DILI, 20 october 2022 ( TATOLI)– Timor – Leste National Statistics and United Nations Development Fund ( UNFPA) today celebrate Statistics Day, with the theme of this year is “Quality Data for Sustainable Economic Development”.
Celebration the day, Chief Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, Alvaro Marcal delivers a message to Vice Minister of Finance, Antonio Freitas said this Statistics Day aims to create awareness about the role and importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation for the development of the country.
“It is special and important this year when we are having a major statistical operation through the 2022 Population and Housing Census” Chief Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, Alvaro Marcal told a reporter in the office of the National Statistic, Cai- Coli, Dili on thursday.
He added that the concept of celebrating a Statistics Day is based on World Statistics Day which was last celebrated on 20th October, 2020 and the day is marked globally every five years, with the next scheduled to take place in 2025. It was established in 2010 by the United Nations Statistical Commission to highlight the critical role of statistics and research in societal development.
In Timor-Leste, the General Directorate of Statistics (GDS) under the Ministry of Finance is recognized as having the competency to prepare all the mandatory official statistics. The different fields of official statistics compiled by the GDS cover all key aspects of the country’s development areas ranging from demographic statistics, economic statistics, and agriculture statistics among the key areas.
He emphasized the importance of the accurateness in the 2022 Census, saying “if you don’t measure, then how do you know how you are doing? How do you know if you are doing well?”
To that end, the Government of Timor-Leste through the GDS from 5th September, 2022 started to collect information from every resident in the country through the Population and Housing Census from 5th September to 5th October, 2022.
The official population of Timor-Leste from this census will be used for planning several development programs in health, education, and agriculture to raise the standard of living of the population of Timor-Leste. This census is also being supported by several development partners such as UNFPA, UNDP, WFP, UNICEF, and UN Women.
The statistics coming from the population census will also be used to monitor the implementation of the country’s national Strategic Development Plan for the period 2011-2030. In addition, this important data will be used in updating indicators for monitoring global programs such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“As we mark STATISTICS DAY today, it is important to understand the role of the public in providing accurate information to enable the GDS to compile accurate statistics. I, therefore, wish to conclude by reminding all of us that together we can achieve for the great of Timor-Leste” he concluded.
At the same place the representative of UNFPA, Lorna Rolls by her speech stated that the world observes World Statistics day every five years. The next one is on 20 October 2025.
Lorna Rolls added in the world of development data, this year is especially significant because of Timor-Leste’s first-ever digital census. It makes the commemoration of Statistics Day a timely opportunity for the Government to raise awareness about the significance of the census, its status, and what Timor – Leste can expect from this census.
This commemoration led by GDS not only shows the commitment of the Government but also their diligence in spearheading a high-quality census that is human rights-based and gender-responsive.
“We thank the Government of Timor-Leste in particular the Ministry of Finance and GDS for the opportunity for the UN System, in particular UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women, and WFP to partner with you in the 2022 census. We stand proud of our collective partnership and on this special occasion, we salute you for a demonstration of the fantastic national ownership and leadership of the 2022 census” she said
Data for Development is a core part of UNFPA’s mandate. In particular, to strengthen national capacities to implement high-quality, timely, relevant, and disaggregated geo-referenced census data, aligned to international principles and standards. This is essential to inform, implement, monitor, and evaluate sustainable development policies, plans, and programs.
Across the world, UNFPA supports member states in their population and housing census, and other population-based surveys. UNFPA invests in building national capacity and institutional strengthening for the collection, analysis, dissemination, and utilization of development data. As such UNFPA enjoys a long-standing partnership and organic relationship with Statistics Offices around the world including in Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste’s implementation of the first digital census is a great leap of confidence to optimize technology for greater accuracy and efficiency. UNFPA mobilized funding, key experts in the GIS, census operations, data processing and IT, data quality assurance as well as the direct support of a resident Census Liaison Officer. UNFPA is also supporting the Post Enumeration Survey scheduled for November 2022.
The 2022 census results and products are fundamental to (1) Review the progress of the Timor-Leste Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030; (2) support Government’s implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) Commitments; (3) SDG monitoring & reporting including for international commitments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Timor-Leste’s Universal Period Review (UPR) for Human Rights, and the National Voluntary National Report (VNR) on the SDGs; (4) Assess the demographic shifts to optimize investments for demographic dividend; (5) having updated demographic data to inform sustainable development interventions across the Humanitarian Development & Peace nexus; and (6) Support the Leaving No One Behind (LNOB) analysis with disaggregated data for small and remote areas, remote and small population groups, vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities in remote areas, the adolescents and the elderly.
Journalist : Camilio de Sousa
Editor : Nelia B.
