88539 Multi-Donor Trust Fund to Support Statistical Capacity Building in Eastern Europe and CIS Countries ECASTAT Report as of May 2014 ECASTAT Project Team Contents Highlights .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Objectives and Background ...................................................................................................................... 2 Progress to date ........................................................................................................................................ 3 First Call for Proposals .......................................................................................................................... 3 Status of Approved Projects ................................................................................................................. 4 Financial Situation ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Conclusions, Future Directions and Next Steps ........................................................................................ 7 1 Highlights Established in 2012, the Multi-Donor Trust Fund to Support Statistical Capacity Building in Eastern Europe and CIS Countries (ECASTAT) is a recent addition to the World Bank’s suite of funding instruments for statistical development. ECATSTAT provides medium sized grants to support statistical capacity building in countries, and support to regional projects aimed at improving the statistical capacity in areas relevant for a larger set of countries. All member countries of the World Bank in the Europe and Central Asia (“ECA”) Region are eligible to be recipients of grants under the ECASTAT, although priority are given to low and lower middle income countries. During 2013, ECASTAT’s first year of operation, the Steering Committee approved three regional grants in the total amount of USD 2.38 million and two country specific grants in the total amount of USD 5.0 million. As of May 2014, the regional projects to support improvements in Labor Statistics and Agricultural and Rural Statistics respectively are under implementation, while the third regional project to improve national websites and create a CIS Statistical Committee Web Portal is under preparation. The country specific projects in Kyrgyz and Tajikistan are both under preparation, with implementation start expected in late autumn 2014. Total pledges to the ECASTAT are currently totaling USD 15 million. With commitments of USD 8.20 million, this leaves approximately USD 6.90 million available for future grants. Objectives and Background ECASTAT is a programmatic regional trust fund established for assisting countries to improve their statistical systems, increase their capacity to produce reliable, timely and accurate data in line with internationally accepted methodologies and best practices that meet user needs, and inform decision- making process within the government and community. The overall objectives of the ECASTAT trust fund are to address the capacity and financial constraints of the statistical systems of countries in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, and, thereby support their development outcomes by strengthening the production of reliable and relevant data on a timely basis for evidence-based decision making at all levels of their governments. To achieve its objectives, the ECASTAT trust fund supports both regional and country specific projects and is organized as a two-window programmatic trust fund. Window 1 comprises regional projects and focuses on the development of materials in the Russian language on methodologies, and technical assistance and training in specific thematic areas. Window 2 comprises country specific projects aiming at implementing National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDSs). Activities taking place under the two windows aim to be complimentary, while care is taken to harmonize support with other donors and organizations. 2 Although ECASTAT is established as a multi-donor trust fund, to date only the Russian Federation has pledged funding in an amount of USD 15 million. ECASTAT works closely with UNECE and CIS Statistical Committee for well-coordinated international efforts to improve statistics in the region. Progress to date First Call for Proposals Based on an agreed work plan, a first call for proposal took place in late winter 2013. The response to the call was very positive, three grant applications for window 1, regional projects, and eight grant applications for window 2, country specific projects. In line with the agreed work plan, the Steering Committee approved funding for three regional proposals, Development of Agricultural and Rural Statistics in the CIS Region (USD 0.49 mill); Development of Agricultural and Rural Statistics in the CIS Region (USD 0.49 mill); and Websites of the CIS Statistical Offices and creation of CIS Statistical Committee Web Portal (conditionally approved for funding up to the amount of USD 1.40 mill), and two country specific proposals, Kyrgyz Republic: Implementation of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (USD 2.50 mill); and Tajikistan: Implementation of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (USD 2.50 mill). Information on all the proposals received and the Steering Committee’s decision is provided in table 1. Table 1: Summary of results from first call for proposals Requested Granted Proposal Amount Decision Amount (USD million) (USD million) Window 1, Regional Proposals CIS: Development of Agricultural The Steering Committee approved a grant and Rural Statistics in the CIS 0.49 0.49 allocation of USD 0.49 million Region CIS: Development of Labor The Steering Committee approved a grant 0.49 0.49 Statistics in the CIS Region allocation of USD 0.49 million CIS: Improvement of the The Steering Committee conditionally Up to 1.40 Websites of the CIS Statistical approved a grant allocation of up to USD 1.40 Offices and creation of CIS 1.4 million. Final decision to be made by Statistical Committee Web Portal Project Team based on revised proposal. Total window 1 2.38 Up to 2.38 Window 2, Country Proposals 3 The Steering Committee rejected the Armenia 3.00 0 proposal. The Steering Committee deferred full Belarus 2.19 0 review of the project proposal The Steering Committee rejected the Croatia 0.38 0 proposal. The Steering Committee approved a grant Kyrgyz Rep 3.40 2.50 allocation of USD 2.5 mill The Steering Committee rejected the Moldova 3.25 0 proposal. The Steering Committee rejected the Montenegro 0.05 0 proposal. The Steering Committee approved a grant Tajikistan 3.40 2.50 allocation of USD 2.5 mill The Steering Committee deferred full Ukraine 3.00 0 review of the project proposal. Total window 2 18.67 5.00 