Official and development statistics
For all countries, and especially developing countries, it is also a necessity which allows the fulfilment of international commitments to be assessed, especially the Sustainable Development Goals.
Consequently, statistics are central to the development and governance of a country. An operator like Expertise France is engaged in this field. Since 2001, it has been actively working to:
- Strengthen national statistics institutes and systems by building capacities and working methods for the collection and production of updated, relevant and high-quality data;
- Help harmonise statistical data with European and international standards in order to allow data exchanges between partners and improve their comparability, consistency and utility;
- Promote the importance of high-quality statistical systems among governments, administrations, the private sector, the media, researchers and students, civil society and citizens.
In 10 years, Expertise France has become the leading European operator for statistical cooperation. It has conducted some twenty-five projects, mainly as lead operator, including several twinning operations covering up to 120 countries in the European neighbourhood, Africa and Asia.
Expertise France excels in conducting regional projects, alongside the European Union, which finances the bulk of the projects implemented. Five out of the six new projects entrusted to the agency in 2015 have a regional dimension. Regional cooperation on statistics is an effective and recognised tool for improving the quality of statistics and for identifying, promoting and exchanging good practices. It allows consensuses to be reached on technical subjects of mutual interest, beyond political divisions between governments.
For example, in North Africa and the Middle East, alongside Eurostat, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) and other European statistics institutes, Expertise France is supporting countries in the region via the Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation programme MEDSTAT (phases II, III and IV), which aims to build the capacities of the statistics institutes of partner countries in the Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia).
