| INTRODUCTION
1. The Regional Conference
of Statisticians provides direction to the Statistics
and Demography Programmes of the South Pacific
Commission (SPC), and evaluates its services
to countries. The Conference is held every two
to three years. The latest was held in Noumea
from 18 to 21 September 1995. Representatives
of thirteen SPC member countries/territories
and observers from international organisations,
universities and other institutions attended
the Conference.
2. A Technical Meeting preceded
the Conference and was aimed at briefing national
statisticians on recent developments in statistics.
It met from 13 to 15 September 1995 in Noumea,
and was the second such meeting to be held (the
first meeting preceded the 1993 Conference of
Statisticians). An agency meeting on statistical
databases followed the Conference of Statisticians
on 22 September 1995. This was the second such
meeting to be held (the first meeting was held
in 1990) and was aimed at discussing progress
since the last meeting and future plans for
statistical databases in the region. Many national
statisticians took the opportunity to participate
in this meeting due to its relevance to their
ongoing work.
3. The recommendations of the
Conference (which incorporate recommendations
from the Pre-conference technical meeting) are
given in paragraphs 6-11.
CONFERENCE
RECOMMENDATIONS
4. The recommendations can
be classified in a number of ways. They can
be directed at countries, the SPC, other agencies
or a combination of these. Those recommendations
directed at the SPC can be with respect to continuing
activities currently performed within budget
allocations or with respect to new activities
which may or may not require additional funding.
A process to prioritise recommendations was
undertaken to satisfy the requirement that all
recommendations addressed to the SPC with financial
implications be prioritised. These prioritised
recommendations are presented in paragraph 6.
5. The Conference overwhelmingly
agreed that the following two recommendations
were of utmost importance:
"The Conference recommended
that SPC and other regional agencies give high
priority to statistical training, to be offered
in English and French, which it recognised as
essential to staff development in the Pacific
Island statistical offices."
"The Conference strongly supported
the SPC Statistics and Demography Programmes
and recommended that SPC give these programmes
high priority."
6. Recommendations addressed
to the South Pacific Commission with budgetary
implications follow:
Priority 1
a full-time position of Statistical
Training Officer be established within the SPC
Statistics Section to meet the high priority
given to statistical training by Pacific Island
statistical offices.
Priority 2
SPC reinstate the Statistical
Research Officer position and revise the duty
statement to reflect a greater research/staff
development profile.
Priority 3
the Regional Conference of
Statisticians be held every two years and that
countries and territories be given the opportunity
to host the Eleventh Conference. If no country
or territory accepts this opportunity, the Conference
should be held in Noumea.
Priority 4
the Pre-conference Technical
Meeting be continued at the Eleventh Conference
of Statisticians and follow the present format.
Priority 5
SPC convene a regional workshop
to co-ordinate the development of occupational
classifications.
Priority 6
SPC re-establish the Statistical
Expert Working Group on measuring economic activity,
including that of women and young persons.
7. Although the above recommendations
have been prioritised, no comparative prioritisation
with other recommendations should made. Conference
delegates were resolute in their endorsement
of all recommendations as high priority for
the region and that if this was not the case,
they would not have been recommendations of
the Conference.
8. Recommendations addressed
to the South Pacific Commission without budgetary
implications were:
- SPC Demography Programme
undertake analyses of the relationship between
fertility and female labour force participation
in member countries and territories on request.
- the document A draft
guide to estimating the value of non-market
production in Pacific Island developing countries
be finalised and published, as it would provide
valuable assistance for countries and territories
developing estimates of the value of non-market
production.
- SPC to co-ordinate
responses from member countries and territories
on the adoption of changes to the Harmonised
Trade Classification;
- SPC to seek assistance
to implement changes in countries proposing
to adopt these changes;
- SPC to consult member
countries and territories on:
- their needs for
upgrading PC/TRADE;
- their experience
in the use of modems to handle problems
with the PC/TRADE system; and
- assessing needs
and priorities.
- close collaboration between
SPC and other regional and international organisations
continue to be enhanced.
- the present focus by
SPC on practical, project-oriented training
be maintained.
- SPC continue to act as
the focal point for co-ordination of projects
such as the ADB RETA 5532 on Statistical Improvement
in South Pacific Developing Countries.
- SPC liaise with member
countries and collaborate with the Fiji Bureau
of Statistics to ensure that the Pacific Island
viewpoint and statistical needs are raised
at SIAP's governing body.
- SPC co-operate with regional
agencies in the development of the Pacific
Occupational Classification.
- the Conference Chairman,
Vice-chairman and Rapporteur, with the Secretariat,
form the planning committee for the Eleventh
Conference of Statisticians.
9. Recommendations specifically
addressed to countries were:
- national statistical
offices promote the development of official
population projections, to enable planners
and policy-makers to make informed decisions.
- statistical offices maintain
a balance in the collection, analysis and
dissemination of economic and social data,
and also in new areas of statistical interest
such as environmental statistics.
10. The only recommendation
addressed specifically to agencies was:
recognising the importance
of training manuals for the statistical offices,
that regional agencies support this activity
in assistance programmes.
11. A number of recommendations
were addressed to a combination of SPC, countries
and agencies. These were as follows:
- National statistical offices
increase assistance to government departments
and non-government organisations to strengthen
their management and administrative information
systems as sources of statistics for monitoring
human development;
- SPC work closely with national
statistical offices and the lead agencies
assisting in the preparation of national situation
analyses;
- SPC assist member countries
and territories not covered by UNDP's Equitable
and Sustainable Human Development Programme
in the preparation of national situation analyses.
- SPC collect and catalogue
the classifications, standards and questionnaires
used in major statistical collections,
and distribute them to member countries
and territories and relevant regional
organisations;
- SPC assess the feasibility
of harmonising classifications and standards
and report to the next Regional Conference
of Statisticians;
- in assessing priorities,
statistical offices work closely with
users, and in particular assist them to
better understand data and the uses and
benefits of statistics.
- regional agencies to
involve statisticians from the region in the
development of training material intended
for use in the region.
- Pacific statistical offices
to ensure all technical assistance projects
have detailed terms of reference and undergo
regular progress reviews, including a final
project assessment.
- recognising that social
data are often collected but not analysed,
SPC and other regional agencies to promote
the analysis of social data.
- SPC and regional agencies
to develop the analytical capability in Pacific
Island statistical offices.
STATEMENT
OF REGIONAL PRIORITIES
12. One of the objectives
of the Conference was to determine a statement
of statistical priorities for the region. Situation
analysis questionnaires aimed at identifying
the strengths and weaknesses of statistics in
the region were sent to all national statistical
offices of the region prior to the Conference.
These questionnaires, together with country
papers presented to the Conference, formed the
basis for determining the statistical priorities
of the region.
13. The statement identified
ten broad areas which were of priority to the
region. These are summarised in the final paragraph
of the statement as:
The statistical priorities
of the region relate to organisational issues,
the statistical processes employed, the computing
environment and harmonisation of statistical
standards and classifications. In addition,
there is a need to improve relationships with
users of statistics and data providers, the
quality of statistical analysis and the dissemination
of information. There is also a need to continue
to extend the range of economic statistics and
increase the overall level of analysis in demographic,
social and economic statistics. In order to
improve the statistical capability of the region,
a comprehensive training programme should be
developed.
14. The common themes to come
through both the recommendations of the Conference
and the statement of regional priorities were:
- a comprehensive training
programme to improve the statistical capability
of the region is required;
- a need to extend the range
of available statistics and the analysis of
such data;
- an increased focus on the
users of statistics to ensure analysis and
dissemination is directed at their needs.
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