{ "meta": { "video_id": "4fGXvK78vBw", "source": "transcript-api manual/en", "target_language": "none" }, "segments": [ { "start": 6.765, "end": 24.565, "text": "So welcome to our global network webinars. My name is Alexander Luschki and I will be moderating this webinar with my colleague Panier Yu. Today we have with us three experts who I will introduce in a few seconds." }, { "start": 25.045, "end": 35.005, "text": "And who will talk about mechanisms and initiatives that strengthen the implementation of the fundamental principles of official statistics?" }, { "start": 37.525, "end": 55.005, "text": "First, we will listen to Gabriel Gamis from the UN Statistics Division, who will introduce the newly established Consultative Advisory Board on the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. He will present the guidelines on the." }, { "start": 55.125, "end": 70.32499999999999, "text": "Fundamental principles and will inform about the comprehensive course on the fundamental principles, which is designed to build capacity among statistical professionals. After that we will have Misha Berkinders." }, { "start": 70.885, "end": 89.595, "text": "Who will present a new initiative called the Friends of Official Statistics Network, highlighting its role in fostering collaboration and support within the statistical community. Following him, we will hear from Dominik Ruskrit of the" }, { "start": 89.595, "end": 108.747, "text": "International Association for Official Statistics, IAOS, who will present on the so-called Krakow Group and its contributions, and will also talk about the role of the Friends of Official. Statistics within the IAOS structure. And finally," }, { "start": 108.747, "end": 123.64399999999999, "text": "we will have another presentation by Misha, who is stepping in for Walter Rader, who unfortunately couldn't make it today, and who will present then the work of the Ethics Committee of the International" }, { "start": 123.644, "end": 147.09199999999998, "text": "Statistical. Institute or IISI? Examining how ethical frameworks support the implementation of fundamental statistical principles. So before I hand over to Gabriel, just a few remarks. You can write your comments and questions into the meeting chat at any time," }, { "start": 147.092, "end": 162.02599999999998, "text": "and then during the Q&A session, it would be nice if you could maybe raise the hand and ask the question yourself. Makes it always a little bit more lively. And as always, this Global Network webinar is being" }, { "start": 162.026, "end": 179.195, "text": "recorded and will be made available on the Global Network of Data Officers and Statisticians at yammer.com/unstats. So if you haven't joined the network yet. We invite you to follow the link in the chat and sign up." }, { "start": 179.195, "end": 195.454, "text": "And without any further ado, I would like now to hand over to Gabriel. Gabriel, please go ahead. Thank you very much. And again, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night to all participants to to this" }, { "start": 195.454, "end": 207.245, "text": "webinar. It's a timely one. We're discussing the fundamental principles of official statistics. What I wanted to say while I am. Uh, sharing my uh my uh my screen." }, { "start": 209.325, "end": 211.165, "text": "2 seconds here." }, { "start": 215.165, "end": 233.96, "text": "Can you see it? But probably it's still in the. Uh, not yet in presentation mode. No, OK. Can you see it? Excellent. What I wanted to mention very quickly is Yes, now it looks good. Great. Thank you. that when you're the first one, it's always good, right? I mean, in a way," }, { "start": 233.96, "end": 251.48499999999999, "text": "then your job is done. Now in this specific context, of course we need and also given the broad participation. I will have also to introduce what are the fundamental principles of official statistics and then sort of set the context and then go to the various bodies" }, { "start": 251.485, "end": 269.77599999999995, "text": "that you have mentioned and also the the tools such as the such as the guidelines and also the e-learning courses that we are. That we're preparing, actually finalizing at at the moment, so so that the others will not have to repeat what the fundamental principles of" }, { "start": 269.776, "end": 276.605, "text": "official statistics are. There is here a slide. That to me is extremely important." }, { "start": 278.485, "end": 296.565, "text": "And it's very important to understand that before we understand what is statistics and then what is official statistics. We know that we're living in the world with a lot of data and we have more and more data around us, data and information, including pictures." }, { "start": 296.645, "end": 317.02599999999995, "text": "And and and it is quite clear also that data alone often does not speak to users. It often lacks meaning for most users when presented without context or structure statistics. And in my presentation, this is how it is. It is understood." }, { "start": 317.026, "end": 338.58, "text": "It's actually the broad science. That includes all kind of techniques and not only traditional statistics, so basically surveys and censuses that provide the tools to organize, analyze and interpret data effectively. We produce as statisticians," }, { "start": 338.58, "end": 355.797, "text": "we make use of the data. We need data actually to transfer knowledge to us. Of course. Statistics is based on scientific methods, including data science. Statistics ensure accuracy, consistency and usefulness by" }, { "start": 355.797, "end": 373.605, "text": "transforming data into knowledge. Statistics facilitate a deeper understanding and informed decision making. I take often the example of a meal. When you bring all the ingredients of a meal, still you can't eat the ingredients as such." }, { "start": 374.005, "end": 389.485, "text": "They are all there. It's a gold mine, but you need to transform that into something that makes sense to you. And this is actually the cooking. You will prepare the meal out of these ingredients that are fundamental." }, { "start": 390.525, "end": 409.60499999999996, "text": "Extremely useful, but alone and not prepared according to, I mean a cook. A cookbook for example, do not make sense for your guests. Now what is official statistics then and why it is distinctive? And you see that here that we put distinctive." }, { "start": 410.045, "end": 427.432, "text": "And not unique, because this again, unique would be a wrong term. A lot of data around us is absolutely key and deliver a lot of information that of course we need to transform so that users can make will have an understanding about" }, { "start": 427.432, "end": 442.426, "text": "them. But it's something that is important, distinctive official statistics are those that are produced in accordance with the fundamental principles of official statistics. They are based on rigorous scientific methods." }, { "start": 