The statistical work is very often undervalued and the efforts that go into producing quality data are not fairly acknowledged. For the national statistical systems, catching up with the demand from the users is not easy. The needs of the users of statistics fluctuate according to policy priorities and depend largely on pressure from outside the country. In addition, it is sometimes difficult for users to clearly articulate their needs. The National Statistical Institutes and National Statistical Systems are, for the most part, not organised in a way that makes them quickly responsive to demand. Producing statistics requires the mobilisation of data sources this involving time and resources: the process cannot be changed overnight. Statistical work requires medium term planning, while the demand evolves rapidly. Users and producers acknowledge that they must better understand each other. There is a converging need:
- for the statisticians to do a better job of meeting and anticipating the demand for statistics, and to improve communication about their products; and
- for the users to gain a better understanding of the statistics that are available, the constraints related to their production, and to better express their need for statistics.
Among the users, the media have an important role for statistics as they relay information to the top, the decision-makers, and to the bottom, the general public. The use of statistical data, in particular by the media, is not often fairly dealt with. There is in general a weak understanding of statistics, how there are produced, what they measure, how they can be interpreted, and media reporting may have an impact on the trust/confidence that people can put on official statistics.
To assist the ENP-S countries in their relation with the media, MEDSTAT IV is implementing a training for trainer course on communication for statistics (C4S-ToT). The course will be developed under two successive phases:
- a regional phase (September to December 2017) with the objective to train a critical mass of trainers in each ENP-S country on the topic of communication for statistics and to assist them in preparing “ready to deliver” training projects,
- a national or sub-regional phase (first semester of 2018) during which MEDSTAT IV project will accompany the newly trained trainers in delivering their training projects. This will be done initially in four countries.
Three participants will be nominated per country: a statistician specialised on employment statistics, a communication/press officer from the National statistical Institute (NSI) and a journalist. For the choice of the journalist, the project and the countries may be supported by the EU-funded OPEN SOUTH MEDIA HUB project. These three specialists will work all along the training course as “national teams”, bringing their respective capacities and experiences in the design of training projects relevant to the particular context of their respective countries.
The course will be delivered partly under an e-learning approach, particularly in the early stages dedicated to the acquisition of knowledge and to the preparation of the training projects. This will require a strong commitment from the participants along the whole duration of the process. MEDSTAT IV will coordinate with the ENP-S countries to ensure that the training projects prepared by the future trainers are fine-tuned with the communication strategy of the NSIs so as to have a maximum effect on institutional capacity building.
