Please note this website is being phased out.
The Global Data Facility is the new World Bank-hosted innovative global funding instrument for the world's most critical data impact opportunities. For the latest updates, visit our new website at www.worldbank.org/global-data-facility.
The Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) was a multi-donor trust fund, aimed to improve the capacity of developing countries to produce and use statistics with an overall objective of supporting effective decision-making for development. For more than two decades, the Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) worked to improve statistical capacity around the world. Guided by the principle that better data supports better policy for better lives, the TFSCB disbursed 432 grants worth over USD 100 million to 149 low and middle-income countries between 1999 and 2021, working with countries and regions to build their capacity to produce high-quality statistics. Over the course of the TFSCB program, recipients were given grant funding across six different windows, each targeting key areas of statistical capacity and development, including windows focused on National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS), Data Production, Innovation, and Inclusive Data.
During its 22 years of operation, the TFSCB has both proven the efficacy of small grant funding (USD 500,000 or less) as well as its ability to serve as a channel to collect and direct financing from numerous international donors towards a common goal of improving statistics around the world. With each project and window of financing, the TFSCB team continuously strove to learn and build upon their experience in grant making, incorporating feedback from recipient countries to strengthen internal processes and improve the overall approach of the program.
As the TFSCB closed operations in 2021, we look forward to the next generation of financing in the Global Data Facility (GDS), the new World Bank-hosted Fund to support data and statistics priorities at the global, regional, national, and community levels. The GDS is designed to enable exponential improvements of and strengthened human capacity for data collection, data management, data governance, data analysis, data sharing, data protection, and data use and reuse for transformational social and economic development. More about the GDS can be found here.
The Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) was established on April 13, 1999 to strengthen the capacity of statistical systems in developing countries. It is a global grant facility, administered by the Development Data Group of the World Bank on behalf of the contributing donors. TFSCB focuses on improving countries’ capacity in the production, analysis, dissemination and use of timely statistics. In coordination with national programs and international initiatives, TFSCB provides a practical mechanism to achieve the vision of the Partnership for Statistics for Development for the 21st Century (PARIS21). It aspires to develop effective and efficient national statistical systems and to promote a culture of evidence-based decision making and implementation. Moreover, consistent with the Busan Action Plan for Statistics (BAPS) and the needs of the post-2015 development agenda, TFSCB pays special attention to improving production and use of gender statistics, advancing the data foundation for measuring sustainable development, experimenting with innovative approaches in gathering, producing and using data; and making government data more accessible.
TFSCB has received contributions from the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, IrishAid, Korea-World Bank Partnership Facility, Canada, France, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. It has so far provided funding for more than 400 projects in all regions of the world.
TFSCB Progress Reports
What is TFSCB?
By Masako Hiraga & Sun Hwa Song | May 08, 2019
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on pastoral populations in the Sahel
By Craig Hammer, Leslie Ricketts & Niharika Hanglem| July 16, 2020
Ensuring gains in statistical capacity during COVID-19
By Masako Hiraga & Maria Gabriela Tercero | June 03, 2020
TFSCB’s rapid support to help countries respond to the COVID-19 outbreak
By Masako Hiraga & Sun Hwa Song | May 14, 2020
How the Mongolian nomadic survey is leaving no one behind
By Masako Hiraga, Ikuko Uochi & Gabriela R. A. Doyle | Aprile 18, 2020
Data innovation project success stories from around the world
By Sun Hwa Song, Siddhesh Kaushik & Leslie Ricketts | January 22, 2020
A SMART solution: How we helped build a low-cost flood alert and water monitoring system in African cities
Sun Hwa Song, Siddhesh Kaushik, Leslie Ricketts & David Mariano | March 3, 2020
Disability data is integral to achieving the SDGs
By Buyant Erdene Khaltarkhuu & Akiko Sagesaka | December 03, 2019
How Statistical Capacity Building projects benefited Sudan
By Sun Hwa Song & Masako Hiraga | October 23, 2019
Small seeds become plants that often grow into big trees: How catalytic trust fund generates momentum in development
By Sun Hwa Song & Masako Hiraga | November 13, 2019
Restoring reliable data capacity in fragile and conflict-affected situations
By Ankur Nagar | June 8, 2020
Bhutan: Statistics and the pursuit of happiness
By Ankur Nagar | December 09, 2019
How to invest in the data revolution
By Masako Hiraga and Ankur Nagar | September 25, 2019
Groundbreaking Household Survey Reaps Broad Array of Data in Djibouti
October 1, 2019
Strengthening Statistical Capacities to Tackle School Dropout in Guatemala
October 16, 2020
