Promoting Business Statistics with Gender Indicators

Partnership
Initiative

Background

The Oficina Nacional de Estadística de República Dominicana (National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic - ONE) and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay (National Institute of Statistics of Uruguay - INE) have been working closely together since 2008 as part of a 'collaboration and exchange programme'. This has allowed them to work together in specialised areas such as data collection systems, data processing technology, and information systems for economic, social and demographic statistics, among many others, with a focus on capacity building for both institutions.

Within the framework of this collaboration, the two entities formed a Triangular Cooperation Partnership that successfully implemented the Initiative Strengthening Statistics on Business, co-financed by the ADELANTE Window 2022. The objective of this Initiative was to share the knowledge of the Partnership entities to develop statistical information tools in the business sector, with an emphasis on MSMEs, focused on the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies for the productive sectors; meeting a particular challenge faced by ONE, the Beneficiary entity.

The Fundación para el Análisis Estratégico y Desarrollo de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (Foundation for the Analysis and Strategic Development of SMEs - FAEDPYME) in Spain also participated in this partnership as a specialised academic partner, channelling the knowledge and expertise of Spain and Europe on this subject.

Following the success of the Triangular Cooperation Initiative in the framework of the ADELANTE Window 2022, the three entities aimed to continue collaborating and broaden the scope of their impact, extending the knowledge and expertise acquired to more key actors in Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the time of submitting a new proposal, within the framework of the Central American Integration System, ONE was working in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Guatemala (National Institute of Statistics of Guatemala - INE) of Guatemala. As a result of this collaboration, it became clear that INE was facing a strategic challenge: the creation of a 'Directory of gender-sensitive enterprises', with the ultimate aim of promoting business statistics with a gender-based approach. In this regard, the experience of ONE was highly relevant, as well as its recent partnership with INE Uruguay and FAEDPYME, and a significant scope for learning was identified for each of the actors involved.

As a result, the Triangular Cooperation Partnership formed in 2022 was further consolidated and grew to include more Beneficiary entities in Latin America.

Entities and roles

Beneficiary entities

Instituto Nacional de Estadística - INE

Guatemala

Instituto Nacional de Estadística - INE

Uruguay

First provider entities

Oficina Nacional de Estadística - ONE

Dominican Republic

Second provider entities

Fundación para el Análisis y el Desarrollo Estratégico de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa - FAEDPYME

Spain

Development challenges

Through this Triangular Cooperation Initiative, the knowledge and expertise of the Partnership member entities on the subject of gender-sensitive business statistics was leveraged to strengthen and consolidate national capacities, while creating a benchmark methodology for other actors in the region.

This enabled inclusive and sustainable development within the framework of SDG 8 and SDG 9; contributing to these by promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, significantly increasing the contribution of industry to employment and gross domestic product, and achieving higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation.

In addition, the Initiative contributed directly to SDG 10 by empowering and promoting the social, economic and political inclusion of all people, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic status.

High-quality business statistics will enable the formulation of public policies by adding the strategic element of a gender-based approach to reduce inequalities.

This Triangular Cooperation Initiative harnessed the knowledge of the Partnership entities to create a methodology for measuring business statistics with a gender-sensitive approach, and with a view to strengthening public policies to reduce inequalities.

Triangular approach

There is strong consensus that the quality of data collection and analysis of business statistics is key to formulating public policies that advance economic growth, industry, innovation, decent work and the reduction of inequalities. The strategic addition of a gender-based approach also has highly positive effects in terms of promoting social inclusion and reducing gender inequalities.
Gender-sensitive measurement in statistical production is a complex exercise, and requires strong collaborative processes as well as innovative and robust methodologies.

The ONE already had extensive experience in this regard, which it had shared on several occasions, also making it available to all Partnership members. FAEDPYME was also a key player, working since 2020 with existing data to develop business indicators under a youth and gender-based approach, in addition to raising awareness of environmental impact. INE - Guatemala and INE - Uruguay expressed a strong interest in leveraging the Dominican and European experience, and both institutes also shared their respective experiences.

