DRAFT REPORT

Workshop on Sustainable Development Indicator Framework:

Conceptual framework, data collection and analysis

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

11–13 December 2012

Organized by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Contents

Acronyms and abbreviations

A.Introduction

B.Opening session – Chair – Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO

C.Introduction and objectives of the meeting – Chair: Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO

D.The Fifth Issue of the Sustainable Development Report on Africa and the concepts and definitions of the sustainable development indicators for Africa – Chair: Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO

E.Collection and validation of data, sharing and exchange on country experiences, problems, and any related issues in data collection – Chair: Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO

F.International statistical standards, concepts, definitions, classifications, methodology and conceptual framework applied to sustainable development indicators – Chair: Mr. Almami Dampha, AUC

Presentation on the Concepts and Definitions of the System of National Accounts and System of Environmental-Economic Accounting

Presentation on the Concepts and Definitions of Social and Demographic Statistics

Presentation on the Concepts and Definitions of Trade Statistics

Presentation on the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics

G.Introduction to the breakout sessions

H.Report back on the outcomes of the breakout sessions, and general discussion on the main issues arising

I.Way forward and follow-up actions

J.Closing of the meeting

Annex I: List of participants

Annex II: Topics to be discussed during Breakout Sessions

Annex III: Reports of the breakout groups

Acronyms and abbreviations

ACS / African Centre for Statistics
AfDB / African Development Bank
AUC / African Union Commission
CIF / Cost Insurance and Freight
CPC / Central Product Classification
CSD / United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
DPSIR / Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response
ECA / Economic Commission for Africa
FAO / Food and Agriculture Organiastion of the United Nations
FCS / UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics
FDES / Framework for the Development of Environmental Statistics
FOB / Free on Board
FSSDD / Food Security and Sustainable Development Division
GDP / Gross Domestic Product
ISCED / International Standard Classification of Education
ISIC / International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities
JPOI / Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
MDGs / Millennium Development Goals
NSOs / National Statistical Offices
OECD / Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
PREM / Pressure-Response-Effect-Mitigation
RECs / Regional Economic Communities
RECs / Regional Economic Communities
Rio+20 / United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
SDGs / Sustainable Development Goals
SDI / Sustainable Development Indicators
SDI / Sustainable Development Indicators
SDIF / Sustainable Development Indicator Framework
SDRA / Sustainable Development Report on Africa
SDRA IV / Sustainable Development Report on Africa – Fourth Issue
SDRA V / Sustainable Development Report on Africa – Fifth Issue
SEEA / System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SITC / Standard International Trade Classification
SNA / System of National Accounts
UIP / Urban Indicators Programme Guidelines
UNDP / United Nations Development Programme
UNEP / United Nations Environment Programme
UNSD / United Nations Statistics Division
WCA / World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

