I. INTRODUCTION

1. The ESCAP programme of work for 2002-2003 was endorsed by the Commission at its fifty-seventh session in April 2001. The programme structure of ESCAP during the biennium will comprise the following seven subprogrammes, unless there are changes made to the conference and related structures which are currently under study as mandated by Commission Resolution 53/1: 

Subprogramme 1	Regional economic cooperation
Subprogramme 2	Development research and policy analysis
Subprogramme 3	Social Development
Subprogramme 4	Population and rural and urban development
Subprogramme 5	Environment and natural resources development
Subprogramme 6	Transport, communications, tourism and infrastructure development
Subprogramme 7	Statistics

2. For the Statistics Subprogramme, the programme of work 2002-2003 as approved by the Commission under Section 17 of the regular budget is given in Annex I.  The next Commission session, to be held in May 2002, will provide another opportunity to fine-tune the 2002-2003 work programme, by suggesting modification, deletion or addition of outputs.  The Working Group is requested to review the various programme-related issues described below and make recommendations on any programme changes that might be necessary.

II. AVAILABILITY AND LOCATION OF RESOURCES

3. The staff resources actually and potentially available to the Statistics Division are as follows:

Period	RB Professional posts	RB advisory posts	Extrabudgetary advisory posts (out posted)	Other extrabudgetary posts	General Services posts (RB+XB)
2000-2001	9a/	1	2	-	16
Expected 2002-2003	8a/	1b/	2c/	-d/	16d/

4. The 2002-2003 work programme of ESCAP in the field of statistics as approved by the ESCAP Commission is intended to be implemented by the regular budget resources available, supplemented by extrabudgetary resources that the secretariat may be able to mobilize, for example, under the International Comparison Programme.  The Statistics Division, having had a full complement of staff resources from the end of 1999, has once again been operating with two vacancies at the Professional level for most of the current biennium (the effective vacancy rate was around 17 per cent).  By the end of 2001, the Division is likely to have a total of three vacancies, after the departure of a P2 officer on transfer to Geneva.  As indicated in the table above, one P4 Statistician in the Statistics Development Section is being physically relocated to work as a statistician in the Poverty Centre/Unit of the Office of the Executive Secretary.  Further, it has been decided to physically relocate the Regional Adviser on National Accounts (along with other regional advisers in the secretariat) to the Programme Management Division in January 2002.

5. The posts of two advisers funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) remain in the Statistics Division in terms of budgetary allocation, but physically they are located with the UNFPA Country Technical Services Teams (CSTs) situated in Bangkok and Kathmandu. UNFPA is currently reviewing its strategy and resource allocation and is likely to reduce the number of advisers in both teams.  However, it is understood that encumbered existing posts, including those on population statistics and on population data processing and database management, would be continued to the end of 2002.  Thereafter, if those posts are to continue, they and others in the CSTs would become UNFPA posts.

III. INDICATORS OF ACHIEVEMENT

6. In the narrative for the 2002-2003 programme of work in statistics, the secretariat was required to provide a write-up on expected accomplishments and indicators of achievement against the objectives of the subprogramme for the biennium. This appears in the table given in Annex 1.  The expected accomplishments in terms of the impact secretariat activities have on statistical development in the countries in the region cannot be easily isolated, and achievements realized by NSOs could not be attributed entirely to the impact of secretariat activities. To avoid placing response burden on NSOs, the secretariat has listed in the table information which is readily available as  indicators of achievement. The indicators are somewhat artificial and are arguably not directly relevant to the expected accomplishment of the programme. The Working Group may wish to advise the secretariat on the indicators which may be readily available in their offices that could be used as a proxy for measuring the impact of the secretariat's activities on their work. That would help the secretariat in meeting the General Assembly-mandated need for a text on indicators of achievement.  Additionally, the Group is requested to advise whether the different programme elements taken together represent the proper approach to further the objectives of the subprogramme.

