These courses kicked off the 2025 edition of the training program on quantitative analysis techniques for public administration officials in Argentina, organized annually by the Office in Argentina of the regional United Nations body.

As part of its activities to strengthen technical capacities in public institutions, the ECLAC Office in Argentina delivered two training courses in May and June aimed at personnel from national and provincial public administrations. These theoretical-practical trainings are part of the Training Program on Quantitative Analysis Techniques focused on applied tools for data analysis in R, with an emphasis on time series, data visualization, and thematic mapping.

The first module, led by the Office’s economists Martín Cherkasky and Valentín Álvarez, focused on the analysis of economic time series using the statistical programming language R. Over the course of four classes, the training covered linear regression models, a set of metrics for model selection, the concepts of stationarity and cointegration, and evaluation metrics for forecasting performance. Practical exercises were applied to national accounts and foreign trade variables.

The second course, delivered by the Office’s economist Fernando García Díaz, focused on data visualization and the creation of thematic maps based on territorial statistical databases. Also structured in four modules, the workshop introduced tools from the R ecosystem for handling spatial data and visualization techniques, combining theoretical content with practical application.

Each course was attended by more than forty public officials from various levels of government, representing the provinces of Buenos Aires, Catamarca, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero. The courses were designed to strengthen institutional capacities in the use of open and reproducible statistical tools, with an emphasis on territorial analysis and public policy monitoring.

The ECLAC training program on quantitative analysis techniques in Argentina consists of four independent, theoretical-practical courses, implemented in a virtual and workshop-based format. They focus on the application of the concepts and techniques presented using the relevant software for each course. The courses are taught by ECLAC, and the only requirement for application is to be a public official working in a national or provincial public institution in Argentina. The program is part of ECLAC’s technical cooperation initiatives aimed at strengthening governments’ analytical capacities and supporting evidence-based policymaking for productive transformation with equity.

More information on the training program is available here.