The 2018 Annual Meetings of PARIS 21 were held in Bern with the participation of Cepei

Dec 2, 2018

PARIS 21, in collaboration with the Swiss government, organized its Annual Meetings in Bern, Switzerland, (April 4-5) with the participation of the statistical community. Cepei was part of the event as one of the three non-governmental members of the Board Meeting.

On February 2018 the Director of Cepei, Philipp Schönrock, was invited to be part, as one of the three non-governmental members, of the Board of the Partnership in statistics for development in the 21st century (PARIS 21), a partnership that promotes the better use and production of statistics throughout the developing world. Since its establishment in 1999, PARIS21 has successfully developed a worldwide network of statisticians, policy makers, analysts, and development practitioners committed to evidence-based decision making. With the main objective to achieve national and international development goals and reduce poverty in low and middle income countries, PARIS 21 facilitates statistical capacity development, advocates for the integration of reliable data in decision making, and co-ordinates donor support to statistics.

*Haishan Fu, Director of Development Data, World Bank, conference “The truth in the numbers: the role of data in a world of facts and fiction”, April 4th, 2018, Bern, Switzerland. © PARIS 21*

As a follow-up to its work, PARIS 21 held its Annual Meetings on April 04 and 05 in Bern, Switzerland. On the first day of the event the conference “The truth in the numbers: the role of data in a world of facts and fiction”, took place. Participants discussed the role of statistics and official data by making true and reliable information available to society and encouraging the use of facts and evidence by citizens.

*Fekita K. Utoikamanu, Under-Secretary General & High Representative, UNOHRLLS, April 4th, 2018, Bern, Switzerland. © PARIS 21*

Among the experts that attended the conference were: Georges-Simon Ulrich, Director General, Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO); Johannes Jütting, Manager, PARIS21; Krystyna Marty Lang, Deputy State Secretary, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA); Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS); Robert Cuffe, Head of Statistics, BBC News; Pali Lehohla, Independent Accountability Panel (former Statistician General of Statistics South Africa); Francesca Perucci, Assistant Director, UN Statistics Division; Lisa Bersales, Director-General, Philippines Statistical Authority; Neil Jackson, Chief Statistician, Department for International Development DFID, UK; and Pieter Everaers, Director, Eurostat.

*Vincent Hendricks, University of Copenhagen / Director, Centre for Information and Bubble Studies, April 4th, 2018, Bern, Switzerland. © PARIS 21*

“False news travel faster than true news because they feed into our senses of fear, indignation, anger and fascination”.
Vincent Hendricks

On the second day, the Board Meeting was held, where the following topics were discussed: Update on work in 2017-18; New approaches to capacity development; Working sessions: towards guidelines for the implementation of the Capacity Development 4.0 initiative.

*PARIS 21 2018 Board Meeting, April 5th, 2018, Bern, Switzerland. © PARIS 21*

The Director of Cepei, facilitated the working session: “Guidelines for implementation”, which focused on defining the activities of the roadmap for the Capacity Development 4.0 initiative. Participants had the opportunity to discuss the definition of the Guiding Principles for the CD4.0 initiative.