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Engendering National Statistical Systems

For a Knowledge-Based Policy Formulation

Capacity Building Program for CIS and SEE countries

FY2007-2009

UNECE-World Bank

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• Between 1999 and 2003, UNDP/ Bratislava, the Statistical Division of UNECE, have worked together to promote the mainstreaming of gender into the production process and dissemination of statistics in the ECA region.

• In 2003, this collaboration has been extended to World Bank, USAID, US Census Bureau, FAO, and UNFPA.

Engendering National Statistical Systems:

How it all started?

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Recent Partnerships and current set-up

• Regional activities: • Workshop on Gender Statistics for Central Asian countries in

Turkmenistan, July 2004 (UNDP, UNECE, and USAID/U.S. Census Bureau)

• Work Session on Gender Statistics in Geneva, October 2004 (UNECE, in collaboration with UNFPA, UNDP, and WHO)

• Training Workshop on Mainstreaming Gender into PRSPs, in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, December 2004 (The World Bank Institute with inputs from UNECE, UNDP, ILO and WHO)

• Training Workshop on Gender Statistics for Central Asian and Caucuses countries in Kyrgyzstan, December 2004 (the World Bank Institute with inputs from UNECE, WHO and ILO)

• Sub-regional Workshop on Gender Statistics in Uzbekistan, July 2005 (UNECE, UNDP, The World Bank, and USAID/U.S. Census Bureau)

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Recent Partnerships and current set-up (cont.)

• UNECE developed a network of NSOs and established gender statistics focal points (GSFPs) in ECA countries.

• Task Force on gender sensitization training for statisticians has already begun working towards the development of the how-to manual in 2005.

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World Bank Gender Strategy• WB Gender Action Plan for FY2007-09

(Gender Equality as Smart Economics): • seeks to advance women’s economic

empowerment in the client countries in order to promote shared growth and accelerate the implementation of MDG3.

• Action 3: To improve knowledge and statistics on women’s economic participation and the relationship between gender equality, growth and poverty reduction.

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• The purpose of the project is to improve and strengthen countries’ capacity to produce, analyze, and disseminate gender statistics.

• The project will also address the better use of statistics for an improved knowledge-based policy working toward the equality of women and men.

UNECE-WBI joint program on gender statistics

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Financing of the project

• World Bank’s Development Grant Facility (DGF) Trust Fund was established in the amount of $550,000 for FY07-09.

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1. The improved sensitization of users and statisticians to the production, use and update of gender statistics in order to increase the responsiveness of NSS to monitoring gender policies

2. The improved sensitization of National Statistical Systems in all areas of work especially in areas where traditionally it has been difficult to integrate gender (i.e., economic and business statistics, administrative registers, etc)

Specific goals of the project

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Goals of the project (cont.)

3. The development of a critical mass of trainers to carry out work in spreading gender statistics knowledge at the national level and to different users

4. The improved availability and quality of data in areas where gaps are more relevant (entrepreneurship, transport, communications, etc); these gaps prevent good policy from being developed (e.g., violence against women, time-use surveys)

5. The raising of awareness in the region about the different conditions of women and men in order to advocate the need for more gender-sensitive policies

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• Project established as a result of a consultative, collaborative process

• Inter-agency donor coordination: World Bank, UNECE, UNDP, USAID, FAO, ILO, US Census Bureau, UNFPA

• National statistical systems of the ECA countries

Cross-cutting partnership

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Guiding Principles

WBI and UNECE developed a set of guiding principles:

- Multi-stakeholder participation

- Year-round activity

- Linkage to WB projects, WB GAP, WBI

activities and UNECE projects and

networks

- Partnerships to leverage knowledge and

resources

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Managerial arrangements

• UNECE serves as an implementing agency, according to WB procurement rules and regulations.

• A joint Governing Board - multi-stakeholder international Steering Group - comprised of representatives from UNECE, WB, FAO, USAID/US Census Bureau, and a selected number of NSOs

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Managerial arrangements (cont.)

• A Memorandum of Understanding between the World Bank and the UNECE for a 3-year partnership was signed on August 30, 2006

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Monitoring and Evaluation

\ At the end of each year, a progress report will be delivered to the World Bank Institute and necessary actions will be decided jointly by the Steering Group

• An ongoing monitoring system will be in place during the implementation of the project:

•Where relevant, the three Task-Forces active within the CIS framework will be involved

•Regular feedback from the GSFPs on the relevance and impact of the project will be solicited

• A final independent evaluation of the impact of the project will also be carried out by experts who were not directly involved in the activities of the project.

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Success factors for the project

- Success of the project depends on active participation and ownership of the direct beneficiaries – NSOs from recipient countries – in all deliverables.

- In order to better advocate for the need of gender-sensitive policies, emphasis will be put on those statistical products that can provide information for knowledge-based gender analysis (UNECE/UNDP/WB GS databases, manual, two sub-regional studies on situation of men and women).

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Challenges specific to the ECA Region

• In general, in ECA Region, there is a tendency to underestimate gender issues (in part due to past experience of having a quota system to allow women to be represented in government bodies)

• There is a misconception among policy makers that there are no barriers to women in society, economy and public life.

• People at decision-making level do not often recognize the value of statistics and do not know how to use statistics for policy making.

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Challenges (2)

• There is a lack of gender awareness among statisticians: gender should be mainstreamed not only into data production and dissemination, but also into the development of definitions, classifications and data collection methodologies.

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Community of Practice

• Network of Practitioners – for future sustainability • Joint learning process – peer to peer knowledge

exchange and quality control. • E-Learning, E-Discussion list, Website…• Focused on selected countries and areas—based on

competencies and value added• Customized to individual country realities and needs• Grounded in empirical evidence on gender inequalities

and good practices in addressing them• Oriented to results (not only on activities)—processes,

outcomes, and impacts

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Project activities FY07:

• Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops to empower the national trainers to sensitize others in the NSSs and other gender-relevant national organizations

• National follow-up workshops will be organized in a few ECA countries (venues for FY07: B&H, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan)

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Project activities (FY07-09)

• Development of a consolidated training manual as a tool to train statisticians to become more gender sensitive and to improve collection, processing and dissemination of gender-relevant statistics

• Dissemination of the manual on gender statistics• Technical assistance for the officials from National

Statistical Offices, policymakers, including national follow-up workshops using the hands-on manual on gender statistics

• Preparation of sub-regional studies on status of men and women

• Upgrading and updating of the Gender Statistics Databases