Strengthening Statistical Capacity in support of progress towards the internationally agreed development goals in the

SADC region: ECA’s Potential Contribution

First Steering Committee Meeting of the First Steering Committee Meeting of the SADC Development AccountSADC Development Account Project Project

14-16 July 2006, Durban, South Africa14-16 July 2006, Durban, South Africa

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

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OutlineOutline

ECA RepositioningElements of ProgrammePotential Areas of Contribution The Way Forward

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Background Background The project is aimed at strengthening

statistical capacity-building in support of the MDGs in the region of the SADC

Period: 4 years (2006-2009) Executing agency: UNSD/DESA Co-operating Agencies:

SADC Secretariat Division of Sustainable Development/DESA UNECA

This development account is timely in terms of the revamping of statistical activities at ECA

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ECA RepositioningECA RepositioningThe new Executive Secretary has

launched the process of repositioning ECA to better serve Africa

The proposed repositioned ECA structure: Recognizes the importance of statistics as a cross-cutting

issue Includes a new entity with financial and administrative

autonomy: STATISTICS AND STATISTICAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

The new entity will be provided with adequate financial and human resources staff

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Potential Areas of Potential Areas of ContributionContribution

In the framework of the SADC development account project, the ECA should undertake the following activities

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Elements of Programme of the Elements of Programme of the CSSCCSSC

Promotion, coordination of, and advocacy for statistical activities in Africa and monitoring progress of statistical capacity building

Building a data hub at ECA for the provision of development data on Africa

Implementing the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA)

Supporting statistical training programmes Establishing a regional programme for

population and housing censuses Providing technical assistance to African

countries

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Potential Areas of Potential Areas of Contribution (1)Contribution (1)

Promotion, coordination of, and advocacy for statistical activities in Africa and monitoring progress of statistical capacity building

Activities: To promote the RRSF among SADC countries To support countries in the design and

implementation of their NSDS (organization, legislative framework)

To prepare specific advocacy material for SADC countries for the celebration of the African Statistics Day

Potential partnership: PARIS21 on advocacy ADB

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Potential Areas of Potential Areas of Contribution (2)Contribution (2)

Building a data hub at ECA for the provision of development data on Africa

Activities: facilitate storage and dissemination of statistical

information Design and establish Websites for SADSC NSOs

that do not have one to facilitate dissemination of data and increase visibility

Establishing a SADC database on household surveys data to feed the ECA regional household surveys database

Potential partnership: AFRISTAT for the Websites (best practice) World Bank (Household Surveys database) ECE (macro time series database) IMF (GDDS, Metadata)

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Potential Areas of Potential Areas of Contribution (3)Contribution (3)

Implementing the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA)

Activities: To prepare a substantive assessment of the

implementation status of the 1993 SNA in SADC countries

To identify impeding factors To organise a workshop for experts to potentially

address impeding factors To produce a manual on best practices in this region

based on experts’ workshop

Potential partnership: ADB (ICP project) IMF-EAST AFRITAC (Manuel SNA for SADC

countries) Afristat

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Potential Areas of Potential Areas of Contribution (4)Contribution (4)

Establishing a regional programme for population and housing censuses

Activities: During the Census workshop, to organize

workgroups on: Effective use of IT and GIS for census operations Using the census for measuring new and emerging priority issues Planning and financing the next censuses Analysis, dissemination and utilization of census data

Identify resources and expertise to be shared, e.g. IT expertise, exchange of professionals, training materials

Potential partnership: UNFPA, UNFPA-CST ICP, US Bureau of Census

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Potential Areas of Potential Areas of Contribution (5)Contribution (5)

Providing technical assistance to African countries

Activities: Advisory services in the field of collection and

dissemination of statistics and databases Advisory services in organization and management

of NSOS (ECA has a regional adviser in the area) Advisory services in household surveys

Potential partnership: ECA should also contribute in terms of

substance and organizational matters in other workshops and activities under this project

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Other initiativesOther initiativesDevelopment Account on Gender

disaggregated data

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Thank Thank you!you!