IV. ACTIVITIES

7. The subprogramme activities or programme elements are categorized into four broad headings using standard United Nations terminology:

1. Servicing of intergovernmental and expert bodies
2. Other substantive activities
3. International cooperation and inter-agency coordination and liaison
4. Technical cooperation.

Items 1 and 2 are recurrent activities financed solely from regular budget resources allocated to Section 17. They are in fact many of the primary functions expected of the Statistics Division, including servicing the sessions of the Committee on Statistics and (de facto) the Working Group of Statistical Experts, and producing the statistical publications and the newsletters.  One change is proposed, to revise the content of output 7-1-205 to conform to the directive of the Committee on Statistics at its twelfth session, and consequently to subsume it within output 7-1-204.  Item 3 involves interaction between the ESCAP secretariat and a wide range of agencies within and outside the United Nations system, through participation in meetings and other means, and the activities are dependent on both regular budget and extrabudgetary resources.  No changes are proposed by the secretariat for Item 3.

8. Item 4, technical cooperation or operational activities, relates to advisory services and group training.  The activities under this item have a more direct impact towards assisting in the development of statistics as well as national statistical capacities; all or virtually all of them are dependent on extrabudgetary resources.  The focus and emphases of these operational activities vary according to the priorities determined by the Commission and the Committee, and also on the areas in which the secretariat is successful in attracting extrabudgetary funds.  They are additionally influenced by developments taking place in the international statistical environment.  In the 2002-2003 biennium, these operational activities are currently as follows:

9. It will readily be seen that the categories of group training activities are very broad.  This device has been used in the past so as to be able to take account of changing priorities of countries and also (and mainly) because of the uncertainty of receiving extrabudgetary funds for a particular specifically-named activity.  Compared to previous biennia, there is for various reasons a greater degree of uncertainty surrounding extrabudgetary funding in 2002-2003.  Nevertheless, to take account of the focal area of the Commission on poverty reduction, and in pursuance of suggestions made by the Committee at its twelfth session, the following proposals are made:

1. Specifically mention poverty statistics under programme element 7-4-201;
2. Raise a new programme element 7-4-203 to cover ICT and the knowledge-based economy; and
3. Delete the application of IT from 7-4-202 and include statistical organization and management.

10. The proposed operational activities in the 2002-2003 work programme would then read:

11. The exact focus of the seminars and workshops in programme elements 7-4-201 to 7-4-203 (if approved) remains to be determined.  The Commission at its fifty-seventh session endorsed the priorities identified by the Committee at its twelfth session, namely the 1993 SNA, poverty statistics, gender statistics, statistics on the informal sector and environment statistics. It agreed that ICT and the knowledge-based economy were of emerging importance for statistical work, and should be included as an additional priority item for the biennium 2002-2003. It asked the secretariat to develop projects in the areas of ICT, statistical classifications, the International Comparison Programme (ICP), and statistics on social issues.  It felt that it was appropriate for the Committee on Statistics to initiate activities to develop standard methods aimed at facilitating international comparison of statistics on poverty. It was also proposed that the secretariat organize training courses or workshops on methodologies, limitations and problem areas related to human development and gender development indicators.  The secretariat has taken steps to formulate project proposals in most of these areas.  As noted earlier, however, extrabudgetary funding is particularly uncertain, and thus the delivery of the related outputs is by no means definite at this stage. Nevertheless, any comments by the Working Group on the priorities among the topics listed, the specific issues involved, and the approaches to be adopted, would be helpful.

V. SELECTED ISSUES

A. The role of Section 21 of the regular budget

12. Up to this point this paper has discussed the work programme under Section 17 of the regular budget.  The United Nations budget has a separate section, Section 21, covering the Regular programme of technical cooperation.  The activities funded from Section 21 are determined by the nature of requests received from Governments, the recommendations of intergovernmental legislative and expert bodies and approved work programmes.^1/  The funding is directed towards activities with a demonstrated multiplier effect likely to have a significant impact on the development process that are in accord with development needs and priorities of individual countries and are consistent with global development policies enunciated by United Nations legislative bodies.  Section 21 activities of ESCAP are implemented in support of the objectives of Programme 15 of the medium-term plan 2002-2005, and hence of Section 17 of the programme budget.

