1. Use of Technological tools in the Dissemination of Census Data Central Statistics Organization Afghanistan United Nations Workshop for South Asian countries on Collection and Dissemination of Socio-economic Data from Population and Housing Censuses New Delhi, India 28 – 31 May 2012 SAYED ALI AQA HASHIMI

2. After almost three decades of war and conflict, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan together with its development partners is attempting to rebuild and rehabilitate the nation and its institutions As with most government agencies and institutions in Afghanistan, CSO has suffered destruction CSO has to rebuild itself in order to provide data to the government for its rebuilding efforts Introduction

3. There has been a complete loss of statistical data base, institutional memories, and documents at CSO and other key line ministries CSO is confronted with serious loss of human resources, material, and physical infrastructures including its Information Technology CSO lacks capacity to develop its IT. Technical assistance was received from some donors but transfer of technical-know- how was not enough for CSO to develop and improve its own IT Introduction

4. Upgrading of CSO Provincial Offices in terms of staff calibre and improvement of its office abilities and equipment to facilitate transfer of data and efficient communication Introduction of advanced electronic data transfer technologies to speed transfer of data, timely dissemination and publication of results. Standard setting of codes to facilitate data collection,processing,and storage of data Activities currently being undertaken by CSO to rebuild its IT

5. Current Data Dissemination Strategies of CSO Statistical year book Press Releases Press Conferences CD Afghan Info On a limited scale, thru the website (www.cso.gov.af)

6. CSO has improved an up-to-date, vibrant, responsive and effective website to disseminate statistics being collected and generated by CSO The website is also envisioned to host Afghan Info databases Data Dissemination improvement:

7. A New Interface for Dissemination of Information CSO received technical and financial support from UNICEF to customize Dev Info to Afghan Info to help the office to disseminate information through the web and CD-ROM Afghan Info

8. Defined as a desktop and web-enabled database system that provides a method to organize; store and display data and which can be used to produce tables, graphs and maps. Based on the Afghan Info platform, specific functionalities will be added to meet the Census dissemination requirements: enhanced performance, template reports for dissemination at any geographical level, and mapping facilities. CSO plans to customize Afghan Info to Census InfoInfo Afghan Info

9. Census Info is compatible with other statistical software packages such as CSPro A standard list of statistical indicators will be customized to suit our own national data needs The mapping capability of CensusInfo can show more than one topic; and has ability to link to overlay maps on Google Earth Collaboration is currently being made with UNFPA for the training on CensusInfo Census Info and CSPro

10. Lack of technical capacity in the processing and analysis of data. Afghan population in general has a very low literacy rate which limits dissemination thru print medium. A special strategy has to be implemented for policy makers and program managers on data appreciation so that they could utilize the data for the preparation of plan and policy formulation High rate of IT staff transferring to other offices offering high paying jobs Challenges

11. Equipment Procurement of computers, software, and other equipment was done However, the current equipment are not enough to support the needs of CSO especially in the data transfer to/from and communication with the field offices No internet connection in most provincial offices of CSO which limits data dissemination Challenges

12. Data Warehousing There is no system for data warehousing at CSO CSO IT staff needs to be trained on data warehousing It should be improved since CSO is the depository of statistical data and that these should be easily accessed by users. Challenges

13. Thank you