Celebrating a decade of support for high-quality statistics around the world

It has been a great honour to build, shape and implement the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) international development programme over the past 10 years. No country or statistical system can address all the challenges it faces alone. Many of our challenges are common across the globe: that’s why it’s so important to work together in partnership to share expertise and resources, and to lead the way in shaping statistics for the global good.

ONS’s role in shaping international development

The UK government has always recognised the importance of good official statistics for decision making, including for developing countries. The ONS has always had a strong international reputation for expertise and best practice. Since 2016, we have brought these two things together to bid for resources from the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, fund a focussed team, and design and deliver a prioritised programme of high-quality technical assistance, in collaboration with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). All while drawing on a wide range of ONS experts to strengthen statistical capability across developing countries.

Initially there were just two of us assigned to this work full time. Now, we have a significant programme providing assistance around the world in economic statistics, censuses, vital statistics and population estimates, as well as the methods, systems, policies and skills required to ensure the effective delivery of a statistical system. The September GSS international newsletter discussed these achievements in more detail.

Contributions with impact

There are countless contributions to be proud from this work – I get very excited when I hear from partners about the direct impact of our work on their day-to-day operations. Here are two of my favourite examples.

Our support to the 2020 census round in Africa ranged from influencing continental level approaches and strategies, to direct assistance in some key countries. In 2023, the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics Rwanda told me that our work supporting automated data matching in the post enumeration survey had taken them from eight months of work to “an exciting exercise done in a week”.

We have also developed a women-into-leadership training programme, which we instigated when we observed fewer female leaders in national statistics offices across Africa. This programme has received significant feedback from participants and their seniors, who have informed me that the women who attended these courses have become more confident in their decision making, speaking up, and following their career goals. In one case they came together as a group to push for improved policies to protect women from sexual harassment in the workplace. I am excited that this course has now been handed to an African institution to continue the great work that we started.

Working together to progress priorities

Much has been delivered thanks to the efforts of our entire team over 10 years in the planning and delivery of the work. Additionally, experts from all parts of the ONS have stepped outside of their comfort zone to share their expertise for the benefit of others, and colleagues in the FCDO have guided and shaped the programme.

The work is interesting and challenging, and individuals and teams who participate learn a huge amount about how to deliver statistics in resource-constrained environments and strengthen their communication skills.

Working with Gambian census data gave the newly established ONS Census 2031 Coverage and Adjustment team an opportunity to use their combined expertise to work with their Gambian counterparts, exploring novel data with similar user needs in an interesting and challenging context. The work in the Gambia was very relevant for the coverage work planned for the UK census, so the team brought back lots of relevant lessons learned in a very different context with different data challenges. This has provided new ideas for process, impact, and using different data sources as evidence.

Refining our offerings

In 2026, we are entering a new phase for the work, streamlining the programme, alongside all UK ODA-funded projects.

We have clarified and adjusted our offer, focussing in on areas where the UK has a clear comparative advantage alongside other organisations working internationally. These refinements will ensure we can continue to support data for decision making across the developing world.

As we celebrate 10 years of this internationally impactful programme, I want to say an enormous thank you to everybody who has taken part in this exciting work. We are looking forward to continuing to work with colleagues for the benefit of statistical systems across the developing world.

If you’d like to learn more about our work and how to support the programme, please email the team.