Towards the second edition of the UNIDO Quality Infrastructure Index for Sustainable Development (QI4SD): Gaining Momentum in the Development and Strengthening of Quality Infrastructure Systems and Policies
UNIDO’s Quality Infrastructure for Sustainable Development (QI4SD) Index first edition was launched in June 2022. Built on a composite indicator methodology, it assesses the readiness of a country or region’s quality infrastructure (QI) system to contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The Index allows countries to see how they rank – each country has a score representing the state of QI in the People, Planet and Prosperity pillars, using data relating to social, environmental, and economic issues respectively. These scores are calculated using indicators in the Metrology, Standards, Accreditation and Conformity Assessment and Policy dimensions. The Index enables a country to analyze the strong and weak points and to develop a roadmap on the specific QI indicators for each dimension, which need to be improved upon. Furthermore, through comparisons of QI performance with other countries in the region, GDP and income groups, countries can benchmark their individual QI components – the Index acts as a monitoring tool to enable rapid assessments of QI systems and policies, track the progress of their implementation, and in this way enables continual improvements and mutual learning.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was one of the 137 countries assessed in the Index. It ranks 45th in the world and 4th in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Interested in improving their scores across the QI dimensions, UNIDO was invited by the Saudi Accreditation Center (SAAC) and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) to deliver a workshop in Riyadh between October 3rd and October 4th with the following objectives: conduct a deep dive into the Index’s data, methodology and analysis; gain feedback on its design and indicators; and, most importantly, to provide recommendations and a roadmap for KSA to improve their ratings in QI and its contribution to sustainable development (People, Planet and Prosperity).
The workshop was opened by Dr. Saad bin Othman Al-Qasabi, His Excellency the Governor of SASO and Dr. Adel A. Alkeaid, the CEO of SAAC. Thirty-three participants from SAAC, SASO, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CITC), the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, the National Industrial and Mining Information Center, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Economy and Planning, and the National Competitiveness Center (NCC) were in attendance.
The workshop was well received by participants and recommendations to consider in the development of the 2nd iteration of the QI4SD Index (to be launched by November 2024) were well delineated. Following this workshop, UNIDO is organizing an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the QI4SD Index in Vienna from 14th to 15th November to review the Index’s methodology, get feedback from QI experts and from member organizations of the International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI) members and is also inviting national QI experts from selected countries to also contribute to the technical discussions.
A key outcome of the workshop is that the Saudi QI institutions agreed on a roadmap to improve their QI scores. The success of this in-country workshop in Saudi Arabia has created a blueprint that UNIDO can follow to replicate workshops on the QI4SD Index not just at national levels, but at regional levels as well. Since the Index launch, there has been great interest, particularly in the Index methodology and on how countries can improve their scores. Such workshops, regularly held in the future, will help to address such concerns.
For more information, please contact Mr. Alejandro Rivera Rojas: a.rivera-rojas [at] unido.org (a[dot]rivera-rojas[at]unido[dot]org)