442.426, "end": 458.40500000000003, "text": "A point that is fundamental serve the public good, meaning that when we produce official statistics, we don't produce statistics for us, we produce statistics for all users outside this production unit and it can be." }, { "start": 458.565, "end": 475.925, "text": "The government, business, civil society and the public at large. Official statistics prioritize trust, transparency and a very important one, accountability. And I say here, unlike some other data or statistics." }, { "start": 475.925, "end": 489.566, "text": "Maybe it sounds a little bit rough. There are other data and statistics that are not official statistics that are of very high quality, and that's fundamental, of course. But I mean official statistics has" }, { "start": 489.566, "end": 504.001, "text": "standards that promote openness. And public confidence or let's say in in in in in short trust, here are the fundamental principles of official statistics. Unfortunately we don't have time to go through all of them," }, { "start": 504.001, "end": 518.346, "text": "but I think for most of the our our our participants. They have seen them already, right? There is relevance, impartiality and equal access, professional standards, scientific principles and professional ethics." }, { "start": 518.346, "end": 534.842, "text": "That's a principle to accountability and transparency. That's a principle 3. It's core. Prevention of misuse and erroneous interpretation. It's not only what the others are doing wrong, but to think how we have to share statistics, including the metadata," }, { "start": 534.842, "end": 553.153, "text": "so that others, the users, understand how they can use the data and for which purpose the data have not been designed. The sources of official statistics basically saying all kind of sources can be used for the production of official statistics. Can it be big data," }, { "start": 553.153, "end": 570.169, "text": "web scraping, geospatial information? I mean of course the traditional one or citizen generated data, all data. Can be or could be good for the production of official statistics. Of course the conditions is that at the end we secure the quality of the output," }, { "start": 570.169, "end": 586.321, "text": "so that's a fitness for purpose, but also that we have to take into consideration the cost. And also the burden on the respondents. And there you can see immediately that new technologies and new data sources actually in general reduce the burden on" }, { "start": 586.321, "end": 601.014, "text": "respondent and reduce the costs in most of the cases because they have been already collected, such as administrative data confidentiality that is. Fundamental and confidentiality applies not only to data we have collected" }, { "start": 601.014, "end": 615.436, "text": "ourselves, censuses and surveys, but also to all other data we get access to legislation. This principle should be translated into a legal framework. Framework and then the national coordination that is fundamental because" }, { "start": 615.436, "end": 629.179, "text": "if we are within a system, a system is coordinated the use of international standards because we want statistics to be comparable, comparable over time, but also comparable comparable between countries. And this is a point that is important we" }, { "start": 629.179, "end": 642.717, "text": "should use as much as possible. So the international standards that have been endorsed and then the international cooperation, how can we help each other actually to become better? This is the history of the fundamental" }, { "start": 642.717, "end": 655.5699999999999, "text": "principles, just to say that it has started in 1991. They have been developed by the Conference of European Statisticians under the. UN Economic Commission for Europe to assist economies in transition." }, { "start": 655.57, "end": 670.645, "text": "But very quickly, we have noticed that these principles did not apply only to those countries. It was actually, they were universal. And that's why gradually they became also universal principles. And I just want to recall" }, { "start": 670.645, "end": 687.132, "text": "you this year, 2014, when these principles have been adopted by the UN General Assembly. And this is an important point. This fundamental principles of official statistics is not just a kind of a gentleman's agreement. OK, gentleman is no more maybe the word I" }, { "start": 687.132, "end": 704.062, "text": "should use our days, but it's actually a set of Of principles that the highest political body in the world, the UN General Assembly, decided to endorse and also actually asked us to comply with. And this is a point that is important." }, { "start": 704.062, "end": 722.405, "text": "Of course, these principles, I mean, are not living alone from these principles. Actually, a lot of, I would say, international, regional and national frameworks have been developed. We have these regional codes of good practices that exist in in many regions" }, { "start": 722.405, "end": 737.257, "text": "of the world. I mentioned a few here, but they're not all here. ASEAN, for example, has also its. Code of practice. We have the UN United Nations National Quality Assurance Framework, which is actually, I would say," }, { "start": 737.257, "end": 753.151, "text": "an operational translation of these fundamental principles. We have regional generic laws on official statistics, which actually help countries to incorporate these principles in their. Statistical legislation, but also a lot of other international and" }, { "start": 753.151, "end": 772.064, "text": "regional methodological guidelines. The decision at the 56th session of the Statistical Commission that took place, I mean this year, so between the 4th and the 7th of March 2025 endorsed the revised terms of reference of a consultative Advisory" }, { "start": 772.064, "end": 791.1129999999999, "text": "Board. On the fundamental principle of official statistics, actually the first time it was submitted was in 2023 and then we came with another, I mean a revised TOR in 2024 and in 2025 these were endorsed by the Statistical" }, { "start": 791.113, "end": 812.405, "text": "Commission. This board, I mean or the TOR, emphasize A supportive approach of the board and even the Statistical Commission asked us to replace all the references to non adherence with guidance to strengthen adherence, highlighting a constructive." }, { "start": 812.485, "end": 831.322, "text": "And respectful model of various national contexts. Launch an inclusive selection process for the members and I will say a few words about that. Approved the updated procedure and requested the Bureau to propose members for appointment at the 57th session in" }, { "start": 831.322, "end": 848.655, "text": "March 2026. So it means that this board at the moment is not operational. We need to go still through the process process of selecting these members and you will see that next year