SUMMARY OF THE CAMBODIAN STATISTICS MASTER PLAN

 

1. The attached Statistical Master Plan (SMP) sets out a long-term, prioritised plan for Cambodia’s national statistical system (NSS) for the period 2006 to 2015. The statistical activities outlined in the SMP and related financing and technical requirements have been agreed, through extensive consultations, between line ministries and institutions and their development partners.

2. In order to implement the development vision set out in the Rectangular Strategy, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and its bilateral and multilateral development partners have prepared a single planning document, the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), for the period 2006–2010. The NSDP draws together the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals (CMDG), the Socio-Economic Development Plan 2001–2005, the National Poverty Reduction Strategy 2003–2005 (NPRS), the Governance Action Plan (including the National Public Administration Reform), and the Public Financial Management Reforms. The NSDP mandates the monitoring and reporting of the progress of priority activities laid out in the NSDP, and this requires timely and reliable official statistics that are accessible to those who have stakes in the NSDP. Financing of the implementation of the statistical activities outlined in the SMP is essential in order to produce the statistics needed for NSDP monitoring.

3. The SMP covers the whole of the NSS, including the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), statistical units in line ministries, and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). The Plan builds on earlier work done by the NIS, including the preparation of a Five Year Strategic Plan and a Five Year Forward Work Programme. The Plan also draws on the work done at the Partnerships in Statistical Capacity Building Workshop hosted by the MOP and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) in October 2002, where a large number of priority statistical projects were proposed by various Ministries, NBC and NIS. The SMP provides the strategic long-term view and long-term financing plan needed for planning statistical activities (which have long planning horizons and often take place over several years).

4. The highest priority for the NSS is to maintain existing economic and socio-demographic statistics, and to improve their quality and timeliness. Additional statistical activities are included as high priority in order to improve quality and fill gaps in the priority outputs in order to meet the data requirements to measure NSDP development indicators. Refer to Annexes 3 and 4 of the SMP for the list of core development indicators.

5. Priority statistics include: compilation of the annual and quarterly National Accounts; the expanded Consumer Price Index; producer and agricultural commodity price indices; indices of agricultural and industrial production and of retail sales; and labour force statistics and a labour costs index. Also included are: agricultural production statistics and crops, livestock and fisheries statistics; education, health, labour market and tourism statistics; poverty statistics; demographic statistics; and measures of access to basic facilities.

6. As shown in the attached table, the current financing gap for priority activities is USD 32.6 million over the ten year SMP period. Total direct costs over the period are estimated to be USD 44.1 million—so the funding gap is about 74 percent of total requirements. The total of USD 44.1 million includes USD 13.8 million for the censuses of population and housing, agriculture sector and business establishments. It also includes some USD 12.2 million for surveys of households (on income and expenditure, health, demographic, labour force and other subjects) and of establishments, and demography statistics. These activities have relied on external funding in the past.

7. The estimated RGC statistics budget for priority activities in 2005 is USD 0.6 million. It is suggested that RGC funding for priority statistical activities increase by 10 percentage points of the financing gap a year over the period to 100 percent by 2015. Under this profile, RGC funding for priority statistical activities would increase to USD 3.7 million a year by 2015 (at 2005 constant prices). If all the non-priority activities are included, some USD 5.2 million a year (at 2005 constant prices) would be required. Refer to Annex 5 of the SMP for further details. By comparison, the 2005 government budget allocations for statistics is USD 11 million for Vietnam, USD 15 million for Thailand, and USD 30 million for Malaysia. Over the period covered by the SMP, external assistance could increasingly focus on further developments, improvements and new activities not covered by the current priority list.

8. The Census programme outlined is for a Population census in 2008, Agricultural census in 2009 and an Establishments survey in 2007. Household surveys should be based on a continuous household survey programme approach. Large occasional surveys will be integrated into this framework, with larger sample sizes and detailed questionnaires as before (to maintain comparability over time in Cambodia, and internationally with other countries).

