Transcript of Talk by Margaret Mbogoni
Go Back Delivered by:
Margaret Mbogoni
United Nations, Statistics Division
Department of Social and Economic Affairs
June 18, 2021
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are.
I am honored to represent my office in this side event and to have been part of the steering committee of the report that has already been presented to you.
In my remarks, I am talking about the value added by the detailed analysis, such as this one.
In all our recommendations, that come out of the United Nations (UN) Statistics Division (UNSD), including disability statistics, on population housing censuses and other areas, we recommend countries that — while they may be able to analyze the information that they have collected, there is value added by having researchers and academics carry out more detailed analyses than is normally the case with national statistic offices that collect the information.
But I will give at least three ways of how what has been done through this project, not only complements what we are doing at UNSD, but is also slightly different. This is done in a positive way.
As you already heard, the UN statistics division created its disability statistics program, starting in the early 1980s, at the time of increased international interest in the situation of persons with disabilities, as a result of the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, the UN decade of disabled persons from 1983 to 1992, and the World Program of Action concerning disabled persons in 1982.
These international landmarks recognized the importance of data for comparing the lives of persons with and those without disabilities, so that appropriate action could be taken by the countries where persons live.
And, these landmarks recognized the importance of data and, as a result, the UN Statistics Division, published in 1988, the first database which at the time was known as DISTAT. It had data from around 100 countries and it was the first international comprehensive disability statistics database of its kind with data from population censuses, household surveys, and administrative registers. The last update of this database was carried out in 2018, in the context of the agenda for sustainable development and leaving no one behind.
Now I will go over quickly the three areas where there are differences, in a positive way, between what we have done, at the UN statistic division and the disability data initiative (ddi) that is being presented today.
In our database, the data is presented from countries irrespective of the source; that is whether they are from censuses, surveys or administrative sources. This is because, being an international organization, we have to present what countries are producing.
And, in the context of this research, the researchers can choose what they want to, in order to highlight the messages that they want to present.
And, also, in terms of what we do, we present regardless of the methods used. I mean, regardless of the questions that the countries have used, whether it is the Washington Group Questions, or whether it is some other kinds of questions. That being said, we do that because that is what countries have provided but, also, so that countries can learn from one another.
If a country is using what is being recommended in UN guidelines, including what Sophie has already mentioned — another country is not following those guidelines, they can relate the results to one another.
So the ones not using the recommendations, can learn and see that if they were to use what is in the UN recommendations, this is what they can get so they can follow the guidelines maybe in the future.
Also, the analysis looks at only those countries that use questions that are deemed internationally comparable and include the questions of the Washington Group, as well as other questions on difficulties functioning that may not necessarily use the same wording as the Washington Group short set questions.
09:17:16 Secondly, the UN Disability Statistics programme collects data from country and publishes them without any changes to what the countries have submitted.
For example, for countries that have used the Washington group set of questions, results are presented according to cut offs that are determined by the countries.
Some follow what the Washington group has recommended in terms of cut offs, others do not because they think that the rates are too low. That being said, if we have a workshop, for instance, we recommend to countries, that they follow the guidelines and not try to have a higher rate that does not follow what is being recommended.
But, for this research piece and the discussion, a similar threshold is used for all countries being studied so that results are consistent across countries and in line with the intended aim of the analysis.
Lastly, in the data portal that is maintained by the UN Statistics Division, the data is based on data that is aggregated and tabulated by the country.
This is in line with our mandate: We do not make changes to the data that the countries have produced.
But, the researchers, including in the ddi report today, present an analysis of micro data that analyzed it in a way that makes the results consistent across the countries.
Also, a value added of this kind of analysis, is that it enables multidimensional analysis, to identify more causations and correlations between, for instance, having a disability and low education and any other topic that they deemed necessary. And this is really important to the countries where the populations live so that targeted interventions can be implemented.
Thank you for your attention.