1

  1. Introduction
  1. The Workshop on the Sustainable Development Indicators: Conceptual Framework, data collection and analysis was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 11 to 13 December 2012.The workshop was jointly organized by the Food Security and Sustainable Development Division (FSSDD) and the Africa Centre for Statistics (ACS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
  2. The main objective of the workshop was to review the proposed set of sustainable development indicators against data availability at the country level and to serve as a forum for the exchange of experiences and best practices in data collection. The workshop also served to build the capacity of participants on sustainable development indicators as well as statistical concepts, definitions and classifications.
  3. The workshop brought together about 40 experts from National Statistic Offices and entities in charge of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development from the fourteen countries selected to pilot national-level data collection for sustainable development (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda[1]), as well as representatives of the African Union Commission (AUC), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Annex I provides contains the full list of participants.
  4. The workshop was part of ECA’s efforts to strengthen capacities at regional, sub-regional and national levels for assessing and monitoring progress towards sustainable development in Africa. It was conceived and organized as an integral part of the activities underway to produce the Fifth Issue of the Sustainable Development Report on Africa (SDRA-V), which was being produced jointly with FAO, UNEP, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the AUC and the African Development Bank (AfDB), under the theme “Achieving Sustainable Development in Africa through inclusive Green Growth”.
  1. Opening session – Chair – Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO
  1. Ms Isatou Gaye, Chief, Environment and Sustainable Development Section, FSSDD,on behalf of Ms Fatima Denton, Officer in Charge of the FSSDD, welcomed experts to the Meeting.
  2. She informed participants that the workshop was jointly organised by FSSDD and ACS in the spirit of ECA delivering as one, and was part of ECA’s efforts to strengthen capacities at regional, sub-regional and national levels for assessing and monitoring progress towards sustainable development in Africa. In this regard, the workshop was conceived and organized as an integral part of the activities underway for the Fifth Issue of the Sustainable Development Report on Africa (SDRAV).
  3. She continued by highlighting the importance of sustainable development indicators in providing guidance for decision-making. After briefly recalling ECA’s efforts to identify sustainable development indicators for Africa, she informed participants that, in the production of the SDRA V, ECA would work with fifteen pilot countries to collect primary data that will underpin the analysis, in line with the long term objective to gradually move towards national-level data collection.
  4. Recalling the objectives of the workshop, she emphasised that in recognition of the multidimensional nature of sustainable development participants included experts from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of the pilot countries, and those from ministries and agencies in charge of economic, social and environment affairs. Expert views expressed during the workshop would thus be critical in ensuring that the SDRA process was informed by national priorities and is cognisant of national data collection systems – including the challenges faced.
  5. She concluded by stressing that the process of refining and updating the indicator set would continue beyond SDRA V, and that subsequent reports would also be informed by the ongoing process to identify and develop Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as called for by the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also referred to as Rio+20 Conference. In this regard ECA intended to support sub-regional and regional consultations to inform the SDG process in synergy with the consultations on the post 2015 development agenda. She emphasised the role Government entities in charge of economic, social and environmental affairs, as well as National Statistical Offices and sectoral institutions, would have to play in the process.
  6. Mr Xiaoning Gong, Chief, Economic Statistics and National Accounts Section, ACS, on behalf of Mr Dimitri Sanga, Director, ACS, welcomed participants to Addis Ababa, the headquarters of ECA.
  7. He informed participants that the workshop was set within ACS’s capacity building activities for Member States in different areas of statistics, undertaken in collaboration with partners. The workshop would thus serve as a forum to share the concepts of sustainable development indicators as well as the conceptual frameworks, including definitions and classifications of various sectors of official statistics; to exchange country experiences in data collection for the compilation and dissemination of sustainable development indicators; and to establish a network of sustainable development experts and statisticians among the pilot countries.
  8. He informed participants that the third session of the Statistical Commission for Africa (January 2012, Cape Town, South Africa) highlighted the need for African countries to provide quality statistical data, and urged national statistical offices to institutionalize data provision to ensure its continuity and sustainability.
  9. Speaking about a broader effort to collect primary data from national sources, he informed participants that ACS was in the process of consolidating the data needs of ECA’s substantive divisions and sub-regional offices. Besides, the data needs of AUC and AfDB would be taken into account in the consolidation process. The data needs would be consolidated in one questionnaire to be sent to countries, in an effort to avoid duplications and to ensure the consistency of data used for analyses by the three pan-African institutions.
  10. He concluded by stressing the importance of the workshop in discussing the Questionnaire and the related glossary for data collection for the SDRA V, including among others: whether or not the data requested were available in countries, which office was responsible for the various sectors, and what problems were faced in the compilation process and experiences in addressing challenges; the application of the international concepts, definitions and classifications in the collection, compilation and dissemination of data in various sectors; and areas where further capacity building activities were needed. The recommendations emerging from the workshop would assist ECA and its partners in streamlining technical assistance and capacity building activities.
  1. Introduction and objectives of the meeting – Chair: Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO
  1. Ms Alessandra Sgobbi, Environment Affairs Officer, FSSDD gave a brief presentation on the background to the workshop, particularly in relation to production of the SDRA and its intended function of monitoring progress towards sustainable development in the region. She highlighted that the SDRA was composed of two parts, Part I providing an integrated, indicator-based assessment of progress towards sustainable development in Africa; and Part II focusing on specific sustainable development priorities and challenges for the region. She continued by explaining that the three days workshop was set within the context of the preparations of Part I of the fifth issue of the SDRA, being produced under the theme Achieving sustainable development in Africa through inclusive green growth.
