Statistical Governance in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region: achievements and

challenges

P. Martin-Guzmán ( Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and M.

Aguilera (Chile)

Some current traits of these countries

• A significant number of them are growing at rates next to or above 5%

• Most of them are consolidating stable democratic political systems

• A couple of them are already OECD members. A few more are applying for membership

• A growing demand for credible statistics

• Enhancing governance in statistics: an on-going project launched by the Statistical Conference of the Americas (SCA), a subsidiary body of ECLAC

Steps of the project

• 2007. Agreement of all countries in SCA to produce a Code of Good Practices

• 2009. Working group on Institutional Strenghthening created under the leadership of DANE, Colombia

• 2010. Workshop in Luxembourg for discussion of the Code with EUROSTAT experts

• 2011. Endorsement of the finalised Code by all countries in SCA

Steps II

• 2012 Launching of the first self-assessment questionnaires

• 2013. Workshop in Bogotá for dissemination of the Regional Code of Good Practices

• 2014. First round of peer reviews, involving six countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, Paraguay, Dominican Republic and Uruguay,

The Regional Code of Good Practices in Statistics

Very much inspired in the E.U. Code of Practice, but two additional principles:

• Coordination of the National Statistical System

• International cooperation and participation

Different levels of involvement in the project

• English speaking countries

• Cuba

• Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries except Cuba

Independence

• Legislation

• Appointment and dismissal of the chief statistician

• Government interferences

Legislation

A thriving point :• There are still countries without an Statistical

Act• Some countries have very old laws

• Most countries are now involved in developing a new good legislation adapted to the Code, but Parliaments not always helpful.

Appointment and dismissal of chief statistician

• Tradition not completely adjusted to the Code

• But some significant improvements have taken place recently

Government interferences

• Boards of experts for discussion of data before dissemination

• Eventual interferences in the dissemination of data

Mandate for data collection

• Access to administrative registers usually protected by legal acts

• Problems in practice, eventually solved through personal relations

• Now, bilateral agreements

Adequacy of resources I(Budget)

• Usually scarce , but considerable differences among countries

• Made worse by poor management in the public sector

Adequacy of resources II( Human resources)

• Low salaries. Strong turnover. Relevance of the capacitation and international cooperation program

• Transparency in staff recruitment could improve.

Confidentiality

• A very high culture of confidentiality in Statistical Offices

• Lower in the other producers of the national statistical system

• Some want of formalisation: lack of protocoles

Quality

Some significant advances

• Most statistical offices have recently created a unit on quality

• Most of them are now publishing some quality indicators (standard errors…)

but

• Not all statistical operations documented (problems with turnover)

• No quality reports • Introduction of some techniques (imputation,

seasonal and calendar adjustments) not yet implemented

Impartiality and objectivity

• Calendar

• Simultaneous access to data

Calendar

• Practically all countries have established a calendar

• But in a few of them it is not made public

Simultaneous access to data

• Pre-releases not specified

• Eventual discretionary access for some users

Opportunity

• A new culture. The positive effect of calendars

• Reluctance to publish advanced indicators

Accesibility and clarity

• They all have websites (not always of friendly access)

• Most have (or are in the process of ) attaching metadata and methodologies

• An increasing number of them provide access to anonymized microdata. Some have safe centers

but

• Relations with users concentrate mostly in the academia

• Relations with the media often weak

• Users satisfaction surveys not implemented

Conclusions

• Considerable differences within the Region. A few countries have well advanced Statistical Offices

• But much remains to be done• Wide room for optimism: remarkable progress is taking

place

The main current challenge: to ensure continuity of the project ,i.e,

a) to establish a permanent body and b) to secure some stable funding