2023 Members’ Meeting of the Praia Group on Governance Statistics (3 October 2023)

2023 is a watershed moment for governance statistics. In March 2023, the UN Statistical Commission endorsed an updated Classification of Statistical Activities (CSA 2.0) which includes Governance as a new domain of official statistics. In the wake of such a momentous advance for the field of governance statistics, the role to be played by the Praia Group in the coming years needs to be carefully considered. On the 3rd of October, the Praia Group held its 2023 Members’ Meeting to update members on the progress made since 2021 in implementing the Praia Group’s Plan of Work, and to seek feedback from members on this work and suggestions on priority areas for the Praia Group in the remaining two years before the end of its second term (2021-25).

To kick off the meeting, national statistical offices (NSOs) from Ghana, Mexico and a Regional Statistical Centre (GCC-Stat) for Arab Countries of the Gulf reflected on what it means, in practical terms, NSOs to now be able to draw on a revised Classification where governance statistics sit on par with economic, demographic and social statistics. This was followed by a progress update on path-breaking methodological work being carried out to help develop internationally recognized methodologies and standards on two dimensions of governance that lack such standards, namely Participation in Political and Public Affairs (Task Team chaired by Statistics Norway) and Non-Discrimination & Equality (Task Team co-chaired INEI Peru and Statistics Finland).

The Praia Group on Governance Statistics held its 2023 Membership Meeting with the aim to achieve three main objectives: 

1. To discuss what it means, in practical terms, for NSOs and development partners to now be able to draw on an updated CSA 2.0 that explicitly refers to Governance as a standalone domain of official statistics. In a Round Table titled “Leveraging the CSA 2.0 for Governance Statistics: Where do we go from here?”, selected representatives of NSOs and development partners shared experiences and recommendations for the revised CSA to deliver on its promise to lead to a marked increase in governance statistical production worldwide e (also captured in this Brief: Governance Now A Domain the CSA 2.0: What’s Next for Governance Statistics?);

2. To update members on the progress made since 2021 in implementing the Group’s Plan of Work for the period 2020-25, with a particular focus on ‘Pillar 1 – Methodological Work’ and the achievements of the two Task Teams on Participation and Discrimination; and

3. To seek feedback from members on this work and suggestions on priority areas of work for the Praia Group in the remaining two years before the end of its second term.