DevStat provides data visualisation services in Moldova and Kazakhstan

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In the context of projects financed by the EU in Moldova and UNICEF in Kazakhstan, DevStat has provided support for the visualisation of data. In one case, a dashboard with regional development indicators has been prepared with the software “Tableau Public” for the Ministry of Regional Development. In the case of Kazakhstan, we have prepared a poster showing the results of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2015. DevStat supports statistical offices in improving the communication with users by visual means, enlarging the accessibility to important data for non-specialists. In May 2016, DevStat organised for Eurostat the first workshop on Data Visualisation for the European Statistical System (link to the conference).

Conference of European Statistics Stakeholders (CESS 2016)

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DevStat participated at the second Conference of European Statistics Stakeholders (CESS 2016) organised in Budapest (Hungary) on the 20-21 October 2016.

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The aim of the conference was to bring together European methodologists, producers, and users of statistics to discuss users needs, to share best practices in the production of official statistics, and to present innovative ways of visualising and communicating statistics, among others.

With the occasion of the conference, the European Statistics Day was launched and celebrated for the first time on the 20 of October.

Florabela Carausu (International Projects Consultant at DevStat) presented at the CESS 2016 the results of a joint research on “Visualising and sharing statistical narratives”, discussing the concept of statistical narratives as an opportunity but also a challenge for official data providers, and a set of proposals for module based narratives.

CESS 2016 Website: http://www.ksh.hu/cess2016

This initiative builds on the experience that DevStat gained through the technical organisation of the 2016 Visualisation Workshop in Valencia (17-18 May 2016), which aimed at increasing awareness of the issue of visualising statistics.

 

IMO says results of Bosnia’s first post-war census are valid

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The International Monitoring Operation (IMO), mandated to monitor the compliance of Bosnia’s first post-war census, said on Wednesday 12th October that the results of the 2013 census are valid and were derived in accordance with international standards.

DevStat, through its Technical Assistance project for population and housing census data processing, has assisted the local Statistical Institutions since December 2014 in the design and implementation of the data processing and dissemination of the census data and it is now glad to have had the possibility to be part of this process and support the local Statistical Institutions in reaching this historical result.

DevStat signs a contract with the Agency on Statistics under the President of Tajikistan

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DevStat, as a leader of a consortium, has been selected to carry out a project by the Agency on Statistics of Tajikistan. The main objective of the Twinning Partnership under the ECASTAT Project Grant №TF017852 is to assist the Agency on Statistics under the President of Tajikistan in the provision of advisory services, training, surveys, monitoring and evaluation of the achievements for further capacity-building of the statistical system of Tajikistan in the preparation and dissemination of relevant, reliable and timely statistical data based on cost-effectively manner which comply with international standards and meet the needs of users.

DevStat consolidates its presence in the region of Central Asia adding this project to those already being carried out in Kazakhstan.

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DevStat spreads its projects to the Republic of Kazakhstan

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DevStat has been selected for two projects in Kazakhstan. The first one consists of providing technical assistance to the Committee on Statistics of this Central Asian country to develop a survey on the use of ICT in households. José L. Cervera, CEO of DevStat conducted a training course for all representatives of the 16 regions of the country (see photo).

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The second project has been granted by the national office of UNICEF in Kazakhstan to develop an indicators system about childhood and to elaborate the Statistical Yearbook of Childhood in Kazakhstan. DevStat has already collaborated with UNICEF in the Sultanate of Oman.

 

DevStat sponsors 1st International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics

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DevStat sponsors the 1st International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics held in Valencia on 6 and 7 July 2016.

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DevStat is one of the co-sponsors of the First International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics, organized by the Polytechnic University of Valencia held in Valencia on 6 and 7 July 2016.

The conference aims to become a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and advances on how emerging research methods are applied to different fields of social sciences as well as to discuss current and future challenges.

José Luis Cervera, CEO of DevStat, participates as Chairman in the session of Official Statistics.

