Recommendations of the Third Meeting of the Advisory Board on Statistics in Africa

Recommendations of the Third Annual Meeting
of the Advisory Board on Statistics in Africa (ABSA III),
Addis- Ababa, 13 to 14 June, 2006

The Board members of the Advisory Board on Statistics in Africa (ABSA),

Recalling the terms of reference of ABSA;

Having examined the reports on (i) the follow-up to the second meeting of ABSA and FASDEV; (ii) the statistical activities at ECA in 2005-2006; (iii) a series of information notes on: -the 2010 round of population and housing censuses - the Africa Symposia in Statistical Development in Africa -the friends of the ECA -the revision of the SNA 1993 - the follow up to the second meeting of FASDEV- the Reference Regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa (RRSF); and – the Development account projects; (iv) the theme for the 2006 African Statistics Day and potential activities for its celebration; and (v) ECA repositioning in Statistics.

Noting the ongoing repositioning process within the ECA to better serve Africa, and the place of statistics in this process,

Bearing in mind the critical role the ECA has played in the reinforcement of the African statistical systems in early 80s and 90s;

Appreciative of the role played by the ECA, the African Development Bank, PARIS21, and the World Bank to produce the Reference Regional Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa (RRSF);

Aware of the adoption of the RRSF by partners and countries as the guide for statistical activities in Africa for the next ten years;

Aware of the importance of the 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses programme and the urgent need of data for monitoring nationally and internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs and PRSs;

Recognizing the African countries’ initiative, led by South Africa, to annually meet in the framework of the African Symposia on Statistical Development;

Aware of the recommendations of the second meeting of FASDEV;

Recognizing the effort made by the Statistics Team to deliver the work programme 2004-2005 and additional activities aiming at revamping the statistical function of the Commission, understaffed and with resource constraints;

Recognizing the bottlenecks statistical training centers are facing in building and strengthening statistical capacity;

Concerned by the slow progress made by African countries in the implementation of 1993 SNA; and

Appreciative of countries' initiative to create the Friends of ECA and their role in advocating for an effective statistical function within the commission;

Appreciative of the actions undertaken by the ECA’s Executive secretary (ES) to champion statistics and revamp the statistics function of the Commission;

Convinced in accordance with CODI-4 and FASDEV-2 recommendations, that urgent and appropriate steps should be taken in the Continent to address the following issues;

The Board

I. Repositioning of the Statistical Activities at ECA

1. Urges the ECA to accord the statistical function of the Commission the importance it deserves by reestablishing the statistical Division with adequate resources;

2. Urges the ECA to revisit the work programme proposed by the Friends of the ECA by incorporating the outcomes of the third meeting of ABSA;

II. Coordination of, and advocacy for statistical activities in Africa and monitoring progress of statistical capacity building

Urges the ECA to:

3. Jointly coordinate with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the AU, the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the RRSF;

4. Support National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in the adoption of adequate legislative framework complying with the fundamental principles of official statistics;

5. Support countries in the design of their National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) in line with the Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics and the RRSF;

6. Advocate and raise awareness on the importance of statistics in evidence based policy decision making;

7. Ensure that partners in statistical development use the RRSF as the guide for their interventions in the region;

8. Support the Africa Symposia in statistical development;

9. Encourage south-south cooperation in statistical development;

10. Help countries to elaborate communication strategies;

11. Produce an annual report on the progress of statistical activities in Africa;

III. National Accounts

12. Urges the ECA to conduct a regional programme on the implementation of the SNA 1993, including the effective implementation of the field project within its current work programme and the production of annual reports on the progress made towards the fully implementation of the SNA 1993;

13. Urges the ECA to effectively coordinate with other players to implement field projects on National Accounts within its current work programme;

14. Urges ECA to initiate and organize consultations on the revision of the 1993 SNA within its 2006-2007 work programme, the format of consultations include meetings with the participation of countries, regional and sub regional organizations. The participation of experienced national accountants and Central Banks should be encouraged;

15. Urges the ECA to advocate in favor of the production of national accounts statistics within the NSOs, with adequate support from Central Bank, Ministry of Finance and other line ministry, to ensure the integrity of the statistics as suggested by the United Nations principles of official statistics;

16. Encourages National Statistical Offices to consider induction courses in National accounts for old and newly recruited staff;

17. Urges the ECA to identify and organize meetings of African experts on national accounts including those who may no longer be working in national accounts for a more effective contribution of the continent in the revision process of the SNA 1993;

IV. The 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses

18. Urges the ECA to establish a regional programme for population and housing censuses, with an emphasis on the 2010 RPHC, using inter-alia, the programme of work proposed by the Friends of ECA;

V. Use of Information and Communication Technologies

19. Calls upon the ECA to encourage cooperation between countries and sub-regional, regional and international organizations in data exchange, storage, archiving and dissemination; specifically, electronic data exchange using XML, taking into account ongoing similar exercise at the international level;

20. Calls upon the ECA to harmonize and improve connectivity of databases maintained by countries, sub-regional, regional and international organizations;

21. Calls upon the ECA to encourage regular training on database management to improve the capacity of countries, sub-regional and regional organizations in the area;

VI. Support to statistical training centers (STCs)

Urges the ECA to:

22. Disseminate information on training on a regular basis;

23. Provide the STCs with a network of exchange of knowledge including training centers outside the region;

24. Advocate for the inclusion of the SNA 1993 in universities and STCs’ curricula as well as the use of SNA in policy analysis;

25. Analyze, with the assistance of ECOWAS secretariat, the possibility of the creation of a Statistical Training Center for Anglophone countries in west Africa;

VII. Quality management

Urges the ECA to:

26. Promote within countries, sub-regional and regional organizations, quality management concepts in statistics;

27. Propose the adoption of a code of good practices for National Statistical Systems consistent with the fundamental principles of official statistics;

28. Organize peer reviews based on the agreed code of practices;

VIII. Resources mobilization

29. Calls upon ECA to establish a network aimed at raising adequate funds for the sustainability of statistical activities, including training;

IX. The African Statistics Association

30. Reiterates its recommendation on the revival of the African Statistical Association.

X. Celebration of the African Statistics Day (ASD)

31. The board unanimously endorsed the proposed theme of 2006 ASD, on the "National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS)";

32. Calls upon the ECA to inform the respective heads of the ADB and the AU that they will be interviewed for an advocacy DVD for the African Statistics Day (ASD);

33. Encourages African countries to invite their respective President and/or Primer minister to make a statement during the ASD;

34. Calls upon ECA's Executive secretary, AU's chairperson, ADB's president to convene in a country during the forthcoming ASD;

XI. The Friends of ECA

35. The Friends of ECA should meet before end of July 2006 to provide details on the strategic directions in statistics, as approved by the Ministers of Finance and Economic Development in Burkina Faso, and the inputs provided by ABSA III;

36. Friends of ECA should provide indicators for verification of actions taken.