in March 2027 at the 57th, sorry," }, { "start": 848.655, "end": 865.161, "text": "March 2026 at the 57th session the. The Commission will actually nominate these these members based on the proposal that will come from the Bureau of the Statistical Commission. They also endorsed the draft implementation guidelines," }, { "start": 865.161, "end": 879.103, "text": "two set of guidelines with a proposal for further refinement through a final round of consultations. Member States and stakeholders. Actually we went with these guidelines, the one and I will say a few words about that." }, { "start": 879.103, "end": 891.485, "text": "The one that is for the policy makers was submitted to the high level group because this is a strategic group when the other one that up for the producers of official statistics, it was submitted to the." }, { "start": 891.685, "end": 906.592, "text": "Expert group on National Quality Assurance frameworks because we thought that having a link between the fundamental principles or explaining better the link between the fundamental principles and quality was essential when" }, { "start": 906.592, "end": 921.263, "text": "we try to explain why it is important to implement these principles. And also recognise the board's oversight role and confirm that the board will support periodic reviews of these guidelines that we will actually make" }, { "start": 921.263, "end": 935.7479999999999, "text": "live around September so that they remain relevant. So the boards in the future will be the body that will review these guidelines. And at regular intervals actually propose some amendments or revisions." }, { "start": 935.748, "end": 952.309, "text": "So what is the board? But also what is what what the board is not. So the first point is the board is there to raise awareness and promote adherence. Provide advisory services to national statistical authorities," }, { "start": 952.309, "end": 965.0849999999999, "text": "review and share good practices. And we understand the link with the guidelines because by reviewing and sharing good practices, where these good practices will be shared are exactly in the guidelines." }, { "start": 965.365, "end": 978.562, "text": "Offer guidance upon requests, so respond to requests for support from national statistical authorities. And the last point, what the board is not and it's very clear actually in the terms of reference," }, { "start": 978.562, "end": 996.745, "text": "it is neither a compliance nor an enforcement body and I think enforcement body is very important. Or it is not an enforcement body. It does not issue binding recommendations or public assessment. So now what is the composition of the board? I'm sorry," }, { "start": 996.745, "end": 1008.885, "text": "I have to go a little bit fast because I have originally I had 10 minutes composition and terms. So we will have 10 to 12 members. Five members are actually selected from the Statistical Commission itself." }, { "start": 1008.965, "end": 1026.125, "text": "Five and seven, five to seven independent experts will also be members of the Statistical Commission and they should be expert in statistics, ethics or data science. It's an example. It can be broader appointed for three years renewable once." }, { "start": 1026.645, "end": 1043.432, "text": "And then the director of UNSD will be an ex officio member of this board selection roles. And this is actually with the Bureau at the moment. We are waiting for the green light, but the Bureau of the Commission overseas of course the entire process it it is," }, { "start": 1043.432, "end": 1066.486, "text": "it is its role. And then the Bureau assisted by UNSD identifies candidate from the Statistical Commission. We are in the process now and then each regional Commission along with its statistical body. Proposes 1 candidate and UNSD may propose up to two additional candidates." }, { "start": 1066.486, "end": 1084.903, "text": "The idea there is that we want a good regional and gender balance, and in particular the regional one is important. That's why each regional Commission has the possibility is invited. To propose one candidate, UNSD will come at the end of the process" }, { "start": 1084.903, "end": 1100.005, "text": "with two additional candidates and I can imagine we don't have the scenario now, but it could be one that UNSD will take into account the composition of the boards or the possible composition of the board based on those." }, { "start": 1100.405, "end": 1116.2849999999999, "text": "Selected by the Bureau from the Statistical Commission, those selected by the regional commissions and then take experts that increase actually this balance of in terms of gender or region of the Statistical Commission." }, { "start": 1116.965, "end": 1133.61, "text": "And then, as mentioned, the Statistical Commission in 2026 will appoint the Statistical Commission based appoint the the the board based on the proposal done by the Bureau for the implementation guidelines and e-learning," }, { "start": 1133.61, "end": 1147.7649999999999, "text": "we have actually proposed to the. Commission already two drafts actually, and they were endorsed, but we are still refining them. Guidelines for producer of official statistics and guidelines for policymakers and stakeholders." }, { "start": 1148.485, "end": 1160.377, "text": "In particular, I mean I we have been working very hard on the, I mean also on the of course on guidelines for policy makers, I mean guidelines for producer of official statistics, that's fundamental and we know that." }, { "start": 1160.377, "end": 1177.155, "text": "But what is new there that we will also have guidelines for policy makers and stakeholders. We will try, and we have tried, not only tried, we have explained in this draft guideline guidelines why the fundamental principle" }, { "start": 1177.155, "end": 1194.875, "text": "of official statistics remain relevant for policy makers and their role is to create. an environment around official statistics that is supportive of the implementation of the fundamental principle of official statistics." }, { "start": 1194.875, "end": 1209.704, "text": "Then we have also proposed 3 e-learning modules. One will be the introduction to official statistics based on the first six chapters. Chapter of the Handbook on Management and Organization of National Statistical" }, { "start": 1209.704, "end": 1225.6399999999999, "text": "Systems and two e-learning courses. One. I mean, of course they're all e-learning courses, but then one e-learning course for producers of official statistics. And I think it will be two sub modules in this one and a e-learning course for" }, { "start": 1225.64, "end": 1244.576, "text": "policy makers. So we'll have three main modules of e-learning courses on, I mean official statistics in general, what it is the relationship with the data ecosystem, how to manage. Coordinate this national statistical system and then to e-learning courses" }, { "start": 1244.576, "end": 1256.085, "text": "that