The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has released the second edition of its road map to support countries in producing statistics on the SDGs. The publication was developed by the Conference of European Statisticians’ Steering Group on Statistics for Sustainable Development Goals.

The guide focuses on how countries can strengthen their systems for producing data on the 231 indicators of the SDG measurement framework and disseminate them to policymakers. The second edition of the road map places particular emphasis on quality assurance, and leaving no one behind. 

It addresses several building blocks for a statistical system that can fulfill the SDG data needs. Among the publication’s key messages and recommendations:

• Use the global list of indicators as a starting point for global reviews, but monitoring national progress may require country-specific indicators;
• Resources are stretched and capacity development is needed; new partnerships can help collect customized and localized data on hard-to-reach minority groups and fill other data gaps. The report adds that “all countries’ statistical organizations, not only those in developing countries, need to modernize constantly to keep pace with technological change, emergence of new sources, and changing information demands”;
• National statistical organizations (NSOs) should release metadata – information on the source, calculation methods, and limitations of the data – to ensure it is understood and correctly used; and
• Data and statistics relevant for the SDG indicators come from sources go beyond NSOs, and legislative frameworks should grant NSOs access to new data sources. Achieving uniform high quality is an ongoing endeavor, and there is a need to clearly regulate how new data sources are used to produce SDG indicators.

Case studies from Armenia, Iceland, and Kyrgyzstsan complement the road map with details on how national reporting platforms were established in each country. Over 40 European countries have launched such platforms, with support from UNECE. [UNECE press release]