The Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data is being launched at the first ever United Nations World Data Forum, hosted by Statistics South Africa, from 15 to 18 January 2017. The event is supported by the Statistics Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (HLG)
The Action Plan, calls for a commitment by governments, policy leaders and the international community to undertake key actions under six strategic areas: coordination and leadership; innovation and modernization of national statistical systems; dissemination of data on sustainable development; building partnerships; and mobilizing resources.
It has been under development during 2016 by statistical experts with inputs from stakeholders and will be formally approved by the UN Statistical Commission at its 48th session in March.
The Plan highlights the importance of data for effective planning, follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Capacity building for the collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of an unprecedented amount of data and statistics at local, national, regional and global levels and by multiple stakeholders is important for all countries.
But it is even more so for vulnerable countries. Quality data, available in time can enable governments, international organisations, civil society, private sector and citizens to take informed decisions and ensure accountability of representative bodies. Consequently, there is pressure on National statistical systems (NSS) to adapt to the needs of data users.
Each identified Strategic Areas has one or more objectives contained within, and key actions listed down for each objective.
Strategic Area 1: Coordination and strategic leadership on data for sustainable development
Objective 1.1: Strengthen national statistical systems and the coordination role of national statistical offices
Objective 1.2: Strengthen coordination among national statistical systems and regional and international organizations active in the production of data and statistics for sustainable development
Strategic Area 2: Innovation and modernization of national statistical systems
Objective 2.1: Modernize governance and institutional frameworks to allow national statistical systems to meet the demands and opportunities of constantly evolving data ecosystems
Objective 2.2: Modernize statistical standards, particularly those aimed to facilitate data integration and automation of data exchange across different stages of the statistical production process
Objective 2.3: Facilitate the application of new technologies and new data sources into mainstream statistical activities
Strategic Area 3: Strengthening of basic statistical activities and programmes, with particular focus on addressing the monitoring needs of the 2030 Agenda
Objective 3.1: Strengthen and expand household survey programmes, integrated survey systems, business and other economic survey programmes, population and housing census programmes, civil and vital statistics programmes and the International Comparison Programme taking into account the needs posed by the 2030 Agenda
Objective 3.2: Improve the quality of national statistical registers and expand the use of administrative records integrating them with data from surveys and other new data sources, for the compilation of integrated social, economic and environmental statistics and in relation to follow up on the 2030 Agenda
Objective 3.3: Strengthen and expand System of National Accounts and the System of environmental Economic Accounts
Objective 3.4: Integrate geospatial data into statistical production programmes at all levels.
Objective 3.5: Strengthen and expand data on all groups of population to ensure that no is left behind
Objective 3.6: Strengthen and expand data on domains that are currently not well developed within the scope of official statistics
Strategic Area 4: Dissemination and use of sustainable development data
Objective 4.1: Develop and promote innovative strategies to ensure proper dissemination and use of data for sustainable development
Strategic Area 5: Multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development data
Objective 5.1: Develop and strengthen partnerships of national and international statistical systems with governments, academia, civil society, private sector and other stakeholders involved in the production and use of data for sustainable development
Strategic Area 6: Mobilize resources and coordinate efforts for statistical capacity building
Objective 6.1: Ensure that resources are available to implement the necessary programmes and actions as outlined in this global action plan (both domestic and from international cooperation)
Read the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data here.
