The ONS supports countries interested in establishing their national reporting platform for their Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) data. The UK is a key contributor to the development and upkeep of Open SDG, an open-source, multilingual, fully customisable and free-to-reuse SDG-reporting platform. Open SDG is utilised for the UK SDG data website and has a growing user community, including many countries, regions and cities worldwide.
We have created guidance, video tutorials, information and case studies on the Open SDG website, making it possible for other countries to create their platforms even without prior expertise.
Direct support has been provided to Rwanda, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Lao PDR, and Ukraine to establish their SDG platforms and explore additional data sources to fill in data gaps. Additionally, we have collaborated with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) to jointly provide Open SDG and Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) training to seven African countries: Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Cameroon and Ethiopia.
As of 2024, over 55 implementations of Open SDG now exist across the world. This includes 27 Official Development Assistance eligible countries making use of the platform, materials and technical assistance we maintain and provide.
It is critical to collect inclusive data that encompasses all population groups to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s goal of not leaving anyone behind.
The Inclusive Data Charter (IDC) was established by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data with support from other partners including the ONS and FCDO. The aim is to enhance the quality, quantity, financing, and accessibility of inclusive and disaggregated data, as well as the capacity and capability to produce and utilise it.
The ONS and FCDO have joined international agencies and countries, such as Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Zanzibar, Senegal, Cameroon and Paraguay; as champions of the IDC.
The ONS also offers crucial technical support to other IDC champions in developing and executing their inclusive data action plans through a specialist technical advisor. This support has facilitated governments and organisations in acting on inclusive data. For instance, it has assisted the State Department for Social Protection in Kenya in crafting a robust inclusive data action plan focused on enhancing the collection and utilisation of disability-inclusive data.
Due in part to our involvement, as of 2024, the IDC now has 16 government champions and 34 total champions that have made commitments towards improving the inclusivity of data systems.
Globally, women are significantly underrepresented in leadership roles within national statistical offices (NSOs) and the ONS has worked to tackle this.
Diverse experiences and backgrounds in decision-making can drive internal change and innovation, promote statistical best practices and improve an organisation’s long-term performance.
In 2022, the ONS started a programme in partnership with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, to help more women move into leadership roles in NSOs.
Since the programme started in 2022, it has been delivered to 145 women from countries including Jordan, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania. As a five-day classroom experience, the programme offers talks by female leaders from the fields of statistics, economics and government. It uses real work challenges to help participants learn skills and tools and develop ideas to help their teams and organisations.
The analysis revealed that the programme had several positive effects on participants. It enhanced their ability to lead teams effectively, improved their skills in influencing others and aided in managing change. A quarter of participants also opted to continue their personal development through the ONS’s mentorship programme.
Participants from the Ghana Statistical Services also formed a Women’s Network encouraging women to take up leadership roles, develop confidence and strengthen their skillsets.
As many countries are encountering the trend of ageing populations, the need for quality disaggregated statistics beyond the age of 65 is vital for effective policy making. Currently those above 65 are usually treated as one homogeneous group despite often having vastly differing needs depending on age and location.
The Titchfield City Group on Ageing and Age-disaggregated Data (TCGA) was created at the forty-ninth session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in March 2018 where the UK was asked to lead the work. The purpose of the group is to address this statistical gap and establish international standards and methods for the compilation of inclusive statistics and data across all ages. The UK led group has set a challenging timetable to complete this vital work and has divided the work into six priority areas which will be tackled at pace. This work is planned to be completed by October 2024.
Now that the UK has left the EU we are able to negotiate, sign and ratify new trade agreements. Negotiations with partner countries will be underpinned by data and analysis and hence raise issues around international comparability. This includes trade asymmetries where the trade data reported by one country are not the same as the trade reported by the partner country. For example, UK imports from the US reported by the UK are not the same as US exports to the UK reported by the US.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT), HM Revenue and Customs and the ONS have been working collaboratively and with specific partner countries to understand what drives these differences. The DIT has also participated in international working party and expert group meetings to influence developments in emerging areas of trade statistics that are inherently difficult to measure, such as digital trade, trade in services by modes of supply and trade asymmetries.
Examples of relevant outputs that the DIT helped to shape and deliver include the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and International Monetary Fund’s Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade (the first systematic international effort to define and measure digital trade) and the WTO’s TiSMoS database (the first international database on trade in services by modes of supply).
The Office for National Statistics collaborated with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to support the transformation of official statistics in Ghana. The collaboration aimed to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) production in response to the increasing prices of goods and services in Ghana.
For this project, data scientists from the ONS Data Science Campus worked for ten months with GSS to identify and implement automation techniques that could be used to update and transform their CPI production and reporting processes.
The main aim was to deliver increased sustainability of the CPI process so that a wider range of GSS staff could use and adapt it. This was achieved by developing a reproducible analytical pipeline (RAP).
Although the original code contained all the correct methodology to calculate the CPI, its structure and documentation made it difficult to update and maintain.
The collaboration led to increased sustainability and transparency in CPI production and reporting, laying the foundation for embracing data science practices in the organisation.
Additionally, the project identified opportunities to automate the production of the monthly CPI presentation, reducing manual effort and improving consistency in reporting.
GSS estimated, the old system required three people working most of one week to process price data and deliver CPI outputs each month. The new pipeline can be used by one person in minutes, reducing the overall staffing needed to approximately one person for one week.
A key aspect of the ONS’s international development work is coordinating with other development partners (DPs) to identify effective ways of working together in complex environments. This enables more effective and efficient assistance while raising the profile of the ONS and its partners in the international environment.
In Ghana, the ONS coordinated the establishment of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Development Partners Group. The ONS developed terms of reference to guide the group’s activities, identified areas of support from DPs to the Ghana Statistical Service, and initiated regular meetings between the GSS and at least 13 DPs. These efforts resulted in closer engagement and the maximization of synergies.
In Jordan, the ONS strategically coordinated DPs including the European Union, United Nations, and the World Bank, to support the Department of Statistics’ work (DoS). The ONS was able to form a wider group and coordinate activities with the DoS taking a leading role and effectively becoming an active partner.
Additionally, the ONS collaborated with United Nations Population Fund through United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to deliver workshops on improving the use of census results across Africa, enhancing the profile and reputation of the ONS and UNECA.
These examples demonstrate the benefits of the ONS collaborating with and leading coordination efforts among international DPs, ensuring alignment in delivering support to shared partners and enhancing the quality and value of technical assistance.