United Nations Economic Commission for Africa - African Centre for Statistics

Data, platforms and analytics helping Africa combat COVID-19, says ECA’s Chinganya

Minilik.Demissie — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:50:33 +0000

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Data, platforms and analytics helping Africa combat COVID-19, says ECA’s Chinganya

Minilik.Demissie — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:35:10 +0000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, December 9, 2020 (ECA) – The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) on Wednesday hosted a virtual webinar showcasing the power of data partnerships in combating the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic in Africa.

The webinar brought together UN Resident Coordinators and their teams, Heads of National Statistical Offices and COVID-19 surveillance teams in Africa, and providers of data, interactive data, platforms, analytics and tested solutions to share their experiences, showcase results from their work and share learning from their collaborative efforts.

In his remarks, ECA’s African Centre for Statistics Director, Oliver Chinganya, said since the inception of the ECA-GPSDD partnership to support countries to better respond to COVID-19; Building Africa’s Resilience to the pandemic; “We have worked with a consortium of partners who have supported the continental and national statistical systems to adapt to the ongoing challenges and revamp statistical production, dissemination and use”.

“The idea was to bring the best data, platforms and analytics to combat COVID-19 across Africa,” he said.

That meant working with governments to understand priority data needs; bringing providers of data, platforms and analytics together in partnership with government to offer solutions; putting tested solutions to work, strengthen systems by ensuring new solutions are sustainable and can be maintained for the long-term; increasing the effective use of partner resources by targeting the most acute data gaps and minimizing duplication; and develop skills and capacity to strengthen systems in the long term.

Lessons and information were also shared among partners and countries for quick adoption and replication of effective solutions.

“We set our ambition and target very high by aiming to support more than at least a two-thirds of countries working with UN Resident Coordinators, government agencies and other partners,” said Mr. Chinganya.

For her part, Claire Melamed, GPSDD CEO, applauded the ambition and dynamism around the work of the partners in making sure data informed Africa’s response to the deadly pandemic and charting a path out of the crisis to efforts to build forward better.

She said the partners worked hard to ensure there was timely and accurate data that was well understood by the citizenry and policymakers for informed decisions.

“We must celebrate each other, our achievement and the huge progress that we have made in data. We also have to celebrate and recognize the very had working public servants across the continent who have been responsible for using this data and for turning it into the impact that we have seen and are all proud to having helped to create,” said Ms. Melamed.

The consortium of partners includes GRID3, ESRI, Flowminder, FRAYM, Dalberg, Global Voice Group, Surgo Foundation, Space 4 Climate and Facebook, among others.

Through this partnership, the consortium engaged with all 55 African countries and is currently actively engaged in 35 nations; held discussions with UN Resident Coordinators in 18 countries and with NSOs in 22 countries; and had multiple discussions and engagements with over 35 supply-side partners.

During the webinar, partners showcased the results of various data partnerships and emerging data stories at the national level in combating COVID-19; celebrated their achievements and shared experiences and challenges through peer-peer learning from ongoing partnerships and initiatives to inspire replication.

UN Resident Coordinators, NSOs and surveillance teams were introduced to providers of data, interactive data platforms, analytics and tested solutions in the priority areas with the partners also explaining the process of how participants would gain access to the range of resources and other capacity support made available by the supply side providers.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

Guidelines for Developing an Integrated User Engagement Strategy for National Statistical Systems

Minilik.Demissie — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 13:27:27 +0000

As an important public good in democratic societies, official statistics have to meet the needs of users. To meet the test of practical utility, statistics must be relevant, of suitable quality and in a form that facilitates easy and correct use. The key to achieving this is maintaining an understanding of user needs. Producers of official statistics must regularly consult users using appropriate channels and means of communication because needs change and different users respond to different engagement methods.

These guidelines offer a practical mix of good and common practices, instructions, tips and background needed to conduct a dialogue with users and identify what they need and when and through what medium they need it. They provide guidance for developing robust and strategic user engagement programmes and propose sample tactics and activities for a well thought-out user engagement workplan based on the needs of typical key user groups.