Total 21.05 7.38 Status of Approved Projects Window 1 (regional projects) The Steering Committee approved funding for two regional projects on labor statistics, and agricultural and rural statistics in the amount of USD 0.49 million each to be executed by the CIS Statistical Committee. Additionally, the Steering Committee conditionally approved funding in an amount not to exceed USD 1.40 mill for the improvement of the websites of the CIS offices and creation of the CIS Statistical Committee web portal. The statuses of the three regional projects are listed herewith. (i) CIS: Development of Agricultural and Rural Statistics in the CIS Region ( USD 0.49 million) The objective of the “Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics in the CIS Region” is to create the framework for national and regional statistical systems which will allow the collection and use of statistical data that are needed in making decisions regarding the development of agriculture in the 21st century. The project will support implementation of this strategy by developing documentation of statistical standards; preparing methodological guidelines for agricultural statistics; and providing technical assistance in developing the methodologies and tools to strengthen agricultural statistics at the country level. 4 The grant agreement for the project was signed in April 2014, and the project is currently under implementation. (ii) CIS: Development of Labor Statistics in the CIS Region ( USD 0.49 million) The overall goal of the project is to improve the capacity of the national statistical offices in the CIS region to collect labor data on the basis of uniformed methodology on a regular basis; to enhance knowledge exchange at national and international levels; and to upgrade CIS and ILO statistical databases on labor. The grant agreement for the project was signed in April 2014, and the project is currently under implementation. (iii) CIS: Improvement of the Websites of the CIS Statistical Offices and Creation of CIS Statistical Committee Web Portal (USD 1.40 million) The objective of the project is to harmonize national statistical websites and to create a portal hosted by CIS-STAT for all CIS countries, thereby improving access to official statistics as well as timely and accurate aggregated data (CIS area aggregates). As the Steering Committee conditionally approved the grant allocation of this project, pending clarity on coordination with various national initiatives to modernize statistical websites in the CIS region, the Bank has initiated an assessment of National Statistical Offices’ websites, including ongoing and planned efforts for their improvements with the support of international and bilateral partners. Based on its findings, a final decision on the grant amount will be made by the ECASTAT Project Team. Project implementation is expected to start in autumn 2014. Window 2 (country specific projects) As noted above, grants for two country specific projects - implementation of a National Strategy for Development of Statistics in Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan respectively - were approved during 2013. The statuses of the projects are described below. (i) Kyrgyz Republic: Implementation of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (USD 2.50 million) The project will support the implementation of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics by addressing key weaknesses and focusing on improving the organization of statistics; strengthening technological capacity, information and communication technologies (ICT), and upgrading and expanding statistical infrastructure; modernizing the production and dissemination of statistical data; and strengthening statistical intellectual capacity. Close cooperation with other donors (in particular, Statistics Norway, DfID and UNPF) will ensure complementary and maximize impact compared to a simple sum of the donor funded activities. The project is at appraisal stage, and project implementation is expected to start in late autumn/early winter 2014. 5 (ii) Tajikistan: Implementation of the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (USD 2.50 million) The project will contribute to the implementation of the NSDS, working closely with other development partners (particularly with Statistics Norway) in a harmonized and well sequenced manner. In particular, the ECASTAT funded project will support strengthening of the institutional capacity of the Statistical Agency and the NSS; production of statistical data; improving user-producer dialog; and strengthening of physical infrastructure, IT and automation of data processing. Project preparations are ongoing (pre-appraisal stage), and project effectiveness is expected in fourth quarter of CY 2014. Financial Situation Total grant commitments, funds allocated for project preparation and supervision, and trust fund administration amounts to approximately USD 8.2 million, leaving about USD 2.4 million uncommitted at this stage. Taking into account forthcoming donor contributions, the amount available for future projects is approximately USD 6.9 million. Table 2: Financial status as of May 12, 2014 (USD) Donor contributions including investment income 10,544,065 Donor contributions 10,500,000 Investment income 44,065 Total allocations/commitments 8,150,000 Projects 7,380,000 Preparations and supervisions 360,000 ECASTAT management 200,000 Fee 210,000 Available funds 2,394,065 Forthcoming donor contributions 4,500,000 June 30, 2014 2,500,000 June 30, 2015 2,000,000 6 Conclusions, Future Directions and Next Steps A new work program for 2014 has been developed and will be presented to the Steering Committee for their approval. With USD 6.90 million available for future projects, additional funding will be needed if the ECASTAT want to continue its operation beyond 2015. The Chair of the Steering Committee and the Project Team will pursue contributions from current and additional donors, but fundraising activities may have to wait until tangible results from projects start to emerge. To maximize its impact, the ECASTAT will need to respond to changes in the drivers of demand for support for capacity building; look for synergies between country specific and regional programs as well as with other development donors; and ensures that its procedures and processes are cost effective and efficient. As mentioned above, great efforts are made in the Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz projects to ensure complementarity with activities by other donors so as to maximize the impact of the ECASTAT as well as the other donors’ projects. For more on ECASTAT: http://www.worldbank.org/en/data/statistical-capacity-building/ecastat#1 7