A workshop for statistics professionals from English-speaking African countries on National Statistics Design Strategies (NSDS) began today at ECA headquarters, in Addis Abbaba, under the auspices of the United Nations, the African Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and the PARIS 21 Secretariat.

The workshop is part of an international effort undertaken to assist Africa in meeting international goals and standards in the area of statistics. French-speaking Africa is scheduled to attend a similar workshop in October in Senegal.

Hosted by the ECA’s Economic and Social Policy Division (ESPD), workshop participants will utilize a guidebook on NSDS prepared by the PARIS21 Secretariat, to discuss respective NSDSs.

Workshops of this kind are key to assist Member States in designing and implementing their national strategies by the end of 2006. The deadline was established in discussions with the donor community, which is expected to fund the exercise.

“Strategic planning is a key component of the institutional strengthening of national statistical systems. I am confident that this task will be a resounding success for all African countries,” said Augustin Fosu, the Director of ESPD in his opening remarks to the workshop.

Gaps in the compilation, analysis and dissemination of statistics on the African continent slow down capacity to formulate public policy that is consistent with the needs of individual countries and communities.

To fulfill the continent’s development agenda, African governments are committed to increasing capacity within National Statistics Offices (NSOs).

As a result of this international effort, NSOs will be able to support national, sub-regional, regional and international efforts aimed at analyzing current economic and social situations, formulating and charting strategies, as well as tracking and monitoring progress towards the MDGs and national sectoral programmes, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the New Parternships for African Development (NEPAD).

Drawing from this agenda, there are ongoing initiatives to fill the gaps in the statistical supply at the country level. But the real challenge lies in coordinating statistical activities undertaken at the local, national, sub-regional and regional levels.

In the past plans to implement coordinated actions were often donor-driven, not matching the real needs of countries. These distortions contributed to the non-sustainability of the programmes.

A number of recent decisions made by the African and international statistical community represent a new step in establishing a coherent framework for statistical development at the country level.