The organization is making good on its commitment to evidence-based and results-based approaches to achieving the global goals.
UNCTAD has launched a new framework to help maintain and improve the quality of its statistics.
The Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD Isabelle Durant unveiled the new statistical quality assurance framework at the 66th meeting of the organization’s Trade and Development Board on 26 June.
“We aspire to produce and disseminate the highest-quality statistics possible,” Ms. Durant said. The new framework is expected to contribute to that objective.
Ms. Durant added: “In our increasingly digitalized world, we are well positioned to understand why data is an invaluable infrastructure asset at the heart of development strategies.”
She said statistics based on data are critical to benchmarking the implementation of UNCTAD’s support to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In March 2018, the committee of the chief statisticians of the United Nations system published a generic statistical quality assurance framework for the UN system.
UNCTAD is the first United Nations entity to publish a bespoke version of the UN’s generic quality assurance framework, tailored to the specific needs of the organization.
With the new framework, the organization is making good on its commitment to evidence-based and results-based approaches to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
“This is an important milestone for any statistics office. For UNCTAD, with a decentralized statistical system, it is particularly important as it introduces a common understanding of quality for all statistical compilers,” UNCTAD’s head of statistics and information, Steve MacFeely, said.
The UNCTAD framework comprises 29 quality performance indicators that will allow the organization to monitor quality standards to ensure its statistics are of the highest quality.
