Within Statistics Norway, the Division for International Development Cooperation is responsible for coordinating these activities, while the whole organisation contributes manpower to the different projects. In 2022, more than 90 staff members outside the division participated in our projects throughout the year. Our experience is that international cooperation leads to knowledge sharing that is mutually beneficial. Overall it has a positive effect on the professional level and dedication of our staff and it contributes to making Statistics Norway a more interesting place to work.
In the first half of 2022, most activities continued to take place online, but by the end of the year, most projects had been able to also organise face-to-face meetings again. In total, Statistics Norway hosted 16 study visits (5-10 persons each) and carried out 39 short-term missions to partner countries. For comparison, in 2019, the last normal year before the pandemic, the respective numbers were 31 study visits and 106 short-term missions.
In 2022, Statistics Norway had bilateral collaborations with national statistics agencies in Ukraine, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Mozambique, Nepal, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Indonesia. Our cooperation with Kyrgyzstan which started in 2006 came to an end in October 2022 after 17 years. The two institutions have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim to continue collaboration also in the future.
Although traveling has resumed, the overall goal is to limit long distance travel and resort to online solutions when possible, to minimise the carbon footprint of our work. This makes the role of Long-Term Advisors (LTA) and Local Project Coordinators (LPC) even more important to support the implementation of projects. Due to the pandemic, the hiring of new LTAs and LPCs have been put on hold since 2020, but the process to recruit consultants restarted in 2022 and a new LTC is already in place in Uganda.
Statistics Norway’s projects cover a broad range of thematic areas, based on partners demand and availability of experts. The figure on page four shows a summary of the main topics and programmes covered in 2022. Economic statistics is a key component in many projects and the area where we provide most support the last year. This includes among other national accounts, statistical business register, price statistics and investment statistics. These are subject matter areas that are in great demand among our partners. For some statistical domains, we have dedicated projects over several years, like on food security, ocean and energy statistics, which were the main projects in 2022. Finally, the country programmes cover a range of topics, including all types of statistics and methodologies, as well as institutional support functions (e.g.HR, training centres, communication or ICT).
Statistic Norway also cooperate closely with international organisations and other partners, contributing to several international guidelines and publications. In 2022 two focus areas were statistics on statelessness and food security, where the results are expected to be finalised and published in 2023 and 2024 respectively. In addition, our expert on CRVS contributed to a chapter on how data can be used to estimate mortality due to atrocity crimes in the Oxford Handbook of Atrocity Crimes. The broad scope of our work is also a good reminder of the importance of statistics in all areas of life.
Most of Statistics Norway’s international development cooperation is financed by Norad under the Knowledge Bank, and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Norwegian embassies.