PARIS21 GOALS, PRINCIPLES AND MODALITIES

Introduction

1.PARIS21 is a unique partnership initiative involving national, regional and international statisticians, policy makers, development professionals and other users of statistics, including civil society. It was launched at a meeting in Paris in November 1999 in response to an ECOSOC resolution on the need for better use of better statistics and indicators to support achievement of UN Conference and Summit goals. The need for statistics has been recognised not only to monitor progress towards UN Conference goals but also to provide a sound basis both to design and implement development policies in order to achieve them.

2.PARIS21 has been established as a global forum and network (or Consortium) to build support for developing and using statistical capacity. PARIS21 works through advocacy, information exchange and partnerships with and between members, including both those who implement and those who fund substantial statistical capacity building activities. PARIS21 is not itself an operational agency. It is a process or initiative to promote and influence such activities.

Recommendations

3.The ISC is invited to endorse the goals and principles for PARIS21 set out in paras

4-10 below.

Goals

4.The UN Conference goals and targets, including the new Millennium Development Goals, place poverty reduction, broadly defined, at the centre of development policy. PARIS21’s goals are to contribute to more effective poverty reduction and improved transparency, accountability and effectiveness of governance in developing and transition countries in order to achieve Conference goals, by:

  • Promoting sustainable statistical capacity building and better use of statistics and statistical analysis as a foundation for effective development policies
  • Helping to develop well-managed statistical systems that are appropriately resourced
  • Engendering a culture of evidence-based policy making, management and monitoring

5.A short-term aim, agreed at the inaugural meeting,is to initiate statistical capacity building programmes in Highly Indebted Poor Countries qualifying for enhanced debt relief, as part of their poverty reduction strategies, and in other countries producing Comprehensive Development Frameworks or UN Development Assistance Frameworks. This is an entry point, not a boundary, to PARIS21 goals, which encompass the entire spectrum of statistics and countries and have a long-term perspective.

Success criteria

6.The long-term success of PARIS21 can be judged against the extent to which it contributes to:

  • Enabling decision-makers, nationally and internationally, to use better statistics and statistical analysis to underpin economic and social development. In the short term this will necessarily be limited to more effective analysis, dissemination and use of existing information, before substantial statistical capacity programmes are implemented.
  • Increasing flows of national and international resources for statistical activities; and the effectiveness of use of both new and existing resources.

Principles

7.PARIS21 works as a partnership and encourages the application of partnership principles, recognising that the most important contribution to development is made by the people and governments of developing countries and seeks country ownership and leadership, supported internationally. PARIS21 also promotes the UN Guidelines for Technical Co-operation in Statistics, which stress the need for statistical development to be well planned, holistic, driven by priority user needs, built up from existing systems and adequately resourced. Both sets of principles are important to the sustainability of statistical capacity building.

How

8.PARIS21 works through:

  • Partnership to improve collaboration between partners involved in statistical activities
  • Advocacy to demonstrate the power and use of statistics for policy and thereby increasing political support and demand
  • Resource generation for statistics, mainly through advocacy and awareness raising
  • Information exchange and knowledge development to assist implementation of statistical capacity building, share experience and to support better co-ordination of statistics and technical co-operation for statistics
  • Strategic approaches to buildingcapacity promoted and facilitated, including statistical development plans to produce, analyse and use statistical and other information which responds to key policy needs

9.PARIS21 is an inclusive consortium. Its goals apply to all regions of the world and any individual or organisation can join the consortium provided they have relevant experience and a wish to help to take forward PARIS21 aims. An important feature is that all engaged in PARIS21 do so voluntarily in pursuit of the common purpose and goals.

PARIS21 activities

10.The aim is to build on existing national, regional and international work and processes, acting as a catalyst and building strong links between implementing and funding agencies. Activities include annual Consortium meetings, electronic and other dialogue between partners; information exchange (for instance about specific training opportunities and the activities of partners); facilitation of activities at the regional and sub-regional levels and their follow-up; and both developing and disseminating information about innovative approaches and proposals, advocacy/ awareness raising products and guidance, including through the use of focused task teams. A small Secretariat hosted by OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate supports the Consortium in carrying out these activities.

11.Priorities for the programme of PARIS21 activities are decided through light governance arrangements. These are considered in a separate paper. [PAR/SC(2001)3]

PARIS21 Secretariat

31 May 2001

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