13. The global appropriation under section 21 for the 2000-2001 biennium was $41.3 million, of which $18.5 million was for sectoral advisory services and $22.8 million for regional and subregional advisory services.  The regional and subregional advisory services were delivered by the five regional commissions, including ESCAP.  Within the categories, the main types of technical cooperation activities were short-term advisory services, field projects and training.

14. In 2002-2003, ESCAP's share of the Section 21 budget will be $4.4 million, of which, subject to adjustments during the course of ESCAP's revitalization process, $620,800 is for advisory services in the five priority areas of statistics identified by the Committee on Statistics for 2000-2001, and for group training on national accounts, gender statistics and environment statistics (see Annex II, paragraph 21.42(e)).  The funding remained at the same level as in the previous biennium. The region benefits also from Section 21 funds that are allocated to sectoral advisory services delivered by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) under the Statistics programme, which were estimated at $2 million at the global level.

15. While, as noted earlier, Section 21 activities are implemented in support of the objectives of Section 17, Section 21 funds are subject to different programming and reporting procedures.  The Working Group might like to comment on the current and potential role of Section 21 funding in implementing operational activities for the benefit of member countries.

B. Advisory priorities

16. In July 2001, the secretariat requested NSOs in the region to make an assessment of the needs for advisory services and the fields in which such services would be required.  NSOs were also requested to indicate a preference between national accounts and poverty statistics, if only one adviser could be fielded.  The results of the general enquiry, to which 24 responses were received, were as follows:

Table 1. Number of countries indicating interest  in advisory services in particular fields

17. On the specific choice between advisory services in national accounts and in poverty statistics, the tally was as follows: 

18. The secretariat deduces from the above that advisory services in poverty statistics, if the secretariat could provide them, would be in very high demand.  At the same time, it seems as though the need for advisory services in national accounts continues unabated.  This is especially so since a number of countries which did not respond to the survey have recently made requests for assistance in national accounts.  The Working Group may like to advise the secretariat on the approach to be taken with regard to advisory services, particularly in light of the fact that the incumbent adviser on national accounts is scheduled to leave in September 2002, on completion of five years of service.

C. Programmatic implications of the revitalization of ESCAP

19. The Working Group will be aware of the revitalization process which ESCAP is undertaking, as described in document STAT/WGSE.12/10.  Since at the time of writing there are only indications of direction in terms of programmatic implications, the secretariat's proposals for programme changes in 2002-2003 are of the broadest possible nature (see paragraph 9).  Additionally, it has been realized that in considerable measure the 2002-2003 programme has already been decided on.  Thus, should the Commission adopt the new direction being proposed, 2002-2003 is being seen as a transitional period, with substantial changes to the work programme likely to be seen in the 2004-2005 biennium.

VI. POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

20. The Working Group might wish to give its views on the proposed programme changes for 2002-2003 (paragraphs 7 and 10).  It may also to comment on the following programme-related issues:

1. Resource availability and location (paragraphs 3-5);
2. Indicators of achievement (paragraph 6);
3. Priority topics and approaches for seminars and workshops (paragraph 11);
4. The potential role of Section 21 funds (paragraph 15); and
5. Advisory disciplines (paragraph 18).

