The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century, or PARIS21, was established in November 1999 by the United Nations, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank as a response to the UN Economic and Social Council resolution on the goals of the UN International Conference on Financing for Development. PARIS21's main objective is "to achieve national and international development goals and to reduce poverty in low and middle income countries". In pursuit of this, PARIS21 "facilitates statistical capacity development, advocates for the integration of reliable data in decision-making, and coordinates donor support to statistics". The PARIS21 Secretariat is hosted within the Statistics and Data Directorate of the OECD in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

The OECD Development Assistance Committee hosted a meeting of 100 statistical and policy officials from developing countries, international organisations, regional banks and bilateral donors on 18–19 November 1999 to discuss the challenges faced by policymakers due to outdated, insufficient statistics, and the challenges faced by statisticians due to limited resources and low priority status in government. As a result of this meeting, PARIS21 was established as a "global partnership of national, regional and international statisticians, analysts, policy-makers, development professionals and other users of statistics". The primary purpose of PARIS21 is to "promote, influence and facilitate statistical capacity development and the better use of statistics". In function, PARIS21 acts as a "forum and a network" for relevant stakeholders "interested in the production and use of statistics to support economic and social development and to promote better governance". Members of this partnership work to advocate for better statistics production and use in both "policy and technical domains", and push for more and better funding for data and statistics in development.

The PARIS21 Secretariat, led by the PARIS21 Secretariat Executive Head, is responsible for coordinating Partnership activities and "implementing the day-to-day work programme of PARIS21 as approved by the Board and the Executive Committee". The Board consists of stakeholder representatives from developing countries, bilateral donors and international organisations. The Board meets once a year to review the PARIS21 Programme of Work and to facilitate dialogue on general issues relating to the development and use of statistics. Outside of Board meetings, Secretariat activities are guided and monitored by a small Executive Committee consisting of members selected by the Board. This committee has the ability to organise task teams and ad hoc projects in the Board's absence.

PARIS21's governance agreements were most recently revised in December 2017. Only occurring twice since PARIS21's inception (a revision was also made in November 2006), revisions to PARIS21's governance agreements are made to "reflect the evolution" of PARIS21's role based on feedback from the Board.

PARIS21's work involves assisting low- and middle-income countries to design, implement, and evaluate National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS). NSDS provide an overall strategic vision of the development of a country's national statistical system (NSS) in line with the data priorities of national, regional and international development policies. NSDS serves as a comprehensive framework for the coordination of all data ecosystem stakeholders as well as for international and bilateral assistance. It addresses issues related to the data production, dissemination, access and use, in addition to modernisation of the NSS.

As a partnership, PARIS21's work involves connecting producers and users of statistics. It advocates for support to statistics at the international, regional and national levels. It produces a yearly Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS), which documents the global status of technical and financial support to statistical development. At the country level, PARIS21 collaborates with individual national statistical systems to produce a Country Report on Support to Statistics (CRESS) examining the state of funding for statistics in the national statistical system. Additionally, PARIS21 organises in-country training sessions and workshops for national statistical offices, journalism and media professionals and others to develop skills in communicating statistics, data visualization and advocacy.

Statistical Capacity Development Outlook & Monitor

In March 2019, PARIS21 published its Statistical Capacity Development Outlook report on "current trends, challenges and emerging approaches in statistical capacity development". An online, interactive "Statistical Capacity Monitor" platform was launched in coordination with the report, aiming to "play a role in guiding future efforts to develop capacity within and across national statistical systems and to support co-ordination efforts among donors". 13 As of January 2020, the PARIS21 Statistical Capacity Monitor features 109 indicators on statistical capacity and capacity development to "support countries, donors and service providers to tailor capacity development programmes in statistics". The Monitor provides access to an evolving set of indicators on statistical capacity intended to offer insight on where countries stand in different areas of capacity. It "facilitates country and regional comparisons across multiple dimensions of statistical capacity, presenting trends in key drivers (such as funding and legislation).”