It is hoped that this publication will prove a valuable resource for national statistical systems and the organizations within them, including national statistics offices, that wish to develop and strengthen their engagement with users of official statistics.

guidelines_for_developing_an_integrated_user_engagement_strategy.pdf

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Geospatial information critical for Africa’s sustainable development

eskinder.tsegaye — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 00:00:16 +0000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, December 1, 2020 (ECA) - The Sixth Meeting of the Regional Committee

of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management in Africa (UN-GGIM: Africa) opened Tuesday with the Director of the African Centre for Statistics at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Oliver Chinganya, emphasizing the importance of solid, reliable and accurate ‘place-based’ information for informed decisions needed to tackle Africa’s greatest challenges.

In official opening remarks to the virtual meeting, Mr. Chinganya said in the last couple of decades, UN-GGIM: Africa had set realistic approaches to ensure that systematic and comprehensive frameworks were put in place with related policies, resources and structures that make geospatial information technologies easily accessible to decision makers and the community in a coordinated way.

“We all know that to tackle some of the greatest challenges we face as a society today, due consideration should be placed on understanding more about our planet and its socio-economic patterns. Fundamental to this is increasing our understanding of ‘place’. To do this and for those who are making important decisions on how to address these issues - solid, reliable and accurate ‘place-based’ information is needed,” he said.

“I believe we have laid strong foundations in the past years. The foundations will help UN-GGIM: Africa to grow as a recognized thought leader on matters related to geospatial information. They will also help UN-GGIM: Africa to realize its vision.”

Mr. Chinganya said the real challenge was to build on these foundations.

“To ensure that we continue to make progress, take concrete actions and deliver things that will make a real difference, we need to ensure that decisions are made based on a sound evidence base that is underpinned by accurate, reliable and maintained geospatial information,” the ECA Director said.

He said the ECA as the Secretariat of UN-GGIM: Africa, in collaboration with the Executive Bureau, had organized this sixth meeting of UN-GGIM Africa to continue to build consensus as part of coordinating Africa’s contribution to the global UN-GGIM.

“At the end of this meeting it is important for mechanisms to be put into place that ensure an effective engagement of member States to attain the goals and objectives of UN-GGIM: Africa,” said Mr. Chinganya, adding of particular note was the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Geospatial information has proven to be very useful in allowing the public to get quick and easy access to information about how a dangerous disease is spatially close to them and learn about how it is affecting other parts of the world.”

For his part, Oumar Ka, Chair of the UN-GGIM: Africa Executive Board, said amid the uncharted waters of the novel coronavirus crisis, there would be great challenges for the continent and the world at large to overcome.

“But through science and technology and reliable geospatial information for sustainable development policymaking we can emerge stronger,” he said, adding creativity and innovation were critical going forward.

Representing the UN-GGIM Secretariat, Greg Scott said COVID-19 had changed the world as we know it and “we need to readjust and recalibrate using new technologies and capabilities. We need to look at the crisis as an opportunity for the geospatial community”.

For his part, the African Union Commission’s representative to the meeting, Meshack Kinyau, said geospatial information and technology will play an important role in how Africa recovers and builds back and forward better in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said there was great potential for Africa’s mapping agencies to showcase their capabilities; create dashboards and apps for information and insights crucial for important decision making as the continent forges ahead.

UN-GGIM: Africa was established to coordinate African geospatial development and contribute to the wider global initiative. UN-GGIM: Africa supports ECA Member States to advance holistic visions that foster the effective use of geospatial products and resources in support of solving emerging global challenges and Africa’s socio-economic sectors.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

ECA to host virtual Sixth UN Global Geospatial Information Management for Africa meeting

Minilik.Demissie — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 18:57:35 +0000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 30, 2020 (ECA) – The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is ready to host the sixth United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Africa (UN-GGIM: Africa) Committee meeting which will be held virtually from 1-4 December 2020.

