The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) was founded in November 1999 by the United Nations, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, in response to the UN Economic and Social Council resolution on the goals of the UN Conference on Development. PARIS21's goal is to develop a culture of evidence-based policy making and implementation which serves to improve governance and government effectiveness in reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. PARIS21 pursues this goal by encouraging and assisting low-income countries to design, implement, and monitor a National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS). An NSDS is expected to provide a country with a strategy for strengthening statistical capacity across the entire national statistical system (NSS).

PARIS21 facilitates:

• The mobilisation and leveraging of resources (both national and international) for the implementation of NSDSs.
• The establishment of country-level statistical sub-groups to co-ordinate support to statistical systems.
• Partnership initiatives (ex: Partner Report on Support to Statistics - PRESS) to co-ordinate donor support to statistics.
• The co-ordination of all actors within the National Statistical System (sector line ministry statistical units, central bank, central statistical office, etc.).
• The production of statistical advocacy materials promoting the increased use of statistics in decision-making and the need for a well financed NSDS integrated into wider development policy frameworks.
• Peer reviews focused on strategic planning and National Statistical System governance.
• Production of guidance and documentation on strategic statistical planning.
• Provision of technical assistance to address issues such as statistical legislation, national statistics councils, training, human resources, etc.
• Convening of subject-matter task teams to study issues key to the PARIS21 mandate.

The PARIS21 Secretariat has benefited from the generous financial contributions of the following donors:

	BELGIUM, Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.diplomatie.be/
	CANADA, CIDA http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/
	EFTA http://www.efta.int/
	EUROPEAN COMMISSION http://ec.europa.eu/
	EUROSTAT http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
	FINLAND, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://formin.finland.fi/
	FRANCE, Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/
	GERMANY, GTZ http://www.gtz.de/en/index.htm
	GREECE, Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US
	IRELAND, Ireland Aid - Department of Foreign Affairs http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/
	ITALY, Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN
	JAPAN, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) http://www.jica.go.jp/english/
	NETHERLANDS, Ministry for Development Co-operation http://www.minbuza.nl/en/home
	NORWAY, NORAD http://www.norad.no/
	SPAIN, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation http://www.aecid.es/
	SWEDEN, SIDA http://www.sida.se/sida/jsp/sida.jsp?d=121&language=en_US
	SWITZERLAND, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) http://www.deza.admin.ch/en/Home
	UNITED KINGDOM, DFID http://www.dfid.gov.uk/
	WORLD BANK ORGANIZATION http://www.worldbank.org/