FASDEV I

Forum on African Statistical Development
12-13 May 2004, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Communiqué

Representatives of donor institutions, UN specialized agencies, and regional and sub-regional agencies attended the Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV) meeting on May 12-13, 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Recalling that FASDEV was initiated in order to: (i) have an overview of statistical activities, including assistance, and training in Africa; (ii) set up a permanent system for the monitoring of statistical development in Africa; and (iii) strengthen modalities for cooperation with a view to leveraging on each partner's comparative advantage, the meeting

a) Appreciated the effort made by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Partnership In Statistics for Development in the 21^st Century (PARIS21) consortium to convene the first FASDEV meeting;

b) Discussed issues relating to statistical development in Africa;

c) Agreed to:

1. Endorse the establishment of FASDEV (Forum on African Statistical Development) and its functions as stated in the preamble above, with ECA as the Secretariat;

2. Contribute to the production of a Reference Regional Strategic Framework under ECA coordination based on the draft presented and the comments made during the meeting, in line with the Marrakech Action Plan on Statistics (MAPS);

3. Support African countries to design and implement National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) by 2006 using the PARIS 21 Guidelines and following the recommendations of CODI II, the MAPS, and the Yaoundé Declaration on Statistical Development in Africa;

4. Take advantage of any existing strategies at the international, regional, sub-regional and national levels (such as PARIS21 initiatives, International Comparison Programme (ICP-Africa), General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), etc.), with a view to meeting the objectives of the Reference Regional Strategic Framework, seek the guidance of the Committee on Development Information (CODI) and the United Nations Statistical Commission on statistical activities through submission of reports for their consideration;

5. Work towards developing and implementing joint programmes (moving from coordination to active cooperation and harmonisation);

6. Provide information according to a template to be designed with members of FASDEV and coordinated by ECA;

7. Ask ECA to convene the next FASDEV meeting in February 2005 to consider and approve the Reference Regional Strategic Framework and to map the way forward; and

8. Call on all stakeholders to support FASDEV activities.