are more focused, more specific actually to the fundamental principles of official statistics. Gabriel. Access and Outreach, so all resources will be available. Yeah, Gabrielle. it's my last slide." }, { "start": 1256.085, "end": 1268.286, "text": "Yeah. OK. Please wrap up. Thank you. Yeah, but I had to introduce the FPOS and I'm I know, I know. very sorry, but I mean, yeah, so others will not have to do it. All resources will be available on the UNSD website in September 2025." }, { "start": 1268.286, "end": 1282.248, "text": "We decided to came out to come out with that all at the same time. Also because it will be launched, this launch will be supported by a promotional company. And it's easier to do it once, right? Also due to the financial considerations," }, { "start": 1282.248, "end": 1298.29, "text": "I mean at the at the moment and then the draft guidelines are available already actually on the website of the 5056 section of the Statistical Commission and the background documents item 3. D And that's is my last slide. Thank you very much for your attention." }, { "start": 1298.29, "end": 1311.325, "text": "I know it was dense, but I think it was really important to start with a, I would say, setting the context and explaining the fundamental principle of official statistics. Because of that, I had to be very short." }, { "start": 1311.605, "end": 1328.885, "text": "On the board and the the guidelines and e-learning courses. Sorry for that. Thank you very much. Back to you. Thanks Gabriel for this overview on the on the board and the guidelines and the e-learning courses. We will share just for everyone's" }, { "start": 1328.885, "end": 1344.206, "text": "information. So we will share the slides later on after our webinar on the global network. So please sign up. The link is in the chat. At some people had some hiccups accessing the link, but it should work." }, { "start": 1344.206, "end": 1354.485, "text": "At least it works on my side. So I will now hand over to Misha who will speak about the Friends of Official Statistics. Please go ahead." }, { "start": 1360.405, "end": 1362.285, "text": "And you're muted, Misha." }, { "start": 1371.205, "end": 1391.365, "text": "It's yeah, now it now it should work. Please go ahead. Great. Thank you very much and I'm very happy to participate in that webinar and to present to you a few slides about the new network which has been created." }, { "start": 1391.445, "end": 1411.968, "text": "Recently we call it the Friends of Official Statistics Network and how it's viewed to be collaborating in the statistical community. Next please and. So um. Let me go. Gabriel put it very nice about the" }, { "start": 1411.968, "end": 1435.418, "text": "fundamental principles, about the universality and everything. But let me just play a little bit of devil's advocate and say that, you know, in with the data revolution and changes. Which are occurring and occurred in the the data ecosystems and with the new" }, { "start": 1435.418, "end": 1461.645, "text": "requirements with SDG and so forth there is an. That the fundamental implementation of fundamental principles are becoming more difficult because the there are more actors than it used to be before. Then we see more and more questionable usage of data by the government." }, { "start": 1461.845, "end": 1477.7250000000001, "text": "For policy making and some cases they use. I could. I'm not afraid to say the wrong the word, the wrong, not vetted data. And in some cases they don't use data at all. And you know the NSO has had the duty." }, { "start": 1478.005, "end": 1498.901, "text": "It's principle for that to comment on erroneous and implementation, implement interpretation, interpretation and misuse of statistics. Next please. So in. Democratic societies, can you go back? OK, in democratic societies," }, { "start": 1498.901, "end": 1515.307, "text": "the country leaderships are changing due to elections. And in years, in the recent years, we see that more and more governments. Try to deal with statistics that it would be there not to serve the society," }, { "start": 1515.307, "end": 1535.738, "text": "but to serve the interest of newly elected politicians. And we see it all over the place. ISI and IAOS in the recent years have made a statement on that and it is very important that the NSO. We support on the national NGOs and international community deal with the" }, { "start": 1535.738, "end": 1555.029, "text": "situations in a professional manner that and the fundamental principles are very important and this tool has to be used. And the last thing I want to bring in is geopolitical situation. The world is not becoming a nicer place in the recent years," }, { "start": 1555.029, "end": 1572.2469999999998, "text": "and it's not more peaceful than we would like to have it. And the statistical systems during disturbances and wars are of course under stress. And that affects statisticians of their duty to present the economic and social" }, { "start": 1572.247, "end": 1595.168, "text": "conditions as as truthful as they can. And international community, of course, should be ready to help. Now about the Friends of Official Statistics. Next Next slide please. This idea came up a couple years ago and it was basically discussed between US and" }, { "start": 1595.168, "end": 1622.6, "text": "IUS, UNSD and Stefan Schweinfest and. IOS me as at that time president of IOS and a small group met in IOS Conference 22 in Krakow and decided to move forward with this network. Initial paper was drafted and circulated. The paper was eventually converted to a" }, { "start": 1622.6, "end": 1643.403, "text": "draft tour and when network matures, unfortunately it takes longer than we thought. It will have a board and the chair which will be elected next door. At the moment what we have is we have a core group which has been constituted to" }, { "start": 1643.403, "end": 1661.474, "text": "move the network forward and here is the list of the group we have people from. All over the world, as it was, it was already mentioned about the bias as speakers bias. We have also a gender bias here," }, { "start": 1661.474, "end": 1684.228, "text": "but it just because if you go back in many countries we have the senior statisticians were males. So we have here also a biased, a biased group, gender bias, but it's very well represented geographically. Next one." }, { "start": 1684.228, "end": 1704.4189999999999, "text": "So if we look at our. At the tour as as we see. So I won't go through through um all the things, but there is a that the network members should work on advocacy for statistics, awareness raising, enhancing," }, { "start": 1704.419, "end": 1725.805, "text": "trusting officials. Statistics they they can be. They should advocate for resources for official statistics, support legislative measures and advice to producers and users of statistics upon request. They can be a very important resource." }, { "start": 1725.925, "end": 1744.233, "text": "They