At a crossroads, meeting heightens African statistics

By Cristina Müller, 10 February 2006

Addis Ababa, 10 February 2006 - An African statistics meeting in Addis Ababa has overwhelmingly approved a comprehensive roadmap aimed at boosting data development on the continent.

The second Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV II) was held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa from 9-10 February. It brought together some 150 participants - from African National Statistics Offices (NSOs), ECA, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (DAC), and Partnership for Statistical Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) - who approved a Reference Regional Framework for African Statistical Development and Capacity Building (RRSF).

“Africa needs to invest in statistics,” said Abdoulie Janneh, the ECA’s Executive Secretary, speaking at the closing session of the meeting.

Janneh said the consensus reached by the partners on the RRSF at the end of the two-day Forum confirmed their commitment to improving data gathering systems on the continent as a keystone to building the basis for better statistics in Africa.

The RRSF establishes for the first time the building blocks of National Statistics Development Systems (NSDS) in African countries. Its approval by national statistics offices along with the donor community is one step in aligning development aid with specific country needs and interests, and is a step away from a donor driven agenda for development witnessed in the past.

“The donor community is willing to do more than what it did in the past for statistics,” said Richard Manning the Chair of the OECD/DAC. “But African governments must take some of the responsibility. Aid is not forever. As economies grow they begin to help themselves,” he said.

Speaking to the ECA during the conference, Manning said statistics offices everywhere are underfunded. He said the RRSF recognizes the need to bridge different areas of development.

“It is in everyone’s interest to get better data, governments need the right evidence to help them build policy that will in turn foster development,” said Manning. He added that African economies should grow around 5 per cent this year, which is bound to fuel investment and raise an even greater demand for sound data on the economic and social fronts.

FASDEV II followed a three-day workshop on the RRSF attended by directors of National Statistics Offices from all over Africa. Besides the Framework, another major task of the workshop was to reach consensus on an African position in March when the world body on statistics, STATCOM 2006, meets at UN headquarters in New York.

Albeit satisfied with the outcome of the meeting, partners foresaw many challenges ahead with regard to African participation in the world statistical system. While countries like Japan are moving to a major rehaul of statistical gathering and analysis standards, Africa is still struggling to imbed statistics within its planning and development strategies.

“I would prefer if Africa were to really solidify its statistical foundation before it engages in major change,” said Janvier Janvier Litse, the director of Planning and Budgeting of the African Development Bank. “But of course we can set our agenda based on modern systems, which will eventually put us on the same track as other continents.”

He said the situation of African statistics requires the redoubling of efforts by all the partners to trigger real change.

“There is room for everyone to do their job,” he said, reaffirming the AfDB’s commitment to working with the UN, other international partners, and Member States on establishing RRSF and the NSDS.

“I am delighted that participants of this second meeting of FASDEV have endorsed the RRSF, and have reached a consensus on partnership building, paving the road to evidence-based decision-making, and monitoring and evaluation of outcomes that will strengthen confidence in national and international development agendas,” concluded Abdoulie Janneh.