Through the work of the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST) it has been re-confirmed that there is an urgent need to support developing countries in creating and better maintaining statistical training programs at national level. This is key for staff at the National Statistical Systems (NSS) to receive core trainings for doing their jobs efficiently, and will make the NSS less dependent on external partners.

GIST has identified that a key first step is to help countries develop a needs assessment tool to understand the training needs of their staff as well as key development area needs from a managerial perspective. In relation to this, there is also a need to provide guidance on how to prioritise among gaps identified as well as to provide template curriculums for courses that are expected to be core in all countries.

GIST members are actively supporting the work, but are in needs of support in coordinating the work, helping it move forward more quickly to respond to countries needs and ultimately help staff in the NSS improve their skills more systematically to increase efficiency of the NSS in providing quality and timely SDG and other statistics to the public.