also can support the newly created ISI Capacity Building Committee and their programs by sharing knowledge with statisticians in mostly developing countries. And you know, they also can reflect on data production" }, { "start": 1744.233, "end": 1764.0449999999998, "text": "and data use. Both on good and best practices. And let me add that this group are the people who are basically, you know, acting in their own capacity. They are not official statisticians anymore. And of course that gives them a little bit more." }, { "start": 1765.125, "end": 1792.803, "text": "flexibility a little bit more keys, if I can use that word to reflect. Uh The The next thing is that, as I say, it's very important to just to say a few words about the next please about a Do you? Support to the National Statistical Systems and I am just just putting this" }, { "start": 1792.803, "end": 1810.705, "text": "slide just to reemphasize that it's very support. It's very important that this network can be used to support statistical capacity building in the. National statistical systems and if we and those of us who have been worked on" }, { "start": 1810.705, "end": 1835.325, "text": "capacity building, we know that for many years the capacity building has been geared towards technical issues. And the important issues of statistical policy and the relationship with data users are often forgotten and that the next please the main user of our data." }, { "start": 1835.845, "end": 1857.259, "text": "In addition to the society and academia and you name it, it's the government. The government using taxpayers money is using is paying for data and it has to be. Clear that the data have to be used for policy and for, you know," }, { "start": 1857.259, "end": 1888.962, "text": "other things which government is is producing, which is extremely important. Let's say the new our new network has already got a request from a new. New entity which is called Amaristat in Ghana, which covers five countries of Western Africa to help endorse their endorse the" }, { "start": 1888.962, "end": 1910.485, "text": "usage of the. Principles of official statistics. And lastly, uh you know we will be hearing today and on about Advisory Board of Ethics and about crack of working group and what is important that we and the new network." }, { "start": 1910.485, "end": 1938.525, "text": "We want to stand in to help those groups and supplement the groups with a resource, intellectual and human body resource when needed. So thank you very much. I think I was brief enough and Alec should be thankful that I at least at least saved a few minutes." }, { "start": 1938.525, "end": 1941.605, "text": "Thank you. Thank you, Misha. Thanks for this. Thank you very much." }, { "start": 1944.725, "end": 1967.033, "text": "And now I will not lay this much further. So directly to Dominic, who will speak about the IAOS and. The activities there, please go in. Yes, good morning, good afternoon. It's a pleasure for me to to have a short" }, { "start": 1967.033, "end": 1980.405, "text": "presentation today. I'll try to stick to 10 minutes limit. So I I I want to repeat what what was already said, but and just in terms of the three little things I wanted to say or maybe two like first." }, { "start": 1980.645, "end": 1996.3729999999998, "text": "Intern. Association for Official Statistics and then it's a cracker working group because of friend because you have heard already about the the third thing that Friends of Office of Statistics that has been introduced by by my colleague Misha." }, { "start": 1996.373, "end": 2010.294, "text": "So in terms of the International Association just to you know quickly. Remind you of the objectives of our association that has been established to promote the understanding and advancements of official statistics." }, { "start": 2010.294, "end": 2025.243, "text": "And this is of course for all the countries globally, but we also focus on developing countries, but in terms of what happens nowadays in terms of data revolution. I might say that, you know, in some sense all the countries are" }, { "start": 2025.243, "end": 2040.7250000000001, "text": "developing countries because we are all, you know, faced with the challenges of whatever, what happens in a data ecosystem. So I just wanted to briefly tell you about, you know, examples of key activities that we undertook in the last." }, { "start": 2040.805, "end": 2058.965, "text": "Last year, we have organized at a UN Statistical Commission site event about the fundamental principles. It was fundamental principles and beyond. We have organized a big conference of IOS in Mexico City. We also had a Schorus, which is a standing committee of our" }, { "start": 2058.965, "end": 2072.3889999999997, "text": "association Scholars. Conference last year on regional and local statistics. So these activities are quite wide and but of course we have continued doing other things and one of those other things is the cracker group," }, { "start": 2072.389, "end": 2081.005, "text": "the cracker group that is extremely important for us. So just to introduce you to this group, it was formally established by our. In. In April 2022, during our meeting, a biennial conference that was held in" }, { "start": 2081.005, "end": 2081.045, "text": "Oh." }, { "start": 2086.244, "end": 2105.171, "text": "Krakow, hence the name of the group, Martin Durant and Ian Robert Susser were asked and confirmed as a Co chairs of the working group. And of course the members come from diverse backgrounds. But also including representatives from the private sector," }, { "start": 2105.171, "end": 2121.64, "text": "not only official statistics, but also the private sector. The core aim and purpose was to address the evolving challenges posed by society's stratification. And the challenge it poses for their official statistical systems." }, { "start": 2121.64, "end": 2136.4049999999997, "text": "I've mentioned it already. Data vacation, the data revolution brings both opportunities and challenges, especially in terms of ensuring accuracy, trustworthiness and ethical use of statistics. And there's a." }, { "start": 2136.685, "end": 2157.615, "text": "Never ending list of problems that we have to tackle with and and of course the more of the groups that would help us to understand what's what comes from this always evolving environment. The better for for official statistics. So working group was tasked with" }, { "start": 2157.615, "end": 2178.627, "text": "contributing to addressing the challenges that we are facing at the moment. Initial activities that were held in 2023 mostly involved defining topics and organising set of debates. And we have organized a group has organized 3 brainstorming sessions in" }, { "start": 2178.627, "end": 2196.8129999999996, "text": "2022 and the first one was related to sharing experiences and interactions and discussing interactions with non-official data providers. And I will try to conclude them briefly. I know that the time is