Small island developing States (SIDS) and development partners called for new approaches and additional financing to meet statistical demand to assess and monitor development progress, including on the post-2015 development agenda, at the Forum on Advancing Statistical Development in SIDS in the Post-2015 Era.
2 September 2014: Small island developing States (SIDS) and development partners called for new approaches and additional financing to meet statistical demand to assess and monitor development progress, including on the post-2015 development agenda, at the Forum on Advancing Statistical Development in SIDS in the Post-2015 Era.
The Forum took place on the sidelines of the Third International Conference on SIDS, held in Apia, Samoa, from 1-4 September 2014. The Forum provided an opportunity for producers and users of statistics and other stakeholders to reflect on statistical achievements and common challenges, including the need for additional data to monitor and assess progress on the post-2015 agenda. The Forum recognized statistical achievements of the past decade, including increased availability of national statistics and indicators to measure and assess development progress and greater political awareness on the role of evidence-based policy development and planning. Participants also supported the need for a data revolution, including the use of non-traditional resources, different methods of data collection and the role of public-private partnerships in data collection and provisions.
Without statistics, it would be impossible to conduct assessments or “have any firm indications of what areas and sectors require further strengthening and more efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of what has been achieved,” Colin Tukuitonga, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Director General, told participants in his keynote address.
Continued and increased development assistance is critical for Pacific statistical agencies to continue their activities as well as to collect additional data on emerging areas, such as climate change, disaster risk and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), participants emphasized. Gerald Haberkorn, Director of Statistics for Development, SPC, proposed a Global Fund for Statistics to provide necessary financing to continue data collection, pointing to the impact made by global funding mechanisms such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and TB. “Without basic data and indicators, it will be impossible to accurately monitor progress and measure development results in these and other sectors,” said Haberkorn.
The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (Paris21), SPC and the Samoa Bureau of Statistics organized the event. [SPC Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage of SIDS Conference]