Every day, we see such statements from governments and international organizations hitting the news headlines and our social feeds:
1. About 60 per cent of the world’s population resides in Asia and the Pacific.
2. Nearly 45 per cent of people in the region have no social protection coverage.
3. Based on the current rate of progress in the region, the Sustainable Development Goals will only be achieved by 2062.
To make a convincing argument, words need to be backed up by numbers, as is the case with each of these statements. But where do these numbers come from? And who are the people responsible for giving us these statistics?
The leap from data collection to analysis, utilization
In an era of information overload, the ability to harness data effectively is critical to making a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable communities in the region. This covers everything from bustling urban centers to remote rural communities, where statistics can shape policies to create transformative impact.
"We can no longer say there's no data. There's actually plenty of data, but the problem is that data is not being analyzed and it's not being used," explains Selahattin Selsah Pasali, Social Affairs Officer at ESCAP.
"With our Leave No One Behind (LNOB) platform, we want to help Member States use data that they have -- the latest nationally owned data, not necessarily international data – to inform their policies: the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, the whole process," he explains.
With an abundance of local, national and international data readily available in several forms, his sentiment encapsulates the evolving landscape of statistics in international organizations, moving from data collection to analysis and utilization.
Building a community of statisticians
Japan’s Chiba is home to one such hub for statisticians – the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP). It is one of the global training grounds for hundreds of statisticians tasked with a mammoth endeavour: making sense of the data.
Photo credit: UNSIAP/Christophe Bontemps
At SIAP, the statisticians work towards bringing global developments in statistics to the governments in the region, training government officials and others working on official statistics to produce, use and share reliable statistics. This capacity-building is crucial for monitoring countries’ progress on international commitments like the Sustainable Development Goals as well as developing fact-based policies.
SIAP’s Sokol Vako shares how building a community is a big part of the organization’s goals: " I’ve had multiple senior level managers come and talk to me and share their experiences as SIAP students when they came here to Chiba maybe 20-30 years ago, when they were young statisticians just starting their careers."
"Many of the colleagues, who are now in senior management positions in national statistical systems, participated in trainings here and viewed that as a building block to their career progression," he added, "Now they're requesting that their staff also join the trainings because of their great experience."
This legacy of capacity building has not just created a network of skilled professionals driving data-informed decision-making across the region, but also encouraged them to pass on this legacy to the incoming generation of statisticians and policymakers.
Bridging the gap between producers and users
The collection, analysis and uptake of data often takes place in silos, which can undercut its real value. In order to take the journey from numbers to policy, cutting through these separate verticals is critical.
"We provide training to national statistical offices, but we've noticed recently that there's immense value in expanding our courses to also engage policymakers," according to SIAP statistician Sinovia Moonie, who explains how bringing both data producers and users together allows for a better understanding and integration of the numbers into policymaking.
“For us, it's also surprising that most times when we bring those producers and users from countries together, the training would be the first forum where they would be meeting each other, and then that would initiate collaboration going forward,” she adds.
The real value of data
"Data has immense value, but it's not valuable on its own, and it's not an end in itself. The value of data increases with its use," highlights Moonie, as she explains that the real success of data is in how it is picked up by users – whether it is governments, civil society actors, journalists or individuals looking to create impact.
Her sentiments are echoed by her SIAP colleague, Vako: "I think it's always nice when you pick up the newspaper or you turn on the TV when you are on mission, and then there is maybe a short article or a short news story on the statistic that you worked with in colleagues and NSOs, and seeing that uptake is very, very impressive."
For them, they are just putting down one more block for the next generation to build upon.
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Learn more about courses offered by SIAP here: https://www.unsiap.or.jp/
Explore ESCAP’s LNOB platform here: https://lnob.unescap.org/
Follow and listen to our podcast where we move beyond the numbers with our experts: https://linktr.ee/unescap
