1. African Centre for Statistics United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Data compilation and management proposal for Africa Statistical Commission for Africa Session IV 22 nd January 2012 Cape Town, South Africa

2. African Centre for Statistics Contents Existing data collection mechanisms Data needs Coordination/Data flow Increase use of technology Metadata Recommendations from EGM of Abidjan

3. African Centre for Statistics Existing data collection mechanisms Common questionnaire –Excel based questionnaire –Focal points in NSOs Data collection missions –Gaps in data presented in yearbooks –Done in ad-hoc basis –Resource intensive Country websites Informal Networks

4. African Centre for Statistics Existing data collection mechanisms (contd…) Country websites – Available 24/7 –47 NSOs have presence on the web (88%) –34 NSOs have some form of data on the web (62%) –Often PDF – difficult to extract –Lacks metadata –Lack of standard formats –Not regularly updated/Not timely

5. African Centre for Statistics Data needs Economic Trade Social Statistics Poverty Finance and Monetary Infrastructure MDGs …..

6. African Centre for Statistics Coordination and data flow Without collaboration and co-ordination, countries would be continually burdened by similar data requests and the indicators African Statistical Coordination Committee (ASCC) The joint African Statistical Yearbook A joint Statistical Database –AfricaInfo

7. African Centre for Statistics Member State Member States Member State REC SRO Regional Databases Statistical Domains Regional Organizations International Organizations Sub-Regional Organizations United Nations Coordination and data flow

8. African Centre for Statistics Increase use of technology Explore automatic ways of data exchange Development of electronic databases at NSOs, RECs and sub-regional organizations Increase use of the web for data dissemination and data exchange

9. African Centre for Statistics Metadata It is often forgotten As important as the data –assist to understand the concepts –assist in analysis, interpretation –assist search and navigation Difficult to use data without it Document and make available with associated data Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX)

10. African Centre for Statistics Abidjan meeting Discusses various issues in data collection and management Attended by AUC, AfDB, UNECA, UNECA- SROs, RECs, EUROSTAT and selected NSOs The meeting is requested endorse the following recommendations from the EGM:

11. African Centre for Statistics Recommendations ECA, AfDB, AUC, RECs, IGOs and other regional organizations should: –Strive to use official country data for their data needs –Identify their statistical needs in order to harmonize at sub-regional and regional level with respect to SHaSA implementation –Establish a sharing mechanism of data and metadata compiled from countries among themselves to reduce response burden of repetitive request of similar data from countries –Establish legal instruments with NSOs for data collection and data dissemination mechanism (e.g. MOU) –Identify roles of each sub-regional and regional institution in data compilation based on their respective comparative advantages and how the data flow will be to each other –Develop guidelines and methodological documents for data compilation and good practices

12. African Centre for Statistics Recommendations Organize sub-regional workshops for capacity building for data compilation and validation Provide technical support on the use of ICT tools for data compilation and sharing at countries and sub-regional levels Establish databases to manage data compiled from various sources in order to enable respective offices to easily share and disseminate data to stakeholders Explore automatic data exchange mechanism in general and the use of SDMX in particular for data and metadata exchange Promote the use of knowledge networks Strengthen statistical function at sub-regional offices

13. African Centre for Statistics Recommendations NSOs should: –Increase awareness campaign on the importance and the role of statistics in socioeconomic development –Establish electronic databases and websites to enable to disseminate their data holdings to external users –Institutionalize data provision to RECs, sub-regional and regional institutions to ensure sustainability of data provision to partners –Strengthen data collection and dissemination function, and maintain metadata with the data to allow for harmonization, interpretation and further analysis –Increase and adapt their publications to cover international needs on statistical data –Provide information on their data release calendar (e.g. publications, database updates, etc.)

14. African Centre for Statistics Thank you