed the Busan Plan of Action as a recent development that could be leveraged for further support to statistics development in Asia-Pacific.

The 67th Commission session in May 2011 adopted a resolution on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics improvement, which called upon Member States to review and assess current functioning of their civil registration system and quality of vital statistics and use the assessment results to develop and implement comprehensive and costed strategies and plans to strengthen both systems.

The launch meeting of the detailed Assessment of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems of Indonesia brought together representatives from different government agencies involved in civil registration and vital statistics in Indonesia as well as development partners.

Staff of the Statistics Division of ESCAP and WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) presented the assessment tool developed by WHO in collaboration with the Health Information Systems Knowledge Hub of the School of Population Health of the University of Queensland. Participants had the opportunity to get familiar with the assessment tool and discuss related issues while presenting the current functioning of the Civil Registration system and quality of the Vital Statistics of Indonesia.

At the end of the detailed assessment, the country will have a strategic plan to implement prioritized improvements identified by the working groups and approved by a broader group of stakeholders who will facilitate their implementation.

ESCAP's online database has been updated with the latest, annual, development indicators available. It includes country-level data related to demography, migration, education, health, poverty, gender, employment, economy, government finance, employment, transport, and environment. The comparability of indicators across countries and over time is maximized by limiting the data to a single source per indicator and by using well-recognized international data sources. The database also includes aggregate data for the world, major geographic regions, ESCAP subregions, income groupings of ESCAP members, ESCAP LDC countries and ESCAP LLDC countries.

The database is published online on a biannually basis. It was last published on 30 March 2012. The next online update of the database is scheduled for 28 September 2012.

For more details please visit: http://www.unescap.org/stat/data/.

The growing interest in disability statistics has led to improved conceptualizations of disability and related measures. This report focuses on the results of the cognitive and field testing of an extended question set on disability developed by ESCAP and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. The aim of the testing was to recommend the best set of extended questions for surveys that: (i) clearly identify the correct individuals as intended by the question; (ii) are understood and interpreted easily, and (iii) generate similar trends across countries and regions. The report also discusses the methodology used in each of the phases and describes how best these data can be utilized in national statistics.

Free online copy: http://www.unescap.org/stat/disability/Results-Testing-ESCAP-WG-Question-Disability.pdf.

The ESCAP/ADB/UNDP regional MDG Report 2011/12, “Accelerating Equitable Achievement of the MDGs: Closing the Gaps in Health and Nutrition in Asia and the Pacific” warns that at the present rate of progress, the region as a whole is unlikely to meet the targets related to eradicating hunger, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, among others. The report, sixth in a series, reveals striking disparities between and within subregions, countries and even social groups in their progress towards MDGs. Based on the analysis of data from households surveys, the report illustrates the extent to which disparities between men and women, between social and ethnic groups and between regions hold large sections of the population back from achieving the MDGs. Given the lagging performance on health targets in the region, the report delves into the causes of shows the many opportunities that exist to achieve good health for all. The report can be downloaded at: http://www.unescap.org/pdd/calendar/CSN-MDG-NewDelhi-Nov-2011/MDG-Report2011-12.pdf.

The report was launched at a high-level subregional forum held in New Delhi, India, 17-18 February 2012. More information about the forum is available at: http://southwest-sro.unescap.org/meeting/2012/high-level-subregional-forum.html.

Margarita Guerrero is new Director of SIAP

Margarita Guerrero was promoted to Director of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) in Chiba, Japan in February 2012. She was ESCAP regional adviser on statistics prior to her move to SIAP, where she was engaged in building capacity of countries through technical assistance, training and advisory services in several areas, including: statistical development strategies; sample survey methods and data analysis; gender statistics; and local statistical systems.

Marge has contributed to statistical development and capacity building all of her professional life. In her home country, the Philippines, she was a professor in statistics at the University of the Philippines Los Banos and head of technical departments of the National Statistics Office. Since first joining the United Nations Statistics Division as a project coordinator in 1999, Marge has worked in the United Nations system in various capacities - a lecturer at SIAP, a technical adviser for UNDP in Viet Nam, and senior statistician in ESCAP Statistics Division.

Marge has a doctoral and masters degree in statistics from Iowa State University, USA.

Mr Fulvio Bondiolotti worked in SD from 9 January to 16 March 2012 as an intern. He is currently undertaking graduate studies in Bocconi University, Italy. Mr Bondiolotti was involved in the division's work in the area of Data Disaggregation. He also assisted in activities related to Regional Implementation Plan for Economic Statistics. He believes in the application of quantitative methods to analyze complex socio-economic phenomena and to assist policy decisions in order to promote sustain prosperity, growth, cooperation and integration globally.

Mr Yinxiao Chu is a SD intern who joined the division on 1 February 2012. He is currently undertaking graduate studies in Bocconi University, Italy. Mr Chu's assignment involves the division's work in the area of gender statistics. He is currently working on the Global Review on Gender Statistics. He is strongly inclined to understand the economic and social issues in the human society, and admires the working environment in international organizations.

Mr Francesco Pascucci joined SD on 20 February 2012 as an intern. He is a graduate student in Bocconi University, Italy. Mr Pascucci is assisting SD staff with the formulation of the training components of the Regional Implementation Plan for Economic Statistics. He is also involved in activities to formulate the training components of Regional Implementation Plan for improving Agricultural and Rural Statistics in Asia-Pacific. He is deeply interested in social-economic studies. His expectation for future career is to contribute, in some way, to the development of a nation and/or the lifestyle of people.

• Mr Neil Dourmashkin, Formulation Team Leader, c/o European Union
• Mr Shumon Khalid, c/o European Union
• Mr Tite habiyakare, Regional Statistician, ILO Bangkok
• Mr Phu Huynh, Labour Economist, ILO Bangkok
• Mr Jeremy Stickings, Senior Social Development Specialist (Gender and. Development), ADB Manila
• Ms Dalisay Maligalig, Principal Statistician, ADB Manila