limited," }, { "start": 2196.813, "end": 2212.227, "text": "but I think these conclusions are pretty interesting, very telling. I mean, first of all, the discussions have emphasized that collaboration with the private data providers. Can really enhance of course timeliness and granularity," }, { "start": 2212.227, "end": 2225.165, "text": "but overall quality of whatever we are producing in official statistics. But for this regulatory, the proper regulatory frameworks has to be established and we are considering what's the raw official statistics within" }, { "start": 2225.165, "end": 2242.2459999999996, "text": "wider data governance settings. And last but not least, it's not only about the regulations. We are there supposed to build strong partnerships even ahead of any regulatory changes that are coming to to our world. In terms of a second brainstorming" }, { "start": 2242.246, "end": 2259.998, "text": "session, it was devoted to increasing official statistics. Engagement with the users and of course it comes from this kind of like a simple and obvious notion that user engagement is important and getting even more" }, { "start": 2259.998, "end": 2280.882, "text": "important with all those changes in our ecosystem. That specifically also means discussing the issue of misinformation that threatens public trust and that official statistics has to fight and has a role in" }, { "start": 2280.882, "end": 2283.565, "text": "this regard. And so." }, { "start": 2286.325, "end": 2301.047, "text": "Have been achieved during that brainstorming session was this notion of educational programs or statistical literacy as a very important direction of our future work. Last but not least, third brainstorming sessions," }, { "start": 2301.047, "end": 2316.514, "text": "brainstorming session focused on ethical challenges like privacy. Consent and misuse of privately held data. We discussed the role of ethical frameworks and transparency, ensuring data integrity and recommended" }, { "start": 2316.514, "end": 2336.6259999999997, "text": "engaging in dialogue to agree on formal guidelines for ethical data use. Which as you see as a common topic for all those presentations that you had so far, that these ethical considerations are really getting really important in in the context of official statistics." }, { "start": 2336.626, "end": 2355.716, "text": "So 5 main conclusions if I would risk. Providing you with them, I would say, where that official statistics must embrace innovation in process and products while upholding ethical principles and public trust. We need governance reforms and legal" }, { "start": 2355.716, "end": 2370.067, "text": "frameworks that should ensure that our. Offices can effectively access and manage diverse data sources. That's especially important at the moment in terms of the privately held data. Then collaborations are extremely important." }, { "start": 2370.067, "end": 2385.241, "text": "All these partnerships that I've already referred to, especially with the private data providers again, but also the media fact checkers. Essential for a success of official statistics. There is nothing without education and a statistical literacy," }, { "start": 2385.241, "end": 2404.953, "text": "so we need to take care of public engagement. And last but not least, we need to innovate. We need to innovate a lot and get out of the classical box in terms of designing our future. So in terms. Of the future, what are the direction? The crack working group decided to focus" }, { "start": 2404.953, "end": 2423.024, "text": "on just a few of those topics, especially through enhanced engagement with actors not directly involved in the official statistics discussion. And the three major issues related to the three major issues were picked up which" }, { "start": 2423.024, "end": 2440.225, "text": "relate to trust, misinformation and ethics. So first was is is called maintaining and fostering trust and and and here we want to explore the issue of partnerships with private data providers. Then then second is addressing misuse and misinformation, of course," }, { "start": 2440.225, "end": 2454.58, "text": "in order to combat misinformation to statistical literacy. And 3rd is fostering ethical principles. So it's this lingua franca of whatever we're discussing at the end. And last but not least, there is this ongoing relationship with" }, { "start": 2454.58, "end": 2469.485, "text": "Friends of Official Statistics that have been introduced to you already by Misha. So I just don't want to repeat all of that, but the the key roles that we see from our perspective as a as as the perspective of the association is the this advocacy legislative." }, { "start": 2469.565, "end": 2485.501, "text": "And data access support, advisory and expert resource capacity building and promoting best practices. And in terms of relationships with the IIS, I would like to stress this kind of a strategic alignment of value proposition together with something that we call here" }, { "start": 2485.501, "end": 2501.593, "text": "moral support and guiding force. There is a complete. Independence of the people that are constituting Friends of Official Statistics that are completely independent from all the institutional settings. So they can be our really, really our guiding force and provide us" }, { "start": 2501.593, "end": 2520.221, "text": "with this moral support that is very hard to get. So sometimes at times. And last but not least, collaborative ecosystem with the IRS initiatives that what we think of. So thank you very much. Thanks, Dominic. Also relatively quick, so that helps me a little bit because" }, { "start": 2520.221, "end": 2542.17, "text": "we're already a little bit behind. So I will now hand over again to Misha, who will speak on behalf of Walter Radermacher, who's who? Who is going to present on the Ethics Committee of the ISI, the International Statistical Institute. So while the presentation comes up, yeah," }, { "start": 2542.17, "end": 2562.005, "text": "now it is up. Misha, please go ahead. OK. