From the headquarters

New Directors for IDEP, ACGS take charge

Issue 2, 1 - 15 May 2009

ECA to assist DR Congo revive its statistical sector

Congolese officials in the different ministries in charge of statistics recently held a series of meetings with a delegation of development parts to seek ways on how to revive the country’s statistical sector.

The delegation, which was in Kinshasa mid April, was composed of experts from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and the Paris 21 Group.

The meetings sought to support the re-launch of the process of drafting a national strategy for statistical development in DR Congo.

During the working sessions, Congolese officials emphasized the need for recruiting and training a critical mass of capable statisticians necessary for the proper functioning of the national statistical system.

According to the mission report, it is absolutely necessary to update the roadmap for the development of the national strategy on statistics before any serious work can begin. The Roadmap was last adopted in 2006. Its content has been widely discussed during the sessions.
  
The roadmap stipulates a series of activities to be conducted in three phases: a thorough diagnosis of the national statistical system, the formulation of what it hopes to achieve, and strategies and action plans, including funding sources. Besides, the roadmap should include a performance timeframe with specific performance indicators.

The idea of helping countries in a post-conflict situation to rebuild their statistical systems was first tabled at the first meeting of the Statistical Commission for Africa, which held in Addis Ababa from 22 to 24 January 2008.
 
It also builds on the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which stress the necessity for the priorities of the countries that receive aid to be taken into account.