UN-GGIM: Africa was established to coordinate African geospatial development and contribute to the wider global initiative. UN-GGIM: Africa supports ECA Member States to advance holistic visions that foster the effective use of geospatial products and resources in support of emerging global challenges and various socio-economic sectors in Africa.

This time around, the Sixth UN-GGIM: Africa meeting will be organised within the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the unprecedented global health crisis of the novel coronavirus since the beginning of this year, the National Mapping Agencies (NMAs) have faced several challenges, therefore supporting the national mapping system is needed more than ever.

The various strategies adopted by member States to contain the pandemic have helped to mitigate damages created by the health crisis in all socio-economic and environmental sectors with mapping not excluded. These measures have adversely affected the implementation of mapping plans, and the NMA's ability to respond to data needs and mapping services in a timely manner. Resilience strategies have been adopted by NMAs to ensure the production of fundamental and thematic geospatial datasets, this has been made possible by the introduction of business continuity measures during COVID-19. These measures have greatly facilitated the gradual recovery observed at the NMAs.

The main aim of the sixth meeting is to review progress achieved on the recommendations and actions of UN-GGIM: Africa previous meetings. The meeting will act as a platform for reviewing and sharing knowledge and best practices on the development of geospatial information in the continent; raising awareness on the benefits to be derived through the utilization of geospatial information for sustainable development; looking at policies, measures and steps that African countries could take to ensure the successful implementation of the UN-GGIM initiative in the region; promoting networking among institutions and practitioners in geoinformation and generate synergy at national level to facilitate its management as well as ensuring linkages with partners and other regional subcommittees within the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

The outcome of the sixth UN-GGIM: Africa is expected to contribute to the achievement the UN-GGIM vision globally, encourage that more substantive progress is made for the Africa region, and leverage the enabling capabilities of geospatial information technology to meet the African development agenda and in support of the emerging global challenges.

It will also help countries to become aware of opportunities and facilities offered by Pan-African institutions and partners that are critical for supporting geospatial activities in response to the ongoing COVID-19 impacts.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

Regional Workshop on Developing Statistical Capacity in Africa for Integration into Trade in Value Added (TiVA) Databases

eskinder.tsegaye — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 15:41:08 +0000

30 November 2020 to 9 December 2020

Online

The WTO, OECD and UNECA are organizing a joint online regional workshop from 30^th November to 9^th December 2020, aimed at developing the Statistical Capacity of Africa countries on Trade in Value Added (TiVA) and for integration of more African countries TiVA databases. The workshop is being organized within the joint collaborative framework of the three organization.

The Workshop will gather statisticians and trade policymakers from pilot countries engaged in the joint project (Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal) to initiate contacts with the project's experts and start discussions on statistical matters to be addressed during the project as well as directions for future technical assistance.

The workshop will consist of a mix of plenary session and bilateral sessions with pilot country teams, to foster open discussions, notably on preliminary national data evaluation reports prepared by the OECD.

Registrations for the workshop are done via the form behind the link below, no later than 26th November.

https://events.uneca.org/registration/register?eventId=581574e9-d428-eb11-80e5-0050569360fe.

African Statistics Day marked across continent

Minilik.Demissie — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 04:47:22 +0000

Language English

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African Statistics Day marked across continent

eskinder.tsegaye — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 02:17:18 +0000

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 18, 2020 (ECA) - Countries have embarked on national activities in celebration of the African Statistics Day on the theme “Modernizing national statistical systems to provide data and statistics to support sustainable peace and development in Africa”.

This year’s theme is in tandem with the theme of the African Union for the year 2020, “Silencing the guns: Creating conducive conditions for Africa’s development”.

Director of the Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) African Statistics Centre, Oliver Chinganya, explains that the 2020 theme for the African Statistics Day was chosen to raise awareness among decision-makers, technical and financial partners, data producers, researchers and the general public about the critical importance of governance and socioeconomic statistics in achieving the goal of a conflict-free Africa.