9. Statistical capacity development will continue to be highly reliant on external inputs of technical assistance. The key component of statistical capacity building is training. But training inputs have to be coordinated to meet the overall objectives of development of the capacity of the NSS rather than being delivered in a piecemeal manner. On-the-job training is an important component to augment and consolidate formal training. Management training must be provided as well as technical statistical training.

10. The new Statistics Law provides consultation and cooperation mechanisms to develop the NSS. Priority statistical activities can be established through these mechanisms. These will enable statistical standards, classification systems and methodologies to be developed and updated consistently across all Cambodian official statistics.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS STRATEGIC PLAN 2002-2007

 

Objectives

1.    A coordinated and improved national statistical system for the Kingdom of Cambodia
2.    A NIS statistical service that is timely, relevant, responsive, and respected for its integrity and qualit
3.    Informed and increased use of official statistics
4.    An active participant in international statistical activities that are important to the Kingdom of Cambodia and Southeast Asian Region
5.    An institution that encourages learning, innovation, and high performance in all its statistical activities and
6.    The trust and cooperation of NIS data providers
7.    Strong recognition and support for the NIS amongst decision makers and the community

Strategies

1.  A coordinated and improved national statistical system for the Kingdom of Cambodia

1.1    A shared commitment at both the Royal Government and provincial and commune government levels to concept of a  national statistical system that delivers 
the official statistics required by key data users no matter   what their source, by:

- Establishing and ensuring the successful operation of the Statistics Coordination Committee;
- Developing and promoting agreements and coordination which clearly articulate the obligations of government ministries and institutions in the management and 
publication of official statistics from their administrative sources for each statistical field;
- Agreeing on national information development plans which set out specific activities which will lead to the increased availability of all official statistics and the 
roles and responsibilities of key players; and
- Building effective partnerships with these players promoting and supporting good statistical and data management practices.

1.2    Active leadership in the development of national statistical and dissemination standards, in consultation with data providers and data users.

1.3    Better utilization of both government and private administrative and transactional data sources for national statistical system purposes by:

- Using the potential of customs, taxation, investment approvals and other government administrative data sources to provide cost effective official statistics
- Developing methods for utilizing the very large but imperfect data sets available through administrative and transaction data holdings for statistical purposes: 
and
- Increasing the availability of non-NIS data in NIS publications and other products,

2.  A NIS statistical service that timely, relevant, responsive, and respected for its integrity and quality

2.1    A NIS work program that remains relevant to current and emerging issues by:

- Establishing and ensuring the successful operation of the Statistics Advisory Council;
- Developing and maintaining a good understanding of users' statistical needs;
- Discussing the NIS work program with the Statistics Advisory Council and various other subject matter specific user groups;
- Regularly reviewing the NIS work program and its associated priorities ensuring that all high priority statistical activities are included;
- Involving data users in significant conceptual and methodological changes to NIS statistics; and
- Being responsive to informed criticism of NIS statistics.

2.2    Establishing clear objectives for:

- Data quality and quality assurance of NIS data coordination, collection, processing, compilation, analysis and dissemination;
- Timely and cost effective delivery of client services, statistical products and publications; and
- Increased consistency and comparability of data across the NIS and other statistical units of the Royal Government.

2.3    Strengthening the analytical and research ability of NIS staff so that:

- New economic, environment and social performance indicators and measures can be developed from existing data, add value to the data NIS collects, and 
improve the quality of official statistics; and
- New technological applications and statistical methods can be developed and implemented to improve timeliness and data quality.

3.  Informed and increased use of official statistics

3.1    Providing a quality statistical information service by:

- Providing a range of high quality statistical products and services which meet users' needs;
- Ensuring the NIS database, the Directory of Statistical Sources, and the NIS Website support our statistical information services; and
- Improving staff understanding of how official statistics are used, and the perceptions and needs of users, and addressing the most important shortcomings.