  2. The main objectives of the workshop were:
  3. To review the proposed set of Sustainable Development Indicators against data availability;
  4. To exchange experiences and best practices in data collection, focusing on the proposed set of sustainable development indicators;
  5. To improve the understanding of the concepts of sustainable development indicators as well as statistical concepts, definitions and classifications; and
  6. To share country experiences in sustainable development data collection, compilation and dissemination, and establish a network of sustainable development experts and statisticians among the pilot countries.
  1. In this regard, the workshop was expected to lead to better understanding of the concepts and definitions of sustainable development indicators for SDRA V, and quality data on sustainable development indicators from the pilot countries. It was also expected to result in closer collaboration among government entities at the national level in collecting and analyzing sustainable development indicators, with a view to integrate them into the national statistical systems. She concluded that the workshop and its follow up actions were expected to contribute to accelerate progress towards national level data collection, including the identification of appropriate channels and methods for data collection.
  2. After introducing the objectives and expected outcomes of the workshop, Ms Sgobbi presented the programme of work and the structure of the workshop, which included: plenary sessions on the concepts and definitions of sustainable development indicators, and on international statistical standards, concepts, definitions, classifications, and methodologies; breakout groups to review, discuss and verify the questionnaire for data collection at the national level; and a plenary sessions to chart the way forward and follow-up actions needed.
  1. The Fifth Issue of the Sustainable Development Report on Africa and the concepts and definitions of the sustainable development indicators for Africa – Chair: Mr. Foday Bojang, FAO
  1. Ms Alessandra Sgobbi introduced the SDRA V process. Produced on a biennial basis since the 2004-2005 biennium as one of ECA’s flagship publications, the SDRA responded to mandates received by ECA to foster sustainable development through promoting the balanced integration of its economic, social and environmental dimensions, as well as to ensure the effective implementation of, and follow-up to major outcomes on sustainable development. Aimed at serving as an important medium for monitoring and assessing sustainable development in Africa, the SDRA adopted an integrated assessment framework that addressed the interlinkages among the sustainable development dimensions. She continued by summarizing the key results achieved to date, which included, among others, contributing to informing policies and strategies on sustainable development in the region and serving as reference tools to inform Africa’s position for global sustainable development processes.
  2. Ms Sgobbi informed participants that four issues of the SDRA had been prepared so far. The fifth issue was being produced under the theme of Achieving sustainable development in Africa through inclusive green growth. In this regard, she informed participants that African countries, at the recently held Africa Regional Implementation Meeting for the Twentieth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 19-21 November 2012), had endorsed a step-wise approach to green economy, focusing on inclusive green growth in selected sectors where government policies and public and private investment could bring about immediate benefits.
  3. She continued by going into the details of the structure of SDRA V. Part I, she said, would provide a holistic assessment of the status of sustainable development in the region using indicators that cover the three dimensions of sustainable development. The integrated, indicator-based, assessment framework would comprise a core set of indicators from SDRA IV, as well as additional indicators to reflect new and emerging priorities. Furthermore, the assessment framework would highlight the inter-linkages among the three dimensions of sustainable development as well as good governance. The assessment framework, she explained, had been widely debated at both memberStates and expert levels, and was adopted for SDRA IV and further improved for SDRA V. It comprised of 15 themes, 53 sub-themes and 123 indicators.
  4. Part II of SDRA V would present an analysis of the opportunities and challenges in promoting and achieving inclusive green growth in selected sectors: agriculture and land management; ecosystems goods and services, including water resource development; energy; industry; and trade. Lessons learnt would be drawn and good practices show-cased to promote up-scaling and wider adoption. Part II would also explore policy options and tools that could foster inclusive green growth in Africa. Cross-cutting issues such as climate change, science and technology, gender and employment creation, would be mainstreamed throughout the report.
  5. She continued by highlighting the expected outcomes of the SDRA V process, which included improved availability of indicators to measure and track progress on sustainable development in Africa; increased capacity to monitor the implementation of sustainable development policies, strategies and programmes; and enhanced awareness and appreciation of the need for a balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development, and the opportunities and challenges for inclusive green growth and of the policies and instruments needed to foster it.
  6. The production of SDRA V would be an ECA-wide effort, given the breadth of sustainable development. Furthermore, and in line with established practice, the SDRA V would be produced through an inter-institutional collaborative process, involving relevant specialized agencies of the UN, including UNEP, UNDP, FAO and UNIDO. Member States, regional and sub-regional organizations, including the AUC, AfDB, and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), would also partner in the process. The consolidated report would be peer-reviewed internally and externally, and published as a joined publication.
  7. After presenting the timeline of the activities, she concluded by pointing out that the work of refining the assessment framework and the sustainable development indicator set would continue beyond the SDRA V, as part of a learning process. The integrated assessment of progress would also be increasingly. Finally, it was expected that future SDRAs would evolve in response to the outcomes of Rio+20, which set in motion the process of developing sustainable development goals to complement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this regard, themes, subthemes and indicators of Part I of the SDRA would draw from the SDG process, with a view to the SDRA becoming the regional chapter of the proposed global sustainable development report.
  8. Dr. Washington Ochola made a background presentation on “Sustainable Development Report on Africa: Concepts, Indicator Sets & Assessment Framework”. The presentation was premised on emerging concepts and application of sustainable development, and aimed at setting the basis for common understanding among participants on the concepts, principles and applications of sustainable development. It covered the following areas:

•Sustainable development concepts and basis for national reporting

•Sustainable development indicators as measures of progress towards sustainability goals

•Sustainable development assessment frameworks

•Adapting sustainable development goals, indicators and frameworks to Africa and national processes

•Themes and subthemes for sustainability assessments