The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has formally begun working jointly with The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
UK National Statistician Prof. Sir Ian Diamond and President of PCBS Dr Ola Awad met in London to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations.
The initial six-month partnership, which was launched on 27 September, aims to promote statistical development and maximise the sharing of achievements between the Palestinian and UK statistics offices. The organisations will work together to develop a number of areas including data science and data stewardship in the state.
This new programme of work has been launched following the success of the ONS’s existing six peer-to-peer international development partnerships with Ghana Statistical Service, the Department of Statistics (DoS) in Jordan, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
The international development programme has seen the ONS supporting a wide range of developmental activities, including the modernisation of African censuses; working with Ghana Statistical Service on the introduction of remote data collection; and supporting the creation of a regional data science centre for East Africa led by NISR.
Cooperation with statistical organisations in the developing world helps to improve the availability and use of data to benefit people’s lives. Good data has the power to help decision makers reduce poverty and improve equality and access to services.
Organisations in ODA-eligible countries wishing to find out about UK statistical support can email international.development@ons.gov.uk
For more information about other collaborative opportunities, email international@statistics.gov.uk