REGIONAL TRAINING COURSE ON THE NSDS AND ADAPTInformation Bulletin
1. Background
The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) promotes the better useand production of statistics throughout the developing world. It advocates for the better use ofstatistics in developing countries, by providing support in strengthening national statistical systems
and their capacity to improve the provision, availability and use of high quality data for betteraccountability and evidence-based policies and decisions. As demand for data increases and evolves
in the face of changing national priorities and regional and global development agenda, there is a needto ensure statistical systems are capacitated and ready to address these new demands on statistics.
One of the core programmes of PARIS21 is the provision of support to developing countries in thedesign, implementation and monitoring of national strategies for the development of statistics (NSDS)
to enable their national statistical systems to better respond to increased demand for data. An NSDS
provides a country with a vision of the development of statistics consistent with national development
plans. NSDS is a strategic planning framework and process that enables developing countries to build
a reliable statistical system capable of producing quality data necessary to formulate, implement, andmonitor national development policies and programmes. It facilitates countries’ compliance toregional and international commitments with respect to statistics (i.e., Sustainable Development
Goals, regional integration processes, etc.). It contains detailed and costed action plan for theproduction and dissemination of statistics over a period of 5 to 10 years, including capacity
development needs, and required institutional and infrastructure improvements.
With the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, more and more governments are requiring indepth mapping of data availability vis-à-vis data requirements of their national development plansthat incorporates the Sustainable Development Goals. This robust attention for better data andstatistics to monitor progress and inform policy and development choices necessitate acomprehensive data assessment and mapping to be conducted at national level. In this context,
PARIS21 developed the Advanced Data Planning Tool (ADAPT), an innovative web-based planning toolfor National Statistical Offices, national planning agencies and other data producers to adapt dataproduction to the priority data needs for policy, planning and monitoring.
ADAPT is a means to inventory data and funding gaps in the national statistical system, specifically theinventory of indicators required for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of key policies at sub-national,
sectoral, regional and global levels. It allows easy entry, comparison, mapping and visualization of theindicators required in key policies, through their M&E frameworks. By mapping these demands
together, ADAPT shows overlaps, duplications, disaggregation requirements missing, etc. It also
supports the supply/demand analysis by matching those demanded indicators to the ones currently
being calculated in the country, linking these to their data sources. As such, ADAPT is a key tool for
inventorying data gaps, and identifying which are the core data collection exercises which are requiredin medium and long-term planning. ADAPT also enables the inventory and visualization of specific skills
associated with the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) steps which are required but
missing in the agency or the NSS at large. Further, it offers some simple but fundamental budgetingfeatures that allows the mapping of existing funding gaps to sectors, agencies, planned data sources,etc. These basic costing functionalities will be introduced in this year’s training course. All these are
key information for the design of any NSDS.
The NSDS formulation process is a platform for engaging both data producers (i.e., national statistics
office, sectoral line ministries, central bank, etc.) and data users (e.g., policy makers, parliamentarians,researchers, analysts, private sector & businesses, regional and international organizations,development partners & donors, the media, civil society organizations, non-government organizations,and citizens) in the development and implementation of high-quality strategy and in making strategic
choices to properly rationalise resources for statistical development. This year’s NSDS course willfeature special topics on gender statistics, Capacity Development 4.0 framework, innovation, andsubnational statistics that are relevant in the modernization of NSOs and NSS and therefore important
aspects to consider in preparing responsive statistical plans/strategies.
2. Objectives and expected results
As part of PARIS21’s continued support to national statistical systems in strengthening strategicplanning for statistical development, and in proactively responding to increased demand for data,including the global call for a data revolution, a 4-day NSDS and ADAPT regional training course forcountries in Asia-Pacific will be conducted in collaboration with the Statistical Institute for Asia andthe Pacific (SIAP). The objective of the training course is to strengthen the capacity of NSOs andnational planning agencies senior managers to a) undertake strategic planning for statisticaldevelopment and prepare data plans; b) learn new tools to aid in the coordination of the NSS and to
identify data and funding gaps; and c) design and implement responsive NSDS, taking into
consideration the evolving needs arising from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development andnational development priorities.
The training course is intended to provide a brief overview of the NSDS framework and strategicplanning processes for statistical development and a hands-on training on the ADAPT to familiarize
participants in the key functionalities of the tool and its usefulness in statistical planning and nationaldevelopment planning. Specifically, participants will:• Review strategic planning concepts related to NSDS (specifically results-based management
framework and process in designing and implementing the NSDS);• Understand special topics on gender statistics, Capacity Development 4.0 framework,innovation, and subnational statistics relevant to NSDS preparation;• Understand the purpose and benefits of the ADAPT Tool;• Have a hands-on exercise to input information in the ADAPT system, simulate the generationof preliminary reports on data and funding gaps vis-à-vis national development framework.
3. ParticipantsParticipants to the training course are senior managers of NSOs and national planning agencies in AsiaPacific who are:a. NSO – responsible for the overall planning and design of the NSDS/strategic plan on statistics
and/or implementation of the NSDS; committed to carry out and lead in coordinating theNSDS activities and processes; have knowledge and/or involved in the preparation of national
indicator monitoring framework.
b. National planning agency – responsible for the preparation of the national development
planning framework specifically in designing the indicator monitoring framework for thenational plan and has keen understanding of data and statistics

Participants are expected to share/present country practices and experiences in national
development planning and strategic planning in statistics to enrich cross-country learning. Eachparticipant would need to bring their own laptop to the training.
4. Date and venue
The training course will be conducted on 11-14 November 2019 at the SIAP Headquarters in Chiba,
Japan.