Page 21 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 3

STS513 Jessa S. L. et al.
the indicators to monitor the country’s performance vis-à-vis the SDGs, archive
data on such, and conduct methodological research to address issues in
generating the SDG indicators.
In response to this task, a project entitled “A Five-Year Research and Training
Program for the Philippine Statistical System to Measure the Sustainable
Development Goals Indicators” was conceptualized by the PSRTI. This project
aims to make the PSS ready and able to meet the challenges of meeting and
monitoring the SDGs by conducting researches on the indicators and capacity
building activities at the local level.
In 2017, the PSRTI engaged the services of some retired government
statisticians to conduct researches with the objective of further expanding the
existing indictor system for SDG monitoring. These personnel were taken in as
researchers by the PSRTI mainly because of their familiarity of the country’s data
system and vast experience in developing and updating various indicator
systems maintained by the statistical system. The paper discusses the findings
of the researchers, the list of indicators proposed for inclusion in the current
indicator system as a result of the studies, and the recommendations to
institutionalize the proposed indicators.

2. Methodology
The studies aimed to expand the current SDG indicator system in the
Philippines by proposing indicators for institutionalization. To do this,
operationality of the definition of the indicators in the country and at the local
level have to be determined and the sources of data have to be identified.
However, PSA has included this activity in their work plan. Hence, in agreement
with PSA, the PSRTI decided to focus on those indicators which are not in the
Philippine Development Plan (PDP) and those in the PDP but the PSS does not
have the statistical capacity or concrete plans yet to address data gap. With
this, thirty-three (33) indicators were studied.
For these indicators, the researchers reviewed the definition of the
indicators at the global level using available metadata and identified the (i)
applicability of the definition at the national and subnational level, (ii) variables
needed, (iii) measurability and viability of indicators, (iv) data sources and (v)
frequency and disaggregation. These activities were done in close
coordination with PSA as definitions of terms used for the indicators have to
adhere to PSA standards.
The researchers did comprehensive review of the existing data in the
country and the methodology of collecting these data. In addition, PSRTI
conducted series of consultative meetings with stakeholders and possible data
producers to gather their inputs. Results of these meetings were summarized
to come up with a set of recommendations to institutionalize the identified
indicators. Lastly, validation of the operational definitions proposed at the

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