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Alex. I have the pleasure to introduce this, the presentation which Walter prepared and unfortunately he cannot. He has some other engagement today, so." }, { "start": 2562.805, "end": 2587.35, "text": "I'll go briefly through it and I try to do my best to to explain. Next please. So we go through the ethics of qualification and he presented the kind of hierarchy which is values. Both principles, guidelines for statistical practice," }, { "start": 2587.35, "end": 2608.645, "text": "practice and standards, codes of practice and regulations. Next please. If we look at the Ethics Committee and we are talking the sorry the Advisory. Board on ethics. Um, the Advisory Board on ethics in." }, { "start": 2609.845, "end": 2638.52, "text": "2023 updated the Declaration of Professional Ethics, which was adopted in 2010 in Iceland in a conference in Reykjavik, and the adopted updated version was was endorsed by the ISI. Executive Committee in 2023 in Ottawa. So we have the ethical guidelines for" }, { "start": 2638.52, "end": 2659.93, "text": "statistical practice, which are prepared. Sorry, which the the declaration of professional ethics. is linked to other guidelines. So we mentioned here the ethical guidelines for statistical practice for ASA," }, { "start": 2659.93, "end": 2685.055, "text": "the European Statistical Code of Practice, and many others which uh actually Gabriel alluded to. Uh So we have a big link with other codes of good practice in statistics. Uh Let me just briefly introduce you to uh to the Advisory Board on Ethics." }, { "start": 2685.055, "end": 2708.765, "text": "The Advisory Board on Ethics of the ISR. ISI is a group of 18 members and as you see from the from the list and particularly from the association that they are. So basically all the ISI associations and committees." }, { "start": 2708.845, "end": 2736.296, "text": "Are presented in that group and it's the the the membership covers the the globe. So the advice the activities of the committee are the main activity is to advise. On ethical, on ethical integrity, on ethical and on integrity issues." }, { "start": 2736.296, "end": 2763.654, "text": "Then we have a program of work and you know that let me go back just can you just get the next slide so. The the Advisory Board through the ISI executive is making statements and sometimes the ISI is making statements together with IOS." }, { "start": 2763.654, "end": 2786.248, "text": "Sometimes they do it themselves recently. With what is going on in United States, the the Advisory Board prepared a a statement and they it was endorsed by ASA. So with American Statistical Association," }, { "start": 2786.248, "end": 2813.845, "text": "so it went out. Together with the two organizations, the, the. Advisory Board has a program of work. They're working on indigenous data sovereign education. They will present online training courses for promotion on the principles." }, { "start": 2814.245, "end": 2831.532, "text": "Training courses on big data, Data science, artificial intelligence, and so on and so forth. And of course, this Advisory Board is liaisoning with other associations like American Statistical Association," }, { "start": 2831.532, "end": 2856.405, "text": "Royal Statistical Society. And of course other ISI branches like IOS and Capacity Building Committee and so on and so forth. So just just a few words about the next please. About the next about the Declaration on Professional ethics." }, { "start": 2856.405, "end": 2876.341, "text": "So if we if we talk talk about Declaration of Professional ethics, one of the main. Things which is mentioned there are the responsibility and the responsibility of any statistician who is a statistician, data scientist who is involved in" }, { "start": 2876.341, "end": 2893.563, "text": "statistical practice. So you have responsibility and these are responsibilities against. The society, the employers, clients and funders, colleagues and and other subjects, and in carrying responsibilities," }, { "start": 2893.563, "end": 2912.96, "text": "each statistician must be sensitive to the need to ensure that action are first consistent. With best interest of each group and 2nd do not favor any group or at the expense of any other or conflict with any other principles." }, { "start": 2912.96, "end": 2922.2850000000003, "text": "Then we go into values uh and you know the one of the. Values. Important values are next please." }, { "start": 2924.685, "end": 2948.4649999999997, "text": "Our respect. We respect the privacy of others and we promise that we that the promise of the confidentiality we have given to them. The most important, one important value is professionalism. That we value professionalism, which implies responsibility," }, { "start": 2948.465, "end": 2966.732, "text": "competence and expert knowledge and informed judgment. Then it's truthfulness and integrity, and the value of truthfulness and integrity are reflected in our work process. That rely on independence, objectivity and transparency." }, { "start": 2966.732, "end": 2988.946, "text": "And if we go to principles, next please, we are pursuing objectivity, clarifying obligations and roles. Roles as assessing alternatives impartially and we conflicting interest and so on and so forth. Uh So and then the last thing is we're" }, { "start": 2988.946, "end": 3004.045, "text": "protecting the interest of the subject. I thank you very much next. please, uh for listening to me, and this is the author of of this presentation. Thanks a lot." }, { "start": 3006.605, "end": 3028.999, "text": "Thank you, Misha. And now I would like to open up the floor. So for questions and comments, there were already a couple of questions in the chat that had been. Answered already in written form, so I would like either to come back to" }, { "start": 3028.999, "end": 3040.4049999999997, "text": "some of those questions or to some new questions. Anyone has a question, please raise your hand. That would be really nice." }, { "start": 3042.645, "end": 3044.645, "text": "Otherwise I would start." }, { "start": 3047.845, "end": 3056.565, "text": "With a question by Gerard Chenin. Maybe Gerard, I see you on the screen with the camera on. Maybe you want to come in." }, { "start": 3063.165, "end": 3068.8050000000003, "text": "I cannot hear you, so you should. I cannot hear you." }, { "start": 3072.565, "end": 3086.516, "text": "What? Maybe. He's speaking, but I can see that he's speaking, but we don't hear. We don't hear you, Girard. Yeah, yeah, sorry, no worries. I will just read your question. Your question in any case is super short. So does official mean with state" }, { "start": 3086.516, "end": 3100.361, "text": "recognition was the question and Gabriel already answered it in the chat, but maybe you can elaborate it so we can have it also in the recording basically. Yeah, there, there, Alec, there is of course," }, { "start": 3100.361, "end": 3113.2450000000003, "text": "first of all in the in the questions here it's it's goes a lot about quality and eventually the quality of the data we have also in our publications, the UN publications, other international organizations." }, { "start": 3113.485, "end": 3133.365, "text": "Of course, if we are insisting on the fundamental principles of official statistics, it's because we want to improve the quality of data produced by the by the National Statistical systems. We want them to adhere to the fundamental principles of official statistics." }, { "start": 3133.485, "end": 3150.845, "text": "Because at the end of the day, that's the way to ensure that data produced are fit for purpose, right? And actually trusted by by the users. So the whole dynamic there is about this. The question about the audit was that of" }, { "start": 3150.845, "end": 3166.34, "text": "course the UN is not performing. an audit of uh of what countries are doing and the data we receive. But we conduct, of