Compendium from a workshop on scaling-up support to statistics in Oslo, December 2007

This paper reports from a workshop in Oslo in December 2007 aiming at gaining insight into how to strengthen the capacity of developing and transition countries for analyzing and using statistics for evidence based policy and public dialogue. The workshop took place within the context of the "scaling-up support to statistics” initiative launched by Paris21 and the World Bank in April 2007.

The workshop focused on three thematic building blocks: the needs of policy makers and other users of statistics; how to make the right data readily available; and how best to build national capacity in statistics, analysis and policy design. The workshop comprised a number of generic papers on the above issues, building on a vast experience from work on development of statistical systems and statistical capacity building from national statistical offices, international organizations and scientific institutions. The current report highlights recommendations for how to improve the national capacity of developing countries to analyze and use statistics for evidence based policy design and public dialogue, and for how to better coordinate this work.

Acknowledgement: We are grateful to Paris21 and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) who inspired and funded the workshop, as well as to our Norwegian technical co-organizers CMI and Fafo-Ais. Not least we want to thank the long range of speakers who made the series of interesting and inspiring interventions, and to all other participants whose active contributions ensured a successful outcome of the workshop. It is the hope of Paris21 and the workshop organizers that similar events could be replicated in other OECD countries.