Annex I

Extract from the Proposed programme budget for the biennium 2002-2003

Section 17,  Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific

Subprogramme 7.  Statistics

Introduction

The subprogramme, under the guidance of the Committee on Statistics, serves to implement activities mandated by the Committee with respect to its terms of reference, under the responsibility of the Statistics Division.  In acting as the focus of regional statistical development, the Committee shall perform, among others, the following functions: (a) review and analyse progress in the development of statistics in the region; (b) play the focal role in promoting close coordination of all aspects of the statistical activities of specialized agencies, relevant United Nations bodies and other international organizations in regard to their work in the Asian and Pacific region, inter alia, so to achieve greater uniformity in concepts and definitions, reduce to a minimum the response burden on national statistical  offices, and maximize the effectiveness of technical cooperation activities; (c) review and evaluate the activities of the secretariat in the areas of statistics and computerized information processing and provide guidance on the work of the secretariat; and (d) work closely with other subsidiary organs of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and coordinate activities with them.

The objective of the subprogramme is to improve the statistical capabilities of the countries/areas of the region for informed decision-making and to promote their use of IT in the public sector, and to make comparable statistical information on the region widely and promptly available.

Towards improving statistical capabilities, efforts will be made to assist countries in the strengthening of national statistical infrastructure and to promote improvements in the quality of statistics, the international comparability of data and the appropriate application of new techniques.  The changes are expected to be accomplished through the exchange of information on and experience in statistical work and methods among countries which may be implemented through relevant technical meetings and advisory services.  As adherence to international standards helps to improve the quality of data and international comparability, countries would be encouraged and assisted to participate in the development, revision, testing and implementation of international statistical standards.  The dissemination of statistical data on the countries of the region serves to provide data relating to different countries for the convenience of users.  It also identifies data gaps more clearly and thus encourages countries to fill them.  As national statistical offices are generally pioneers in the use of computer technology, the advent of IT has helped them realize their potential more fully in the provision of statistical services to users.  Nevertheless, the rapid pace of IT development has stretched the capacity of the public sector to fully exploit that potential, and the secretariat's efforts in promoting the application of that technology have been well received.  The major changes which the subprogramme brings about, in terms of new knowledge and shared experience, will help to enhance national capabilities in delivering statistical services.

Objective for the biennium, expected accomplishments and indicators of achievement

In pursuing the objective set out in the table below, the subprogramme aims to benefit national statistical organizations, and the public and private sector entities which directly use their products, by keeping statisticians abreast of developments in international statistical standards and statistical methodology and the application of IT, as well as users more generally through the availability of statistical data on countries in the region.

The level of success in achieving the expected accomplishments is influenced by the willingness of member governments to accord priority to the work of statistical development in national development plans; the level of cooperation of various organizations within and outside the United Nations system, including NGOs which are concerned with statistical development in the region; and the willingness of the Governing Board of SIAP to reflect the decisions and recommendations of the Committee on Statistics when formulating SIAP training programmes for statisticians in Asia and the Pacific.  Success in achieving the expected accomplishments may also be influenced by the availability of extrabudgetary resources to supplement the work undertaken under the subprogramme.  The continued willingness of member governments to supply relevant information to the secretariat in a timely manner is another important external factor.

Objective:   To improve the statistical capabilities of the countries and areas of the region for informed decision-making and to promote their use of IT in the public sector, and to make comparable statistical information on the region widely and promptly available.
Expected accomplishments	Indicators of achievement
(a)  Increased capacity in the region, especially in least developed, landlocked and island developing countries, to identify, collect, process, analyse and utilize the data needed for national development, including the capacity to support analysis of gender issues, poverty characteristics and emerging economic and social problems.	The volume of quality data, especially those of contemporary concern, produced by countries in the region; The number of countries subscribing to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and adhering to the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS); The number of countries with evidence-based policies on gender issues and on poverty; The number of participants, especially from the least developed, landlocked and island developing countries, indicating that meetings and training by ESCAP have made a significant contribution to their capacity.
(b)  Improved coordination, collaboration and sharing of information on statistical development and statistical standards in the region, and improved availability of comparable statistical data on countries of the region.	The provision by countries in the region of papers for legislative and technical meetings; The level of participation by countries and agencies in regional statistical forums; The quality and quantity of data disseminated by or available with the secretariat; The number of users of ESCAP statistical publications indicating, in feedback forms, that data and information provided by ESCAP were of value to their work; The number of joint statistical programmes and activities developed between ESCAP and other organizations; The number of visits to the ESCAP Homepage on Statistics.
(c)  More systematic IT planning and adoption of more coherent policies in this field.	The number of countries and national statistical services adopting IT plans and strategies; The number of national statistical and information technology-related web sites in the region.

