African Countries Called Upon to Improve Data Collection — Global Issues

by Ignatius Banda (bulawayo)Thursday, January 30, 2025Inter Press Service

The continent is house to a mixture of socio-economic challenges the place knowledge assortment continues to current an issue for authorities, however specialists warn that that is stalling Africa’s improvement agenda.

Nationwide budgets and experience have been discovered missing in making certain knowledge and statistics drive planning in direction of the advance of tens of millions of lives in a continent projected to achieve the one billion mark within the subsequent decade.

This emerged through the latest Discussion board on Statistical Growth in Africa (FASDev) the place specialists met in Addis Ababa below the theme: “Strengthening the Mobilization of Technical and Monetary Sources to Help Innovation in Statistical Growth in Africa.”

The discussion board was arrange in 2004 by the United Nations Financial Fee for Africa, the African Growth Financial institution, the World Financial institution and the Partnership in Statistics for Growth within the twenty first Century (PARIS21), whose temporary is to prioritise “deprived statistical programs in least developed, low-income, fragile, and small island creating states to ship high quality knowledge and statistics for sustainable improvement.”

The discussion board brings collectively representatives of nationwide statistical workplaces, statistical coaching centres, worldwide, regional and subregional establishments, bilateral companies and worldwide donors to deliberate on supporting statistical improvement in Africa.

Information assortment is seen as an important driver of sustainable improvement because it seeks to present a face to the continent’s challenges.

Consultants say whereas African governments have made strides in professionalising the gathering of knowledge and statistics, there may be nonetheless extra to be finished for the well timed and correct supply of outcomes collected from such analysis.

“There’s a must expedite the supply of sturdy knowledge and statistics to help governments in accelerating the achievement of the agenda for sustainable improvement and Agenda 2063 by way of their nationwide improvement plans,” mentioned Oliver Chinganya, Director of the Africa Centre for Statistics on the UN Financial Fee for Africa (ECA).

These feedback come at a time when many African governments are struggling to adequately fund their nationwide statistical company, leading to unreliable knowledge in areas that embody the general nation inhabitants in nationwide censuses.

“Africa ought to urgently spend money on sturdy knowledge and statistical programs to speed up sustainable improvement,” Chinganya mentioned.

Information science is being touted globally as integral to understanding challenges that vary from sectors corresponding to agriculture, well being, training and migration and can play a pivotal function within the 2005 Paris Declaration on Assist Effectiveness.

The declaration was adopted by the Accra Agenda for Motion in 2008, which units out to watch progress on support effectiveness whereby recipient international locations “have extra say over their improvement course of.”

Consultants say this will solely be attainable by way of the gathering of dependable knowledge and environment friendly statistical centres.

“The standing of knowledge assortment in Africa is vital for enhancing knowledge high quality and essential for decision-making and improvement. Actors should work exhausting to provide credible statistics,” mentioned Adoum Gagoloum, Chief Financial Statistics on the African Union Fee, who additionally serves as Performing Director of the African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC).

Gagoloum says there may be an pressing want for governments to pool extra sources in direction of organising departments that can be sure that sustainable sources are allotted based mostly on dependable knowledge.

That is as some international locations are but to completely go digital of their knowledge assortment strategies, additional compromising the allocation of vital improvement sources.

“We have to discover new financing partnerships and sources to prioritize statistical improvement tasks in Africa,” mentioned Babatunde Omotosho, Director of the Statistics Division on the African Growth Financial institution.

The UN Financial Fee for Africa, the African Union and the African Growth Financial institution have partnered to roll out the modernisation of the continent’s knowledge assortment and statistical fashions as a part of broader efforts in direction of realising targets set below Agenda 2063.

In line with the ECA, the Statistical Fee for Africa (STATCOM) is already collaborating with the Meals and Agriculture Organisation and regional companies to use large knowledge sources by way of coaching and capability constructing on agricultural statistics.

“Transformation is crucial to shut the info gaps and in reaching the Africa Agenda 2063 and SDGs,” Omotosho mentioned.

“Nevertheless, this imaginative and prescient requires expert personnel and sturdy infrastructure, and it’s right here the place stakeholders and donors could make an impression, not solely to provide sources however to develop technical experience,” he added.

The Discussion board on Statistical Growth in Africa, with collaboration from nationwide statistical centres, is banking on this new method to carry a greater understanding of the continent’s challenges at a time of competing improvement priorities.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Observe @IPSNewsUNBureauFollow IPS Information UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2025) — All Rights ReservedOriginal supply: Inter Press Service

The place subsequent?

Hyperlink to this web page out of your website/weblog

Add the next HTML code to your web page:

<p><a href=”https://www.globalissues.org/information/2025/01/30/38949″>African Nations Known as Upon to Enhance Information Assortment</a>, <cite>Inter Press Service</cite>, Thursday, January 30, 2025 (posted by World Points)</p>

… to provide this:

African Nations Known as Upon to Enhance Information Assortment, Inter Press Service, Thursday, January 30, 2025 (posted by World Points)