3.2    Expanding use of the national statistical system by:

- Educating staff about statistics, products and services so as to better equip them to talk to NIS data users;
- Ensuring our dissemination, pricing and revisions policies are consistently applied and understood by NIS data users;
- Promoting awareness of, and access to, NIS statistics and relevant non-NIS official statistics; and
- Active promotion of new releases and services to relevant target audiences.

3.3    Better informing users of NIS statistics by:

- Explaining the quality of NIS statistics and other characteristics of published data, so that users can make informed and appropriate use of these statistics;
- Publishing concepts, sources and methods publications so that users can understand the basis of NIS statistics; and
- Effective use of the media to promote awareness and understanding of NIS statistics.

4.  An active participant in international statistical activities that are important to the Kingdom of Cambodia and Southeast Asian Region

4.1    Increasing the availability of comparable statistical data with other countries through participation in development and implementation of international and   
regional statistical standards where they are important NIS.

4.2    Encouraging statistical cooperation and development in the Southeast Asian Region by actively participating in regional statistical conferences, developments 
and seminars.

4.3    Improving the frequency, timeliness and quality of existing NIS statistics, and collecting, compiling and disseminating new official statistics, in order to meet our 
obligations as a member country of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the General Data Dissemination Standards (GDDS).

5.  An institution that encourages learning, innovation, and high performance in all its statistical activities and development

5.1    A skilled, highly motivated team of staff that will lead the NIS into the future, by:

- Developing and using a performance management scheme that encourages, recognizes and rewards achievement, innovation, adaptability and teamwork;
- Developing and using effective approaches to training and skills development, recruitment and employment practices that deliver the right outcomes and value 
diversity; and
- Identifying and nurturing the development of those who will provide leadership in the NIS in the future.

5.2    Developing and utilizing staff access to knowledge and a modem technology environment by:

- Improving the ways we capture, share, organize and access knowledge and expertise; and
- Implementing and exploiting computer, Internet and networking technology as enablers of innovation, productivity and high performance.

5.3    Improving NIS and staff performance by:

- Developing staff leadership and project management capability and promoting widespread use of good leadership and project management practices;
- Conducting regular reviews of NIS statistical activities and benchmarking NIS performance against the leading statistical agencies in the Southeast Asian 
Region;
- Developing indicators of NIS performance in key areas and reviewing the outcomes on a regular basis; and
- Ensuring productivity improvements are captured so that the NIS can expand its service.

5.4     Working cooperatively with other Royal Government statistical units and national statistical agencies and institutions, especially in the sharing of innovative 
developments.

5.5 Embracing the suggestions of key data users to help identify and develop significant innovations in the products and services NIS provides.

6.  The trust and cooperation of NIS data providers

6.1    Maintaining a good relationship with data providers by:

- Explaining to data providers the value to all levels of government and the wider community of the information NIS accesses from administrative data sources and 
collects directly from respondents; and
- Ensuring all NIS staff that deal with data providers have appropriate training and behave in a professional manner.

6.2 Developing and sustaining a good reputation for maintaining the secrecy of data provided by NIS data providers by:

- Ensuring secure technical and physical environments for the capture and processing of data from providers; and
- Promoting awareness among staff of the importance of maintaining the secrecy of data.

6.3    Effectively managing the reporting load of NIS censuses and surveys by:

- Always testing collection forms and methods;
- Ensuring that the data required are available at reasonable cost to our data providers;
- Identifying and accessing alternative data sources where they exist, in particular by using administrative data;
- Developing and using efficient survey designs to minimize the reporting load on our data providers;
- Developing and using of the proposed Statistical Clearing House to stop undesirable or unnecessary statistical collection activity by NIS and other government 
statistical units.

6.4    Taking full account of the cost of statistical demands on our data providers by:

- Measuring, and reporting on, the load placed on businesses, government agencies, individuals and households; and
- Taking steps to reduce the cost to providers in decisions to collect data and the design of collections.