Outputs

I. SERVICING OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND EXPERT BODIES (RB)

II. OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ACTIVITIES (RB) 

III. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND INTER-AGENCY COORDINATION AND LIAISON (RB/XB)

IV. TECHNICAL COOPERATION (RB/XB)

Annex II

Extract from the Proposed programme budget for the biennium 2002-2003

Section 21,  Regular programme of technical cooperation

1. Overview
21.1	Funding of the technical assistance activities under the regular budget began with General Assembly resolution 58 (I) of 14 December 1946, by which the Assembly authorized the Secretary-General to include in the budget of the United Nations for the year 1947 the funds necessary for the accomplishment of such a programme in the field of social welfare. Over the years, the activities have been developed further in their sectoral and regional dimensions. The sectoral advisory services were established by the Assembly in its resolution 200 (III) of 4 December 1948 and the regional advisory services by the Assembly in its resolution 2803 (XXVI) of 14 December 1971.
21.2	The regular programme of technical cooperation complements technical assistance available to the developing countries from other sources of funds. In many countries, it continues to play an important role in several areas of operational activities, such as technological development, social development, poverty alleviation and the improvement of human resources, infrastructure development, reinforcement of national capacities for research and development, environmental regeneration and sustainable development, capacity-building to increase competitiveness in the global economic environment, support in national reconstruction, the continuum of relief and development, public administration reform, disaster management, drug control, human rights and support for institutional reforms.
21.3	A significant portion of regular programme activities is oriented towards the needs of the least developed countries in accordance with the criteria established by the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. In addition, the programme targets countries with economies in transition, where the key areas of support are technical cooperation and policy advice for systemic reforms, the promotion of economic and human development, the protection of the environment and growth of the energy sector.
21.4	Within the framework of existing guidelines, individual technical cooperation activities under the regular programme are determined by the nature of requests received from Governments, the recommendations of intergovernmental legislative and expert bodies and approved work programmes. In keeping with the guidelines, funding is directed towards activities with a demonstrated multiplier effect likely to have a significant impact on the development process that are in accord with development needs and priorities of individual countries and are consistent with global development policies enunciated by United Nations legislative bodies.
21.5	Because the scope and composition of the activities under the regular programme are based on the individual requests of Governments, the proposals at this stage indicate only major areas of activity and relevant secretariat units to be responsible for their implementation. Although the regular programme is not subject to review and approval as a separate chapter of the medium-term plan, the areas of assistance supported by the resources of the section are subject to such programming. Accordingly, to the extent that strategies and expected accomplishments in subject areas foresee the use of regular programming resources, the relevant medium-term planning requirements are reflected under the respective chapters of the medium-term plan. Consequentially, the format of this section of the budget does not incorporate separate statements of objectives, expected accomplishments and indicators of performance, as these are handled within the context of the individual programme sections concerned.
21.6	The programme, which comprises development projects in the fields of human rights, environment and social development management, human settlements, poverty alleviation, energy, economic development, international trade and development finance, population, public administration, finance and development, crime prevention and criminal justice, international drug control, statistics, transport and disaster mitigation and emergency humanitarian assistance, is composed of two components:
	Sectoral advisory services, executed, as appropriate, by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the secretariat of UNCTAD, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), OHCHR, the Centre for International Crime Prevention and UNDCP; Regional and subregional advisory services executed by the secretariats of ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA.
21.7	There are three main types of technical cooperation activities financed under this section, namely, short-term advisory services, field projects and training.
