Abstract

It is eight years since the UN General Assembly (UNGA) called for strengthening the capacity of national statistical offices and data systems to ensure access to high-quality, timely, reliable, and disaggregated data in its resolution on the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. This call was influenced by an earlier report from the Secretary-General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group, “A World that Counts”, which described how to mobilize a data revolution for sustainable development and proposed the organization of a World Data Forum as one way to facilitate this. Since the first Forum in January 2017, the audience interest in adopting innovative data solutions, nurturing partnerships, and mobilizing high-level political and financial support for data and statistics has grown. During the pandemic, the Forum was organized in consecutive years rather than every 2 years to meet the needs of the data community to share and discuss important developments during this turbulent period.

As the World emerges from the pandemic, concerns remain on how to navigate a myriad of global challenges to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Considering this, many National Statistical Offices (NSOs) are looking to expand their role in national data systems to help maximize the use of data and statistics and support the recovery. However, many experiences shared through the UN World Data Forum show NSOs cannot do this alone and require a range of partnerships. This session looks at the relationship between the NSO and the rest of the data and statistical ecosystem and discusses how it is evolving in the post-pandemic World.