course, quality check and if needed, we go back to the country with some questions if we have doubts, right?" }, { "start": 3166.34, "end": 3185.265, "text": "But we don't have to forget that the UN is an intergovernmental Organization. Then the question of the state, the law, the government. Yeah, well, we can have our doubts, right? But what is very important is that the legislation is not only a binding" }, { "start": 3185.265, "end": 3205.774, "text": "document created by the government for the others. Or the Parliament. The legislation is actually a kind of a statement that applies to the overall society, binding all actors in the society, the users, the data providers, public," }, { "start": 3205.774, "end": 3220.173, "text": "private, NGOs and others, right. That about about official statistics. This is a point that is important to me. If we see the law only as a piece of paper that was produced by the government and endorsed by the parliament, uh, I mean," }, { "start": 3220.173, "end": 3231.485, "text": "of course it's it's very restrictive. It goes beyond the discussion that we had on the FBOS, right? But I understand the question. It's a good question. But we have to see the legislation eventually on national statistical system" }, { "start": 3231.485, "end": 3231.525, "text": "Oh." }, { "start": 3236.577, "end": 3253.468, "text": "or official statistics, an important element to make sure that. Within each country, there is an adherence to the fundamental principles of official statistics. Thanks. Thanks, Gabriel. I also see in the chat a question by" }, { "start": 3253.468, "end": 3260.5649999999996, "text": "Stephen Vale on the Friends of Official Statistics Network. Stephen, you want to come in?" }, { "start": 3263.765, "end": 3283.314, "text": "Oh, yes, thanks, Alex. Yes, it was just that I'd heard about this Friends of Official Statistics Network a few years ago, including in Ottawa 2023, and then forgotten about it until this. Seminar was announced, so I started googling to see what was" }, { "start": 3283.314, "end": 3297.605, "text": "going on and so on. And I couldn't really find anything. Particularly, I couldn't find anything about how different categories of people who would consider themselves to be friends of official statistics could get involved." }, { "start": 3297.885, "end": 3312.4049999999997, "text": "And could support official statistics through that involvement. There are a lot of ideas and skills and knowledge out there and really how best to use to use and leverage that from different groups. Thank you." }, { "start": 3313.565, "end": 3336.403, "text": "Thanks, Steve. Misha, maybe you can come in here. Yeah. Thank you very much, Steve. I I fully agree with you. We are much slower than we thought we will be. And you know we will, we still rethink we so far we are associated on the technical side with the" }, { "start": 3336.403, "end": 3362.294, "text": "UN. Statistical division. That was agreement with the director. But I understand that as of today, Stefan is not the director anymore, right? And we don't know how the new regime will. Will look at us, but you know we are a part of IOS and" }, { "start": 3362.294, "end": 3392.218, "text": "we'll need to now to talk to Dominique and to see you know how we can become more visible. You know the. Important issue is that the members of that network, they are not bound to be members of IOS or ISI and they will not pay any fee for" }, { "start": 3392.218, "end": 3414.5649999999996, "text": "that. We are a complete. You know independent group of of professionals and you know there's anybody who wants to to to join can basic contact at the moment there are we are part of the of the of the." }, { "start": 3414.725, "end": 3435.485, "text": "The Alexander's group, which is the the Yammer group or what different is now, but we are a closed group, so when people apply we just look at them, read them and and bring them on board. Thank you. Thanks, Misha, and I see Gabriel has his hand also up." }, { "start": 3435.485, "end": 3445.525, "text": "Very quickly, Alex, just to inform everybody that Ronald Jansen is now since yesterday, actually the new officer in charge, I mean Director of the of the Statistics Division. Oh." }, { "start": 3447.485, "end": 3461.885, "text": "And I wanted also to mention that whatever we call it, regime, right? But Ronald has been instrumental in setting up the UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science. And it will be very interesting." }, { "start": 3461.885, "end": 3474.125, "text": "I mean also to have this, I mean optic or this view on the fundamental principles, how actually official statistics and the data ecosystem can co-exist and be. Mutually beneficial." }, { "start": 3477.005, "end": 3490.565, "text": "Thank you, Gabriel. We've come basically to the end of our one hour of webinar time. I would still maybe take one question if there's anyone interested." }, { "start": 3493.805, "end": 3507.283, "text": "If not, that is also good because we all need to go then to different meetings and so on. I just want to finish by saying a few things also about the global network of data officers and statisticians, as Mr." }, { "start": 3507.283, "end": 3527.925, "text": "Misha has mentioned. So this is hosted on. Yammer.com/unstats until now. So we will transition to a new platform shortly by the end of this month actually, and we will move and I can already announce this here. We will move to LinkedIn groups." }, { "start": 3528.365, "end": 3547.778, "text": "You will receive additional information about this change in the next in two weeks more or less and we will start onboarding people then to the new platform. Just for you to know, we will try to make the transition as" }, { "start": 3547.778, "end": 3568.466, "text": "easy as possible, but of course we need also your help, right? So you will receive the information with instructions what to do and then we move all over to the new global network of data offices. Work of data officers and statisticians on the LinkedIn group. In the meantime," }, { "start": 3568.466, "end": 3586.8269999999998, "text": "you can still sign up for our Yammer platform. That is good. Helps us also to keep track who is interested. So if you're new to the global network, don't worry, sign up for Yammer and then later on you can move with us to LinkedIn groups." }, { "start": 3586.827, "end": 3602.877, "text": "So that would be all for today. I thank everyone for joining. I thank the three speakers and well, in principle 4, but one couldn't make it. today. So I thank Dominik, Misha, Gabriel, and Walter, who is not here today," }, { "start": 3602.877, "end": 3612.085, "text": "uh for the presentations. And please join us again for the next Global Network webinars. Thanks, everyone. Have a good day." }, { "start": 3614.125, "end": 3617.565, "text": "Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you." }, { "start": 3619.485, "end": 3619.7650000000003, "text": "Thank you." } ] }