Link: www.carmaconf.org

Technical Assistance to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) in Lebanon

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DevStat, in consortium with ICON Institute, has been awarded the project “Technical Assistance to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) in Lebanon” to support official statistics in Lebanon. The technical assistance will cover the fields of National Accounts, social and demographic statistics as well as strengthening the capacity of staff through training. The project will last 18 months, during which technical support will be provided to CAS in order to improve the quantity and quality of statistical information in general.

The assistance is particularly important in the context of the Syrian crisis, which has obliged to about 1.5 million Syrians to move to Lebanon, thus adding stress to the socio-economic conditions of the country. Knowing better, through improved statistics, the living conditions and the impact on the economy will allow the Lebanese Government and the international community to address the needs of the population.

Study visit to European institutions

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In April 2016, DevStat organised a study visit to European institutions (DG REGIO, EUROSTAT and ESPON), for delegates from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry for Regional Development and Constructions of the Republic of Moldova. The study visit was organised in the frame of the EuropeAid technical assistance project on “Improved Regional Statistics in the Republic of Moldova”, that DevStat is implementing jointly with other partners. DevStat staff (Flora Carausu and José Cervera) accompanied the study visit.

The working sessions at Eurostat covered the requirements and methodology for regional statistics and modernisation initiatives within the European Statistical System

At DG REGIO, the focus of the discussions targeted the policy-makers as users of statistics. The visit at ESPON complemented the visits by examining the research initiatives and using modern analysis and visualisation tools for evidence-based territorial policies.

The visit benefitted of the experience of DevStat both on development of official statistics and on support to decision-making based on quantitative evidence at the territorial level. Other related projects implemented by DevStat include the support to Eurostat for a study on comparable Labour Market Areas, the management of Local Administrative Units database and the dissemination of regional studies in the Statistical Observatory of the Euro-Mediterranean Arch.

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Source: Official photo of the study visit group, Eurostat

Assistance for the organisation of ESTP – The Use of R in Official Statistics

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Within the framework of Eurostat’s European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP), DevStat in corsotium with the Lithuanian Department of Statistics and the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria held a three day course on “The Use of R in Official Statistics” in Vienna on 5, 6 and 7 of April 2016.

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On this occasion, for the organisation of the course, DevStat was supported by Statistics Austria. The course was taught by part of their staff, Mr Alexander Kowarik (course leader), Mr Matthias Templ and Mr Bernhard Meindl and it was attended by sixteen participants from several National Statistical Institutes within the European Statistical System (ESS) and from Eurostat.
The objective of the course was to provide participants with basic knowledge about the syntax and basis of the R programming language and to provide an overview of the main packages which are important for the statistical production process. The activity will pay special attention to these packages devoted to management of large databases and the analysis of complex surveys.
The content of the course covered the following topics: essentials of R; descriptive statisitics; data visualisation; programming with R and R in a statistical office.
DevStat thanks the trainers and also the participants for their commitment during the course sessions.

European Statistics Modernisation Workshop – Bucharest 2016

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The ESS European Statistics Modernisation Workshop, organised by Eurostat with the support of DevStat for the EU national statistical institutes, took place in Bucharest at the National Statistical Institute of Romania on 16-17 March 2016.

devstat_eu-statistics-modernisation_2016The workshop was open to all colleagues participating actively in EU and national statistics modernisation projects and staff with responsibilities in methodological activities and implementation of change processes in the National Statistical Offices.

During the Workshop different themes were discussed: sustainability of modernisation processes, use of Big Data for European statistics, Validation and Integration of different statistical sources, National Modernisation Programmes, dissemination and user relationship.

The Workshop was a complete success: Bucharest received more than 98 participants from 31 different countries and more than 34 presentations took place.
DevStat is are now preparing our next Event: 2016 Visualisation Workshop – Valencia 17, 18 May 2016. This workshop aims at increasing awareness of the issue of visualising statistics, identifying emerging best practices to identify synergies and options for joint development efforts; sharing best practices, new ideas, tools, and experiences.