[Organization]

Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21)

[Title]

Policy maker training and communicating census data to improve data use in the Maldives 

[Content]

Ensuring that data are used is a vital component of the data value chain. However, transmitting data and statistics to end users can be a challenge. The Maldives Bureau of Statistics has been putting great efforts into data use and recently worked with PARIS21 and Statistics Sweden to target policy makers within the Maldivian parliament as well as developing and refining a communications strategy to ensure that the results of the country's recent census are used to inform public discourse. 

<Working with policy makers in the Maldives> 

The Maldives Bureau of Statistics and PARIS21 presented to the parliamentary staff at the People's Majlis on how and where to find official statistics as well as why these are a valuable source of knowledge and information for parliamentarians. With requests from the public that can cover a wide range of topics which have rapid and heavy impacts on people's lives - such as climate-related disasters, public order, employment or health, parliamentarians need fast access to a wide range of reliable information. 

A practical component of the training involved parliamentary staff developing a policy brief from an official data set. PARIS21 and Statistics Sweden also presented on statistical communications skills for parliaments. ​ 

<Communicating census data> 

With the results of the Maldives' most recent census being finalised. The Maldives Bureau of Statistics is turning their attention to ensuring that the results of the statistics are effectively disseminated, understood and used. PARIS21 and Statistics Sweden worked together to help Maldives Bureau of Statistics evaluate their internal strengths as communicators, look at the audiences they target and through which channels. The workshop also focussed on practical skills including turning a dataset into a press release and key messages, as well as how to carry out interviews with media. 

[URL]

https://www.paris21.org/news/policy-maker-training-and-communicating-census-data-improve-data-use-maldives