HUMAN RESOURCES AND TRAINING - UNECE …

1 UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE HUMAN RESOURCES AND TRAINING Proceedings of the Seminar Session of the 2OO6 Conference of European Statisticians UNITED NATIONS New York and Geneva, 2OO7 Note The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. iii FOREWORD At the 54th plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) held in Paris, 13-15 June 2006, one of the two seminars was devoted to the issue of HUMAN RESOURCES and TRAINING .

2 The seminar was organised and chaired by the Czech Statistical Office. Since the seminar was regarded as very fruitful the Conference recommended that the proceedings of the seminar be published. The management of HUMAN RESOURCES is a key element of any modern statistical office and statistical system, and continuous TRAINING of staff is a prerequisite for efficient production process. Statistical authorities have to produce and disseminate statistics in an independent, objective, professional and transparent manner. Therefore, the HUMAN RESOURCES available to the statistical authorities must be adequate in both magnitude and quality in order to meet the current national statistical needs.

3 Furthermore the statistical offices have a fundamental role in advancing the use of statistics in society, educating the public, and in preparing future producers and users of statistics. The management of HUMAN RESOURCES in official statistics has therefore some specific characteristics distinct from the management of HUMAN RESOURCES in the government sector as a whole. This seminar was the first international event where senior statisticians could exchange their experience and views on the issue of management of HUMAN RESOURCES . The publication includes all papers presented at the seminar, both invited and supporting. It presents the experience of statistical offices of various countries in managing the HUMAN RESOURCES and their TRAINING .

4 The need for further collaboration and sharing information on issues related to the management of HUMAN RESOURCES was emphasized at the seminar. The Conference agreed for follow-up work on management of HUMAN RESOURCES . In October 2006 the Bureau of the Conference set up an Organising Committee, co-chaired by the Czech Statistical Office and Statistics Canada, to prepare a forum to exchange views and know-how on HUMAN RESOURCES management to take place in 2008. Heinrich Br ngger Jan Fischer Director, Statistical Division President UN Economic Commission for Europe Czech Statistical Office v Table of contents INTRODUCTION by Jan 1 CHAPTER I: HUMAN RESOURCES AS A MAIN ELEMENT OF THE MODERN STATISTICAL OFFICE; VOCATIONAL TRAINING OF 3 Summary of the 5 by Ivan P.

5 Fellegi, Statistics Canada Statistical excellence through capability development and planning ABS Organisational People and Learning 7 by Dennis Trewin, Australian Bureau of Statistics Statistics Canada s HUMAN resource management 17 by Ivan P. Fellegi and Lee Reid, Statistics Canada Strategy-based HUMAN RESOURCES management in 31 by Hanna B rlund, Heli Jeskanen-Sundstr m and Anna-Leena Reinikainen, Statistics Finland Conceptual approach to HUMAN RESOURCES development at the Federal Statistical 41 by the Walter Radermacher and Anja G hnen, Federal Statistical Office of Germany INE-Spain s experience in vocational TRAINING of 47 by Carmen Alcaide, National Statistical Institute of Spain Beyond vocational TRAINING competence management at Statistics 51 by Jan Frankenberg.

6 Statistics Sweden Planning of HUMAN RESOURCES within the system of substantive planning by the national statistical office Ukraine s 61 by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine An outline of statistical TRAINING activities at the Statistical Research and TRAINING Institute in 69 by Shozo Inami, Statistical Research and TRAINING Institute, Japan vi CHAPTER II: THE ROLE THE STATISTICAL OFFICE HAS TO PLAY IN EDUCATING THE PUBLIC, IN PREPARING FUTURE PRODUCERS AND USERS OF 77 Introduction to the 79 by Heli Jeskanen-Sundstr m, Statistics Finland Direction of youth in using official statistics following the example of School 81 by Birgit Hansson, Statistical Office of Estonia The joint program in survey methodology and survey TRAINING in the United 85 by the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland, and the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, United States Educating the public the role of e-learning and visual communication of official 95 by Hans-Joachim Mittag.

7 Eurostat Towards customer-oriented TRAINING at Statistics 103 by Reija Helenius, Statistics Finland The role the Statistical Office has to play in educating the public in preparing future producers and users of 111 by the Central Statistical Office of Poland CHAPTER III: STATISTICAL TRAINING AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL FOR HIGHER QUALITY OF STATISTICS AND OF TRAINING 121 Introduction to the 123 by Josephine Oberhausen, Eurostat The role of international organizations in statistics TRAINING for member country 125 by Robin D. Kibuka, International Monetary Fund The European Statistical TRAINING 141 by Josefine Oberhausen, Eurostat Introduction of statistical TRAINING activities in the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the 149 by the Office of the Director-General for Policy Planning, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF THE 155 vii HUMAN RESOURCES AND TRAINING 1 INTRODUCTION by Jan Fischer.

8 Czech Statistical Office Within the framework of the preparation of the programme of the Conference of European Statisticians for 2006, the Czech Statistical Office supported the theme " HUMAN RESOURCES and TRAINING in official statistics," and volunteered as the possible main organiser of the seminar. The Czech Statistical Office chose to support this topic not only because it is rarely discussed by the representatives of statistical institutions, but also because HUMAN RESOURCES and TRAINING is important for the success of statistical institutes goals. The Czech Statistical Office has had concrete experience of the exceptional importance of this theme in the course of the recent transformation of Czech statistics when demands on statisticians regarding their competence, attitude and performance results changed to a large extent.

9 Supported by other statistical offices and international organizations, HUMAN RESOURCES and TRAINING finally became one of two key themes discussed by the Conference of European Statisticians in 2006. Chapter I focuses on the HUMAN factor, which is considered by managers to be the key and most valuable component of any organization. In conditions of constantly increasing demand for a higher quality of products and services, qualified and motivated staff is a basic precondition for the success of any institution. In this respect, official statistics is no exception. Moreover, due to the role of official statistics in a democratic society and their financing from public funds, all this is twice as important. Therefore, staff selection, motivation and TRAINING were chosen as the topic for the first section of the seminar.

10 However, the concept of the seminar was even wider. Chapter II covers external aspects of statistical education arising from the fact that in statistics, TRAINING is important not only for statisticians themselves, but also for users of statistical data or students as future producers of statistics. The process of statistical education is being realised in cooperation with universities and other partners, and new forms and procedures are introduced. Finally, Chapter III covers the international aspect of the theme, as international TRAINING projects and cooperation of statisticians within the international statistical community contribute to higher effectiveness and comparability of statistics in the worldwide context.