Niamey, 28 September 2016 (ECA/SRO-WA) - The Economic Commission for Africa, through its Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, today took part in activities marking the 20th anniversary of the Economic and Statistical Observatory for Sub-Saharan Africa (AFRISTAT) in Niamey, Niger.
AFRISTATcovers 22 African States and seeks to contribute to the development of economic, social and environmental statistics in Member States, and to build their capacities in these areas.
An ECA representative spoke on the theme; "What Partnership for AFRISTAT, Today and Tomorrow, as per the New African and Global Statistical Board?"
The ECA presentation, given at a press coffee event,justified the relevance of the partnership through increasing and diversifying statistical information needs at multiple levels, thus putting additional pressure on the National Statistical System (NSS), which are already facing difficulties.
This concerns the multiplication of sectorial development plans and strategies at national level, the requirements, in terms of multilateral surveillance at the sub-regional level, the Agenda 2063 at the continental level and the Sustainable Development Goals’ Agenda 2030 at the international level.
This is why ECA is recommending that for AFRISTAT to be more operationally effectiveness in supporting Member States, it should build partnerships based on comparative advantages with other statistical structures such as the United Nations Statistics Division at the international level and ECA's African Centre for Statistics (ACS) at the continental level.
This press coffee was opened by Planning Minister Kane AïchatouBoulama of Niger, who’s also President of the Council of Ministers of AFRISTAT.
The meeting was attended by eminent statisticians such as Mr. LamineDiop and Mr. Jean-Louis Bodin, Managing Directors of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of Member States, the Executive Director of the Institute for Training and Demographic Research (IFORD) and several other international and/or sub-regional organizations such as UNDP, UNICEF, IMF, World Bank, WAEMU and CEMAC.
Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Chad, Togo.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org