Mr. Taeke Gjaltema
Mr. Taeke Gjaltema was appointed as Regional Adviser on Statistics in 2023. Mr. Gjaltema has broad and in-depth experience in official statistics in areas such as modernisation of statistical production, forecasting, modelling, data analysis, and census and survey data collection. He was involved in and managed many capacities building and technical assistance activities in the EECCA region as well as in many countries outside the UNECE region.
Prior to his appointment as Regional Adviser on statistics, he was chief of the UNECE Statistical Management and Modernisation Unit and secretariat of the High-Level Group for the Modernisation of Official Statistics. In this renowned programme, several generic models that are now global standards for official statistics were developed and hundreds of statisticians collaborated on topics such as big data, machine learning, data Integration, new data sources, ethics and modern management practices. Earlier he was the focal point in statistics for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Before joining UNECE in 2010, Taeke worked at UNECLAC, UNDESA and Eurostat as well as at various National Statistical Offices, Universities, Research Institutes, the Academy of Science, and at private companies. He studied Demography (BSc and MSc), Spatial Sciences (BSc and MSc) and Business and Development Economics.
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Technical assistance in statistics aims to provide senior government officials in the UNECE region with expertise of a broad nature in official statistics, and especially capacity building for official statistics. Our technical cooperation activities are demand-driven, results oriented and concentrated on countries with economies in transition of Eastern and Southeast Europe as well as the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Capacity building for official statistics implies a series of interrelated activities, covering economic, social, and environmental statistics and indicators, in order to facilitate the transition to the market economy, the monitoring of progress toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and institutional and structural aspects of the statistical system.
The task of the Regional Adviser on Statistics is to promote the implementation of commonly agreed international statistical standards for use in national official statistics, so that policymakers and users of statistical information can be provided with the relevant data they need, which are at the same time methodologically sound and internationally comparable. This task consists of bilateral meetings with national statistical offices on request of governments, organization of sub-regional workshops and training courses for senior statistical officials and users of statistics.
The Regional Adviser coordinates and ensures the compatibility of technical cooperation activities carried out by professional staff of the Statistics Division, e.g. population census, gender statistics, national accounts, and implementation of Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. He also acts as a rapporteur to the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) on technical cooperation activities of the Division.
To accomplish these tasks in an efficient and effective way, linkages have been established with the regular programme of work of UNECE subsidiary bodies, in particular the CES. Linkages are actively developed with other institutions and organizations such as the European Union, OECD, the World Bank, the Interstate Statistical Committee of the CIS, the UN Statistics Division in New York, UNFPA, UNDP and other international organizations.
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