Peace, security and socioeconomic development must be pursued simultaneously to make “silencing the guns” a reality across the continent.

“Digitization of statistical systems and processes, will be key in modernizing national statistical systems to provide data and statistics for decision making timely. The effect of COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that there is need to not just strengthen but re-engineer statistical systems and this has to be done now, and the African Statistics Day is the dawn to this change,” the ACS Director said.

He said as the continent continues to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic, the ECA will also continue to provide support to the development of COVID-19 national and continental dashboards to provide a geospatial response to the pandemic.

Building a peaceful Africa requires statistics and data.

The contribution of statistics to peace goes beyond counting the sorrows caused by conflict. Statistics can be used to create the conditions that are conductive to Africa’s development.

Governance statistics are fundamental to ensuring that the relationship between the State and its people is inclusive, transparent and accountable. They assist in monitoring the performance of government, in better understanding the contribution of governance in its various dimensions to development, and in ensuring that policy-making is evidence-based.

Governance statistics contribute to the measurement and realization of human rights. They can help to identify groups or subgroups in the population that are most affected by dysfunction in governance systems, with a view to putting in place appropriately targeted policies so as to leave no one behind.

Governance, peace and security statistics can also contribute to the prevention and management of conflict and violence. When used as early-warning systems, they can help to foster peace by regularly providing information on the status of State-society relations, which lie at the centre of sustainable peace.

Available data indicate that Africa is performing poorly across a range of governance, peace and security indicators, as compared to other regions of the world. By educating citizens in the use of data and statistics to inform the choices that they make, national statistical systems can enhance democratic debate in the country.

Statistical literacy is therefore key to promoting good governance and to understanding what can be done to end war, civil conflict and gender-based violence.

Socioeconomic statistics are essential to understanding and using economic information for planning and policy design.

Macroeconomic decision-making that is grounded in data and statistics offers the best path to ensuring strong economic growth and job creation, which will in turn lift more people out of poverty and increase their production.

African Statistics Day is an annual event celebrated on 18 November to raise public awareness of the importance of statistics in all aspects of social and economic life.

Issued by:

Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org

Ninth meeting of the Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDev IX)

Minilik.Demissie — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 07:52:00 +0000

14 December 2020

Virtual

The Forum of Statistical Development in Africa is a biannual event jointly organized by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century since 2004. The Forum was established with the following main functions:

to have an overview of statistical activities, including assistance and training in Africa;
to set up a permanent system for monitoring statistical development in Africa; and
to strengthen modalities for cooperation, with a view to leveraging each partner’s comparative advantage.

The Forum will be held this year VIRTUALLY on 14 December 2020 under the theme “Harnessing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis to accelerate the transformation and modernization of national statistical systems in Africa”.

Documents

Webinar on Food Prices Trends and Analysis in Africa

eskinder.tsegaye — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 12:39:47 +0000

4 November 2020

Online - 1:00pm to 2:30pm (Addis Ababa time, GMT+3)

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will be organizing a Webinar for Ministers of Finance of African Member States on Wednesday 4 November 2020 from 1:00pm to 2:30pm (Addis Ababa time, GMT+3) to present and discuss recent developments on consumer price indexes, with a particular focus on food items from the basket of consumers.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a basic yet essential economic indicator. It is relevant to every citizen and fundamental for policymaking on consumption, trade, inequality, interest rate, and foreign exchange rate. The overall CPI in a country is a combination of the price indices of different consumption functions which, at various degrees, contribute to the overall price levels. Food component of CPI is instrumental in keeping in check the basis of the objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 in eliminating hunger and combating poverty on the African continent.

CPI and inflation figures compiled and disseminated in a timely manner contribute greatly to appropriate policy interventions and actions.

Consequently, after the launch of the “ECA Price Watch Centre for Africa” ECA aims to present the latest extension and Africa-wide findings that are relevant to its leaders at country, regional and continental levels.