Introductory session

1
United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and
the Pacific (SIAP) Asian Development Bank
(ADB) Country Training Workshops on MDGs and Use
of Administrative Data Systems for Statistical
Purposes RETA6356 Improving Administrative Data
Sources for the Monitoring of MDGIs

• Introductory session

2
Contents.

• ADB project
• SIAP Out reach programme
• Outline
• Schedule

3
Course objective

• To learn about
• MGDs and New Framework
• MDG indicators and computations
• Data issues
• Improving data quality
• Monitoring and evaluation
• DevInfo database
• Practical and exercises

4
Understand the link between MDG indicators and
the data on which they are based
5
Reliably assess and use information about
uncertainty in the production of MDG indicators
Uncertainty
Sample Size
Bias
Timeliness
6
Use MDG indicators to measure progress towards
national goals, and to monitor national and
sub-national development strategies
7
Generating indicators relating to national and
sub-national levels
8
Introduction to MDGs

• Where did they come from?
• What are they?
• Why do they matter?
• Global, regional, national and sub-national MDGs

9
Background

• In the 1990s the UN sponsored a series of world
  summits and global conferences with the target of
  laying out a comprehensive development agenda
• Quantitative goals, time-bound targets and
  numerical indicators
• In September 2000 over 189 nations in total
  adopted the Millennium Declaration
• Human Rights
• Peace
• Security
• Development concerns
• Development objectives have been summarized in
  the set of Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

10
Structure of MDGs (before revision)

• Global agenda
• 8 Goals
• few in number
• stable over time
• easy to communicate
• 18 Targets
• 48 Indicators
• Goals and targets
• Clear time boundaries
• Quantified indicators

11
MDGs Where did they come from?

• September 2000, Millennium Declaration
• http//www.un.org/millennium/summit.htm

G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
Development
G6
G7
G8
12
Global MDG agenda

• Goal 1 Halving extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2 Achieving universal primary education
• Goal 3 Promoting gender equality
• Goal 4 Reducing under-five mortality by
  two-thirds
• Goal 5 Reducing maternal mortality by
  three-quarters
• Goal 6 Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria
  and TB
• Goal 7 Ensuring environmental sustainability
• Goal 8 Developing a global partnership for
  development, with targets for aid, trade
  and debt relief

13
Goals, Targets and Indicators
GOAL An objective expression of what is to be
achieved, usually non technical and often not
quantified
TARGET Individual, observable achievement
directly related to the goal
INDICATOR Variable used to measure progress
towards the target
Indicators for Monitoring the Millennium
Development Goals Definitions, Rationale,
Concepts, Sources, United Nations, New York, 2003
14

• Shared values reflecting MDGs
• Freedom
• Equity and Solidarity
• Tolerance and Non-Violence
• Respect for Nature and
• Shared Responsibility.

15
Structure and revisions

• Structure
• 8 Goals
• 18 Targets
• 48 core Indicators ( refer UN handbook)
• Revision ( effective January, 2008)
• 4 new targets added
• 16 new indicators added ( modified)
• 4 dropped
• Numbering system changed ( refer new list)

16
MDG Indicator handbook Structure

• Definition
• Goal and target
• Rationale
• Method of computation
• Refer UN handbook

17
Structure ctd.

• Data collection and source
• Periodicity of measurement
• Gender issues
• Disaggregation issues
• Comments and limitations
• References and international data comparisons
• Agencies
• Note Not all sub-headings are listed for every
  indicator

18
MDGs monitoring at which level?

• Reporting and monitoring MDGs at the national
  level is a good start
• The Millennium Declaration is about improving the
  conditions of people in member states
• There is a need to monitor MDGs at the
  sub-national level
• But this is feasible only if data at lower levels
  are readily available

18
19
Advantages

• Data at lower levels of disaggregation
• Allow for targeted socioeconomic policy
  decision-making and programme formulation
• Allow planners and policy makers to be able to
  identify
• That some locales require more support for
  educational programmes
• Others require disproportionate investment in HIV
  treatment or malaria abatement

19
20
The Map at the sub national level
A Map will be inserted here!
http//geoinfo.uneca.org/mdg/
20
21
Increasing needs for data at the sub national
level

• Policy makers who have participated in training
  on the use of the devinfo
• Recognized the importance of such a tool for
  policy decision making e.g. on which indicator
  the country should concentrate (off target?)
• Insisted on the need to use such a tool at the
  sub national level variability across states,
  regions, provinces, districts
• Global (national) trends hide variability at
  state, region, province levels
• Therefore, the need to make available sub
  national data and use them with the devinfo or
  Mapper

21
22
Challenges

• Most administrative data (Health, Education,
  Access to Water, Sanitation) and Census data can
  be disaggregated at lower levels
• For data from a HS, the survey needs to be large
  enough to yield reliable estimates at lower
  levels
• Increased cost of obtaining the information both
  in terms of human and financial resources
• For this reason few HS provide data at the sub
  national level

22
23
Opportunities

• Opportunities include
• Increased demand for data at lower levels
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology
  (poverty mapping)
• Collaboration between Central Statistical Offices
  and sub national statistical institutions

23
24
Nationalised Targets

• Even where global definitions are used, for
  national purposes, targets may differ from the
  global ones
• Global target not feasible
• Global target too low

25
Global vs. National Data - Which to use?

• Discrepancies May be due to
• Differences in definitions
• Adjustments, and analysis and computation methods
• Data sources used
• Time lag caused by reporting processes

26
Accepting Both

• Global estimates good for
• Regional and global comparisons (since base will
  be consistent)
• And, when national data is unavailable, to check
  on trend towards target

27
Accepting Both

• National estimates good for
• Monitoring National targets
• National estimates essential for use in national
  policy development and monitoring, and for
  advocating change within a country.
• Sub-national comparisons, e.g., amongst
  urban/rural, gender or socio-economic groups
  within the country

28
Accepting Both

• The key is to understand and take into account
  what goes into any indicator used in terms of
• Definition
• Data source
• Analysis method
• Time frame

29
Definition and Classification of Indicators

• Indicators are instruments that show the status
  and tendency of a given phenomenon, and they are
  used to show progress toward MDG targets. There
  are two broad groups of indicators

• Intermediate
• -Input, output
• Final
• -Outcome, impact

30
The framework needs to establish clear
monitoring chains
Intermediate
Final
Input
Output
Outcome
Impact
Financial, physical resources
Goods and services produced by inputs (classrooms
built, textbooks provided)
Access to, use of, and satisfaction with services
(enrolment, repetition, dropout rates)
Effect on dimension of well-being (literacy)
31
The Challenge of Monitoring

• In many countries the monitoring system is still
  in its infancy
• The institutional arrangements are often not yet
  functioning and suffer from capacity problems
• Coordination issues
• Capacity building

32
Practical 2.1 MDG Indicator Definitions

• Use the document Indicators for Monitoring the
  MDGs Definitions, Rationale, Concepts, Sources
  to answer the following questions
• What is indicator 1A? How is it calculated?
• What does net enrolment in primary education
  mean?
• How and why might net enrolment in primary
  education be disaggregated?

33
Practical 2.1 MDG Indicator Definitions

• What unit is used to measure infant mortality?
• What does this indicator tell you about a
  population?
• What are the limitations of indicator 17
  proportions of births attended by skilled health
  workers?
• What are the gender implications of indicators
  29, 30 and 31?
• What is the definition of indicator 46? How
  are the data collected?