Statistical cooperation in the spotlight: an interview with Jean-Luc Tavernier, Director-General of INSEE

What does INSEE’s technical assistance to its partner countries involve?

Jean-Luc Tavernier – Good statistics are essential for the functioning of a democracy. So, it is crucial for all countries to have strong statistical infrastructure. In this respect, INSEE contributes to building the capacities of countries to produce, analyse and disseminate reliable up-to-date data.

It is crucial for all countries to have strong statistical infrastructure 

To do so, we organise between 120 and 150 cooperation activities every year: technical assistance missions in developing or transition countries, study visits in France for colleagues from foreign statistical institutes – about thirty in 2019 –, regional exchange workshops… For example, we jointly organise a seminar every year with Afristat for statisticians from French-speaking African countries. I was also a speaker at the seminar via video conference in 2019 on the theme of the governance of national statistical systems.

Finally, historically, at INSEE – and now GENES, or the Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique – we have developed substantial support for training statisticians. This is the case with the support to the African statistics schools in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Cotonou (Benin), Dakar (Senegal) and Yaoundé (Cameroon). We contribute to training programmes, but also by hosting students, awarding scholarships… 

In what context do these cooperation activities take place?

Jean-Luc Tavernier – These technical assistance activities can take place under bilateral cooperation projects, including European institutional twinning operations, but also increasingly under regional cooperation projects implemented in consortiums. For example, we work with Expertise France under the Pan African Statistics Programme, an ambitious programme funded by the European Union that aims to improve the production and dissemination of quality statistics in Africa and is helping set up STATAFRIC, the pan-African institute for statistics. We also work together in European Union Eastern neighbourhood countries, where we mobilise our experts under the STEP programme, after taking part in the MEDSTAT IV project, which targeted Southern neighbourhood countries.

Why is it interesting for INSEE statisticians to take part in this international cooperation activity?

Jean-Luc Tavernier – INSEE’s international technical assistance activity contributes to France’s development assistance policy and therefore fulfils an international solidarity objective. It is also a matter of the international visibility of INSEE and France.

Taking part in a technical cooperation mission is very instructive  

For the experts, taking part in a technical cooperation mission is very instructive and professionally very rewarding. It improves their teaching skills, but also allows them to discover other professional practices and consider, in a mirrored way, their own practices. Despite our rather limited budgetary framework, I would stress that it develops the human capital of our staff and develops their expertise.
 

It builds ties with other national statistical institutes 

And, especially, it builds ties with other national statistical institutes, in Europe as well as in the rest of the world, and allows good practices to be shared. Furthermore, judging by the number of requests, this support is appreciated by our partners, particularly in certain focus areas for INSEE, such as national accounts, but also on issues concerning the governance of national statistical institutes or methodology (sampling, seasonal adjustment, data anonymisation…), which are important for ensuring the quality of the statistical data produced.

The Covid-19 crisis has shaken the world of cooperation. What are the prospects for statistical cooperation in this context?

Jean-Luc Tavernier – Our work programme for 2020 has been seriously disrupted by the Covid-19 crisis, but we have done our utmost to continue our activities remotely. This first involved supporting initiatives launched by national statistical institutes (NSIs) in developing and transition countries to ensure the continuity of their statistical production during the crisis and monitor the economic and social impact of this crisis. For example, INSEE is jointly organising webinars in French with Paris21 and Afristat, in partnership with the Economic Commission for Africa, on subjects related to the adaptation of NSIs to the Covid-19 crisis.
 

Ensure the continuity of statistical production during the crisis 

For INSEE, it has also involved continuing to take part in European projects managed by Expertise France, in the form of remote support. For example, under the STEP programme, the training on micro data led by INSEE this summer took place online. Similarly, we participated remotely in a workshop on statistical coordination in early July 2020. Our bilateral cooperation programmes have continued by adapting the organisational arrangements.

The opportunity to rethink our cooperation methods 

This crisis in some way provides the opportunity to rethink our cooperation methods. We are moving towards the development of a sort of “tele-cooperation” that reaches more people, including non-French-speaking audiences.

More about INSEE's international technical assistance