International experts from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office, Denmark, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Thailand shared insights and experiences at the conference. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The General Statistics Office (GSO) and the United Nations for Population Fund (UNFPA) on August 16 co-chaired an international conference to seek consultations, study the feasibility, and implement effective data management, governance, and stewardship practices.
International experts from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office, Denmark, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Thailand shared insights and experiences, focusing on issues related to digitalisation, use of administrative data sources, big data, and mechanisms for sharing administrative data between the national statistics offices and other government agencies.
Local and international participants also discussed the challenges arising in data governance and stewardship, along with an exploration of future trends in this domain.
Nguyen Thi Huong, Director General of GSO, said that the exploitation and use of administrative data in the production of statistical information has become a trend in many countries in general and Vietnam in particular.
However, using administrative data in statistics still faces difficulties and challenges. Therefore, to exploit and use statistics, it takes time to research, learn and continue to perfect administrative data to serve multi-purpose use. In addition, many ministries and branches have not yet developed databases concertedly, and are not ready to connect information with statistical offices.
Rémi Nono Womdim, UNFPA Vietnam Officer-in-Charge/ FAO Representative speaks at the event. (Photo: VNA) In his opening remarks, Rémi Nono Womdim, UNFPA Vietnam Officer-in-Charge/ FAO Representative said that in recent years, the GSO, ministries and agencies in Vietnam have made great efforts to provide national statistics and data. However, there is a shortage of disaggregated data, especially by ethnic minority groups and by age to support evidence-based policy making to address issues related to inequality. Furthermore, the use of administrative statistical data such as registration, civil status statistics and big data is still very limited.
“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stresses the importance of having high-quality population data. Our commitment to leaving no one behind means everyone must be counted for, so everyone can be reached, including those furthest behind, and quality, reliable, consistent and comparable data is a crucial element in making this a reality,” he said.
Vietnam is in the midst of rapid transformation for its socio-economic growth. The country has been implementing the Socio-economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2021-2030, the Socio-economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2021-2025, and the National Plan of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
To achieve its set targets, Vietnam needs reliable and quality data statistics, which are the prerequisite for solid policy and decision making as well as fundamental foundation to formulate, implement, monitor and assess the country’s progress to achieving socio-economic and SDGs targets./.
