Strengthening statistical capacity in support of progress towards the internationally agreed development goals in the Southern African Development Community region

Project Summary Project code: 06/07T Executing entities: DESA Funding:  US$ 950,000 Duration: 2006-2009 Theme: Statistics Status: Active Region: Asia and the Pacific   Implementation Rate:       21.7%     Updated:       07/06/07

Background:

Statistics are an important tool in the development-policymaking processes of countries and regional organizations. They are needed for assessing the current development situation, setting objectives and targets for the future and measuring progress and development. However, a substantial gap still exists between the demand for information and the ability of most countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to routinely provide it.

The SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan recognizes statistics as one of the cross-sectoral areas that need to be strengthened to foster regional cooperation and integration over the next 15 years. This project is therefore designed to improve the availability and reliability of basic data required for development planning in the SADC region, with special emphasis on data requirements for the internationally agreed development goals and the Millennium Development Goals. The project is aimed at facilitating subsequent networking among subregions through interactive sharing and management of knowledge. Furthermore, the project will strengthen links between producers and users of statistics.

The project builds upon lessons learned from three statistical development projects implemented by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division in the Caribbean Community, Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ESCWA regions. The project will be executed by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in collaboration with the Statistics Division of the SADC secretariat and in association with ECA.  

Objectives:

To strengthen the capacity of Governments in the SADC region for the production and analysis of benchmark statistics to support national monitoring of progress towards the internationally agreed development goals.

Expected accomplishment:

(a)     Improved organization of statistical systems and user-producer relationships, resulting in quality, timely and relevant data on the Millennium Development Goals

(b) Adoption of international statistical methods and standards for knowledge management in relation to the Millennium Development Goals and internationally agreed development goals

Implementation status:

The first meeting of the Project’s Steering Committee gathered national chief statisticians and representatives of international agencies and organizations.  It provided a forum for an unprecedented effort for cooperation among development partners and national statistical systems where information was shared about ongoing and planned statistical development activities linked to the objectives of the Project and cooperation commitments were made.  Among the activities discussed and offers for collaboration were: Joint-funding of some study tours, workshops and technical cooperation with the World Bank and IMF; Support for a few pilot countries in the adoption of SDMX by the DEVInfo Group and assistance in the development of SADCInfo; Development of a module on Tourism Statistics by the World Tourism Organization; Joint-funding of Population Censuses activities by the African Development Bank; Assistance related to the African Statistics Day Celebrations by UNECA; Strengthening of vital statistics in Namibia by UNSD in collaboration with the Health Metrics Network; Joint cooperation at different levels and advocacy activities, according to required expertise, by PARIS21; Technical assistance on the production of labour statistics by ILO; and Technical assistance in capacity building for vulnerability monitoring by the United Nations Regional Development Team for Southern Africa Human-development -Information Management System - SAHIMS.  The first workshop planned was implemented in December 2006 in collaboration with the SADC Secretariat and the Economic Commission for Africa, and co-funded by the African Development Bank. The Workshop on Statistical Organization and Management was held in Luanda, Angola, 2-6 December 2006. Participants were able to receive information and share experience on Statistical Legislation and Positioning of National Statistical Offices (NSO) in Government, Leadership, Strategic Planning, Strategy-based Human Resources Management, Resources and Funding, and IT. Besides training chief and deputy chief statisticians from SADC, the training helped strengthen intra-regional relations with the participation of a NSO from the ECOWAS region. In addition, the event provided a forum for the adoption of the Luanda Declaration for statistics

For details and full declaration please go to the project website at:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/unsd_workshops/steering_committee.htm