7.  Strong recognition and support for the NIS amongst decision makers and the community

7.1    Improving NIS performance and credibility through effective leadership and management and ensuring that NIS work and outputs are of high integrity.

7.2    Ensuring that the NIS has appropriate procedures in place for protecting the security of publications under embargo.

7.3    Promoting awareness of the NIS achievements, mission and vision by:

- Using the media to promote awareness of the NIS and its performance;
- Ensuring the Secretary of State in charge of statistics, the Minister of Planning, and other relevant Ministers are well briefed on NIS performance and issues 
relating to the NIS;
- Providing an effective and responsive service on Ministerial correspondence and requests from Parliamentarians;
- Making NIS staff available to the media and ensuring they have the necessary training;
- Building and maintaining close and collaborative working relationships with senior staff of other government ministries and institutions;
- Promoting awareness of the NIS achievements, mission and vision through active participation in external forums; and
- Equipping and encouraging staff to explain the role and achievements of the NIS to the wider Cambodian and international community.

Strategic Management

The NIS is managed strategically to achieve the NIS mission and vision by influencing and shaping its future and its surrounding environment as a continuing process. The strategic planning process is clearly articulated in the NIS Strategic and Forward Work Program Planning and Reporting Framework approved by the MOP/NIS Management Meeting in May 2002.

This strategic plan, which defines the NIS vision, mission, objectives and the strategies to achieve them, is a key part of this framework. It sets down what management and staff would like the NIS to be. It helps management and staff to stimulate longer-range thinking, to respond to the changing environment, and to reassess what the NIS does and how it does it.

Strategic plans themselves are static, even though the strategic management process is dynamic. It is for this reason that this plan will need to be reviewed in 5 years time and modified as required. Similarly, occasionally objectives are changed and strategies altered between the re-writes of the strategic plan.

This plan is about the mix and balance of products and services, and the generation and allocation of resources, for all offices of NIS. Most importantly, it provides the higher-level frame within which the NIS five-year forward work program is reviewed each year, and it is in this context that the NIS seeks additional donor and government funding, as well as ensures resources are deployed effectively and efficiently.

In addition, the plan facilitates subsidiary levels of planning at the departmental and office level. In the NIS case we undertake program strategic management, which is about specific products, or groups of them (such as economic statistics), and services provided by or within the NIS (such as information technology and data management). These subsidiary plans are to be revised annually in the context of the five-year forward work program exercise and are strongly influenced by the strategic plan and in turn impact strongly on the rolling five-year work program.

This strategic management process delivers ever-changing strategies, which move the NIS in the directions set by the objectives in the plan. Some strategies in the plan will not be fully realized, on the other hand new strategies will emerge from across the organization and be implemented. The success of this process depends on how well these directions are understood, accepted and pursued by all staff

 

NIS Organization Chart

 

 General Information

The National Institute of Statistics (NIS), which is part of the Ministry of Planning, is the focal point on statistical matters in Cambodia. The NIS compiles and consolidates statistics provided by decentralized offices and also collects primary data through household and establishment surveys and population, agricultural and economic censuses. Many development partners financially and technically assisted NIS since 1993. Cambodia has a decentralized statistical structure. There are statistical bureaus and sections within planning and statistics departments of the various Ministries and in the planning and statistical units in the provinces and districts.

The NIS is headed by a Director General who is assisted by Deputy Directors General. It has 10 Departments:

1. Social Statistics Department

2. Demographic Statistics, Census and Survey Department

3. Economic Statistics Department

4. National Accounts Department

5. ICT Department

6. Statistical Standard and Analyses Department

7. Statistical Policies and Cooperation Department

8. Sub National Statistics Department

9. Science, Technology and Innovation Statistics department

10. Statistical Information Services department

The NIS is working to prepare the Sub Decree on designated official statistic. The mechanism of coordination include SAC(Statistics Advisory Council) and SCC( Statistics Coordination Committee).