	Short-term advisory services
21.8	In response to ad hoc requests from Governments for assistance, technical cooperation, in the form of short-term advisory services, can be made available under the regular programme in cases when the specific problem can be dealt with on a short-term basis and does not fall within the scope of an already funded project. The main purpose of these services is to provide advice as a basis for immediate government action or, in the case of broader needs, to lay the groundwork for meeting them through the identification and formulation of projects for submission to potential financing sources.
	Field projects
21.9	Provision of technical cooperation through field projects may originate in response either to specific government requests or to proposals formulated by the various offices concerned in the context of their approved substantive work programmes. Such projects will therefore be mainly interregional, designed to test and operationalize new approaches to development needs or to fill gaps where funds from other sources are insufficient to cover areas given high priority by legislative bodies. Different kinds of inputs will be combined in ways that will best meet the particular needs involved and to maximize the multiplier function of the regular programme.
	Training
21.10	Training activities are undertaken in recognition of the key role of human resources in the development process and the consequent need for adequately trained and qualified personnel at the national level. While training needs are often addressed through short-term advisory services and field projects, a portion of regular programme resources would be used for seminars and workshops in areas with a potential multiplier effect, organized for national staff with policy-making, planning and management responsibilities.
21.11	The procedures applicable to the regular programme were established by the General Assembly in its resolution 2514 (XXIV) of 21 November 1969, in which it endorsed the proposals contained in Economic and Social Council resolution 1434 (XLVII). Under those procedures, annual reports on programme implementation are submitted, as appropriate, to the Executive Board of UNDP, while budget performance is reported to the General Assembly.
21.12	The resource requirements proposed under this section are summarized in table 21.1 below.
Table 21.1. Summary of requirements by component
(Thousands of United States dollars)
Component 1998-1999 expenditures 2000-2001 appropriations  Resource growth Total beforere costing Recosting 2002-2003 estimates Amount Percentage A. Sectoral advisory services 19087.0  18502.2 - - 18502.2 776.7 19278.9 B. Regional and subregional advisory services 23195.4 22752.6 - - 22752.6 666.6 23419.2 Total 42282.4 41254.8 - - 41254.8 1443.3  42698.1
21.13	The resource requirements proposed for the biennium 2002-2003 are at the same level as that approved for the biennium 2000-2001. The provision for regional and interregional advisory services at 2,232 work-months for 2002-2003, reflects an additional 48 work-months in comparison with the biennium 2000-2001, which is owing to additional requirements of UNCTAD to provide advisory services and technical assistance in the area of information technology for trade-related activities and to the least developed, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.
2. Economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific: $4,375,100
21.40	The activities in this region are implemented by ESCAP in support of the objectives of subprogrammes 1, Regional economic cooperation; 2, Development research and policy analysis; 3, Social development; 5, Environment and natural resources development; and 7, Statistics, of programme 15, Economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific, of the medium-term plan for the period 2002-2005 (A/55/6/Rev.1).
21.41	During the biennium 2002-2003, technical cooperation activities will focus on strengthening the technical, managerial and organizational capacities of developing member and associate member States in their national efforts towards achieving sustainable national development through effective economic and social planning, including adoption and adaptation of successful programmes towards the alleviation of poverty, sustainable environmental management and greater use of information technology.
3. Outputs
21.42	During the biennium 2002-2003, the following outputs are to be delivered:
	Subprogramme 1. Regional economic cooperation: $1,241,400 Subprogramme 2. Development research and policy analysis: $635,800 Subprogramme 3. Social development: $1,256,500 Subprogramme 4. Environment and natural resources development: $620,600 Subprogramme 5. Statistics: $620,800  Advisory services: missions, in response to requests from Governments, to assist in the implementation of the 1993 System of National Accounts; poverty statistics; gender statistics; and informal sector and environment statistics; Group training: three workshops on the System of National Accounts; gender statistics; and environment statistics.