StatCom7 ends with call on Africa to prioritize digitalizing continent’s statistical systems

By ECA

Date: October 2020

The Seventh Session of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom7) ended on 15 October 2020 with high-level participants emphasizing the importance of digitizing the continent’s statistical systems; use of big data; data and statistics coordination; and political will for effective statistics development in Africa.  The three-day meeting saw participants in the virtual meeting discuss ways to devise innovative statistical solutions to strengthen national statistical systems to keep decision-makers informed of economic, social and environmental developments in real time.

Oliver Chinganya, Director of the Africa Statistics Centre (ACS) at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said statistical coordination and partnership was crucial to ensure statistics are holistically produced by national systems in an efficient way in line with common and harmonized standards, norms and principles. With COVID-19 impact, building back better for resilient and agile national statistical systems requires to transform by digitalizing our statistical systems. There is an urgent need for a legal framework to build international trust. He encouraged coordination of donors at national level to avoid duplication, a waste of resources, incoherent approaches and poorly integrated programmes.

The Chair of the Bureau of StatCom Africa, Ms. Albina Chuwa, emphasized the need for political will, in particular she called on governments to provide enough budgetary support to NSOs to ensure they are modernized to meet the continent’s data needs for evidence-based decision-making. “We will not achieve the ideals of Agenda 2030 or Agenda 2063 if we lack political will,” she said, adding member States should always ensure Africa is represented at international fora where critical decisions that can impact the continent are taken.

The meeting was adjourned on a satisfactory note from all participants.