Over the years, ECA carried out many activities to increase the capability of the NSOs for data collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and for the development of statistics. Recognition of the importance of statistics in development policy analysis and decision making, led to the training of statistical staff for NSOs which began as early as 1961. ECA supports the NSOs in all its member countries mainly through meetings, workshops, advisory services and exchange of published material, especially on international standards, concepts and definitions. In particular, during 1970-1993, it helped develop capacity in various statistical processes in African countries mainly through regional advisory services. In addition, the Commission supported the advancement in the use of geographic information to help member States improve their management of natural resources and the environment. As a result, African countries have increasingly adopted international concepts, standards and definitions that allow for the production of comparable statistics across the continent.
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Adoption and Implementation of the 1993 System of National Accounts
The System of National Accounts (SNA) is a coherent, consistent and integrated set of macroeconomic accounts, balance sheets, and tables based on a set of internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules. It is a comprehensive accounting framework within which economic data can be compiled and presented in a format that is designed for economic analysis, decision and policy making. The main outputs of the SNA include the GDP and its main aggregates. As part of the Commission’s efforts to enhance statistical capacity in Africa, it has continued to assist countries in the implementation of the 1993 SNA through the provision of advisory services, training workshops, development and/or dissemination of methodological guidelines, manuals and software and through ad-hoc research activities aimed at resolving practical and conceptual problems. In this context, the Commission closely cooperates with regional and subregional organizations and economic groupings that have launched specific projects or activities in this area.
Population and Housing Censuses
Population and Housing Censuses (PHC) are the primary sources of information about the number and characteristics of a given population. Actual counting of
all the people in a country is very important as results of the PHC are used in many cases for equity and fairness among national citizens and as a benchmark or a sampling frame for other surveys. The importance of PHC data for effective socio-economic planning and governance as well as for monitoring development policies and programmes in Africa cannot be underestimated. Hence, censuses are considered the most fundamental sources of national statistics. Furthermore, since some African countries lack the resources to conduct surveys on a regular basis, they often rely on censuses as their main sources of data for long periods of time.
Aware of the importance of PHC, ECA launched the African Census Programme (ACP) to assist African countries to participate in the 1970, 1980 and 1990 rounds of PHC in accordance with the principles and recommendations of the UN. The Technical Cooperation Office, Statistical Office of the United Nations Secretariat and the Population Division jointly implemented the programme with the ECA Statistics Division. A total of 21 African countries participated actively in the 1970 round, 47 in the 1980 round and 46 in the 1990 round.
ECA was successful in generating important population data and in building considerable capacity in various data production areas in the NSOs. Unfortunately, this programme ceased in the 1990s resulting in the decline in
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the participation of African countries in the 2000 round, in which only 34 countries took part.
In order to improve the participation of African countries in the current 2010 round (2005-2014), ECA, through its newly created ACS, is scaling up support to member States for censuses. In this regard, ECA initiated and is leading the organization of the Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD), an African countries-driven initiative that seeks to work through ECA, with
support from the “Friends of the ECA” (Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Rwanda and Tunisia), to help restore statistical development in Africa. A work programme has been developed, first offering critical political intervention and support, and then encouraging the holding of censuses in every African country for the purpose of enriching the information base for decision making.
In encouraging the participation of African countries in the 2010 Round of PHC, the ASSD aims to ensure that country-level monitoring becomes an indispensable element in assessing progress towards the MDGs. The ASSD also aims to assist in mobilizing resources to help African countries to meet the targets. As a result of the advocacy undertaken so far, 45 African countries have already committed themselves to undertaking a census during the 2010 round. Since the beginning of the round, some countries have already undertaken their censuses. These include: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, and the Sudan.
Household Surveys
Given the importance of Household Surveys in the provision of data for development planning, policy
Number of African Countries Participating in given PHC round
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
1950 (1945- 1954) 1960 (1955- 1964) 1970 (1965- 1974) 1980 (1975- 1984) 1990 (1985- 1994) 2000 (1995- 2004) 2010 (2005- 2014)
Rounds
Number
Figure 6.1: Number of African Countries Participating in given PHC round
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formulation and programme implementation, ECA launched the African Household Survey Capability Programme (AHSCP) in 1978. The program was designed to build the capacity of participating countries to enable them to continuously collect integrated and interdisciplinary data on a wide spectrum of subjects through a multipurpose integrated programme of household surveys. From 1981-1992, up to 24 African countries had implemented the programme. These surveys provide important data used for monitoring trends in MDG implementation. The success of the programme in Africa led to its extension to other regions and its establishment at the global level as the United Nations National Household Survey Capability Programme (NHSCP) with AHSCP as a regional component. The AHSCP ended in March 1993 when UNDP funding for the programme ceased. Nevertheless, ECA continues to support its member States in household surveys at a relatively lower scale.
The Statistical Training Programme for Africa (STPA)
The programme became operational towards the end of 1979 with funding from UNDP. The main objective of the programme was to make the region self-sufficient in statistical training. Sixteen statistical training institutions
in Africa participated in the programme. In addition, the former Munich Centre for Advanced Training in Applied Statistics for Developing Countries and the International Programs Centre (IPC) of the U.S Census Bureau were integrated into the programme as associate institutes that would offer advanced and specialized training. The programme played a big role in statistical training in Africa during the period 1978-1993, carrying out many activities, including training of trainers for which scholarships were made available, organizing meetings of heads of training institutions participating in the programme, developing standard training programmes for high- and middle-level statistical training, offering training support missions of short duration as well as advisory services. Following a temporary setback in the 1990s, a detailed programme is being prepared within the framework of the ASCC to revive the STPA. One of the important steps already undertaken in this regard is the support to Portuguese-speaking Countries (PALOP) to establish over the long term a regional statistical training school that would train statistician-engineers. ECA was tasked with helping to prepare a feasibility study and a needs assessment in PALOP NSOs in cooperation with ACBF.
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National Strategies for the Development of Statistics
The National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) are a new benchmark in statistical planning aimed at facilitating the development of statistics in a coordinated manner using modern management principles. In 2004, the Second Roundtable on Managing for Development Results held in Marrakech, Morocco, resulted in the Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS), to which African countries committed themselves. Managing for Development Results calls for focusing development policies and programmes on increasing performance and outputs, outcomes and impact, through the use of better statistics.
A key recommendation of the MAPS is that each developing country should design an NSDS by the end of 2006. This recommendation was re-emphasized in the RRSF. The assessment of countries with/without NSDS gives a gloomy picture for the region. By the December 2006 deadline set by the MAPS, only three countries had designed and adopted their NSDS; twenty-eight were designing theirs; seventeen had a statistical master plan and five had no plans at all. Accordingly, ECA and the ASCC have scaled up efforts in assisting countries to design and start implementing these overarching frameworks for statistical development.
The African Statistics Day
The African Statistics Day (ASD) is one of the most efficient tools for statistical advocacy in African countries.
November 18 was set aside by African Ministers for Planning and Development in 1990 to be celebrated each year as African Statistics Day in order to increase awareness about the role and importance of statistics to society. In the past, the ASD had not been well celebrated by member States. When the ACS was established, it scaled up support to countries and as a result, the ASD was highly celebrated by member States in 2006. The ASD is well set on the agenda of African countries and, in addition to the materials sent to them for the celebration, countries seize this opportunity to launch the results of major statistical operations with the cooperation of political leaders and other stakeholders.