MEETING OF THE COORDINATION COUNCIL FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES OF DONORS AND PARTNERS IN THE FIELD OF STATISTICS

On May 2, a meeting of the Council for Coordination of Donor and Development Partner Activities in the Field of Statistics was held in Dushanbe. The meeting was attended by the management and heads of relevant departments of the Agency of Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, representatives of ministries and departments, development partners and other responsible persons.

The meeting was opened by the Director of the Agency of Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Jamshed Nurmahmadzoda , noting the importance of this event for creating a platform for political dialogue, mobilizing resources, coordinating the activities of development partners, donors, ministries and departments of the Republic of Tajikistan in order to achieve the priorities provided for by the Sustainable Development Goals and the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan, as well as for the development of national statistics.

It was noted that the statistical authorities of Tajikistan, in order to achieve significant results and noticeable progress in the field of statistics, have established effective cooperation with international organizations and development partners, including the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other partners. With their support, the Statistics Agency is taking measures to strengthen the capacity of the national statistical system in terms of collecting statistical indicators, analysis, ensuring the reliability and timely provision of information on the socio-economic development of the country.

Jamshed Nurmahmadzoda called the World Bank one of the key and reliable partners of the statistical bodies of Tajikistan, emphasizing that the World Bank plays a significant role in the development of the statistical system of the republic, strengthening the capacity of the staff, providing methodological and technical support to improve the Household Budget Survey (HBS) to assess the level of poverty in the country, as well as monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the SMR to improve the well-being of the population of the Republic of Tajikistan. Since one of the important areas of the state statistical policy is aimed at obtaining indicators of the standard of living of the population as a result of household budget surveys.

The Household Budget Survey is the only national survey and source of statistical data used to assess the level of well-being of the population, income and expenditure indicators, food security, non-food goods and services, poverty level, food and child poverty, cash expenditure on goods, assessment of the size of the middle class, food consumption in kind and in cash, physiological state and caloric content of food, volumes of agricultural production of households from household plots for own consumption and sale, as well as statistics on expenditure on health care, education and other areas.

Also at the meeting, special attention was paid to conducting an agricultural census in Tajikistan. Jamshed Nurmahmadzoda emphasized the importance of agricultural indicators and the contribution of this sector to the Gross Domestic Product, and called the census an important part of this area. The main goal of the census is to collect accurate information on agriculture, which will be used to formulate macroeconomic policy. In this area, the need for support from the Asian Development Bank and other development partners was especially noted.

The event also included a presentation of a report on the achievements and results of the project “Modernization of the National Statistical System of Tajikistan”, funded by the World Bank.

Head of the Department of Statistics of Industry and Investments in Construction of the Agency of Statistics Firdavs Asmatbekzoda made a presentation on the topic “Involving development partners in the process of developing official statistics on adaptation to climate change,” noting the importance of this initiative for the development of climate indicators in sectors such as energy, agriculture, ecology, transport, water resources and forestry.

Presentations were also given on issues of conducting an agricultural census, statistical information on children, monitoring prices in markets for the analysis of food security, the activities of the official website of the Statistics Agency in a new edition, and other issues.

During the meeting, representatives of donors and development partners made speeches, noting the timeliness and significance of the initiatives put forward in the context of strengthening the foundations of cooperation and expanding mutually beneficial interaction.