Poland
Poland’s development co-operation programme and its Eastern Partnership are founded on Poland’s own experience with economic transformation. Drawing from that experience, Poland can share unique and relevant insights with its partner countries. Statistics Poland, the national statistical office, is active in the international co-operation area, providing technical assistance to partner countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2020, Statistics Poland took part in the consultation process on Poland’s multiannual development programme, resulting in a more explicit focus on statistics for development.
Polish development co-operation is regulated by the Act of 16 September 2011 on Polish Development Cooperation. It is managed primarily by Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). A strategy was approved in 2021: the Multiannual Programme for Development Cooperation for 2021–2030 Solidarity for Development. This new programme is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, reflecting the universal and holistic nature of the UN Agenda 2030. The thematic priorities set out in the programme are peace, justice and strong institutions, equal opportunities (education, decent work, entrepreneurship, reducing inequalities, sustainable cities), health, and climate and natural resources (clean water and sanitary conditions, forests and biodiversity, and renewable energy sources). Cross-sectoral topics include climate action and equal opportunities for women and men. Ten priority countries for Polish aid include four Eastern Partnership countries (Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), two Middle East countries (Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority) and four countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania).
So far, co-operation in the area of statistical capacity development has not been an explicit part of Poland’s development co-operation programme. Nevertheless, in 2013, Poland provided capacity-building support to the Department of Statistics in the Afghan province of Ghazni in the context of its engagement as part of Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Starting in 2013, Statistics Poland implemented several international co-operation activities in Eastern Partnership countries, especially technical assistance to sister organisations (see also Figure 1).1 Specific examples include:
co-operation activities with the National Statistics Office of Georgia in 2013, 2014 and 2015 that included training courses on regional accounts and institutional capacity building in the areas of statistical surveys, environmental statistics and data analysis
co-operation activities with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of Moldova in 2014 and 2017 that focused on agricultural products balance sheets (in 2014) and statistical surveys in the field of agriculture and forestry (2017)
co-operation activities with the States Statistics Service of Ukraine in 2017 with a focus on tourism statistics and surveys on border traffic.
Since 2018, Statistics Poland has been a member of a consortium contracted by Moldova’s bureau of statistics in the context of the EU’s support to official statistics as part of its European Neighbourhood Policy. The project will run from 2019 until 2021 and aims to: strengthen the NBS’ capacity to co-ordinate statistical activities across the national statistical system and its to access to and use of administrative registers and other data sources for statistical purposes; and promote harmonisation of statistics in line with EU and international standards.
Finally, Statistics Poland conducted a series of activities in 2019 such as study visits, seminars and consultancies in partnership with official statisticians from sister organisations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
In 2021, Statistics Poland will collaborate with the OECD (within the Polish official development co-operation related financial contribution to the OECD) on a project on enterprise statistics with Ukrainian counterparts. The project will cover statistics on small and medium-sized enterprises and business demography. Polish experts will share their knowledge and experience on enterprise statistics in Poland, including surveys and the elaboration of data by Statistics Poland for national and international consumption.
Contact
International Cooperation Department, Statistics Poland ([email protected])
Note
← 1. The analysis in this profile is based on official data reported by members to the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System. It is published under the responsibility of the OECD. OECD analysts mined the database using a text search with manual curation. Where relevant, members contributed additional data to fill gaps. Please see the methodological annex for further details on the data analysis.