This Triangular Cooperation Initiative was able to harness the knowledge and expertise of the Partnership member entities from Europe and the Dominican Republic in the field of gender-sensitive business statistics. The aim was to first strengthen and consolidate the capacities of Uruguay and Guatemala in this subject (with the specific challenge of capacity building in Guatemala for the development of its 'Directory of gender-sensitive enterprises'), and subsequently to develop a benchmark methodology for other actors in the region.

This methodology for gender-sensitive measurement of statistics was based on the consideration of available business directories and economic surveys. It included an assessment of the partner countries and a toolbox with a selection of methodological practices in order to facilitate greater replicability and use by other statistical institutes in Latin America. It also sought to create a forum or platform that would facilitate the exchange of experiences in the use of applied methodologies and techniques for business statistics, linking the use of statistics to data requesters from the public sector, business, civil society and academia in all participating countries.

Sectoral approach - Contribution to the 2030 Agenda

Primary SDG

Goal 9.2 Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries

Secondary SDG

Goal 8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

ADELANTE SDG

Goal 10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status

Goal 17.6 Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism

Territorial approach

Intervention methodology

This Triangular Cooperation Initiative was centred on three pillars: a) build on the existing data, making use of the data sources already available to produce reports that guarantee their use, with a gender-based approach; b) focus on capacity building, giving priority to training staff of statistics offices, while also including other key actors; and c) open this space to all actors, strengthening partnerships with the business, social and academic sectors for statistical use, and the use of data for decision-making.

Within the framework of this approach, a number of activities were carried out, centred around six study visits, which reflected the approach of the Triangular Cooperation knowledge management cycle. An initial round of three visits were carried out for participants to familiarise themselves with the current situation, the journey (knowledge and experience), and the challenges of each of the entities ('building on past experiences'), in order to jointly develop a roadmap to achieve the Initiative's objectives. Following this exercise, a second round of three visits took place, aimed at defining the roadmap in each of the countries, with a special focus on training the teams of the Partnership member entities, and especially the Beneficiary entities, as well as opening the discussions to include all actors ('pursuing capacity building' and 'opening up the space to all actors').

In parallel, two specialised studies were carried out. The first study, coordinated by FAEDPYME, was an analytical report aimed at maximising the use of available data sources with a gender-based approach. The second study, coordinated by ONE, focused on the approach and development of the aforementioned methodology for the measurement of gender-sensitive business statistics. It was based on an assessment of the partner countries and included a toolbox with a selection of methodological practices, to facilitate greater replicability and use by other statistical institutes in Latin America. ONE and INE officials also took part in a course on the measurement and use of business statistics and indicators, delivered by FAEDPYME.

The Initiative concluded with an international seminar in the Dominican Republic as a closing activity. It provided an opportunity to present the progress made, the knowledge generated and, in particular, the resulting methodology; making it available to all actors in the region. This seminar was the first step towards an international multi-stakeholder platform for the exchange of experiences in the use of applied business statistics methodologies and techniques by all interested parties.

›› Download the document "Characterising entrepreneurship through business directories" (Spanish)

Direct beneficiaries (individuals)

According to Rule 9 of the Guidelines for Applicants: all persons participating in the activities of the Initiative.

This Initiative involved the participation of 284 direct beneficiaries, the vast majority of whom were authorities and technical staff of the Partnership's member entities, together with the participation of various stakeholders in the participating countries. These included national public entities affiliated with the national statistical systems of each of the Partnership countries, the private sector (with priority given to the chambers of commerce and production of the three participating countries, among many others) as well as universities, academic institutions and research centres.

Budget

EU contribution: 148,013.62 €

Co-financing - Triangular Cooperation Partnership: 81,904.53 €

Total budget: 229,918.15 €

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