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Mr. Pali Lehohla Chair of the ASSD 09 February 2009

Census-Taking in Africa in the 2010 round of Population and Housing Censuses : Reflections on the Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD). Mr. Pali Lehohla Chair of the ASSD 09 February 2009. Background. Africa Symposia on Statistical Development – Formed in 2006

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Mr. Pali Lehohla Chair of the ASSD 09 February 2009

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  1. Census-Taking in Africa in the 2010 round of Population and Housing Censuses : Reflections on the Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD) Mr. Pali Lehohla Chair of the ASSD 09 February 2009

  2. Background • Africa Symposia on Statistical Development – Formed in 2006 • Borne out of two disquieting observations March 2005 on the silence of Africa’s participation in the 2010 rphc and its contribution to the UN Principles & Recommendations on 2010 round August 2005 - The then UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan’s report to the General Assembly in September 2005 that showed the glaring data gaps in monitoring progress made in Africa on the Millennium Development Goals. • Meeting on Census Advocacy in Yaounde in November 2005: Mandate given to South Africa to assist the ECA to mobilize African countries towards active engagement in census-taking • 1st ASSD was held in Cape Town in February 2006.

  3. Background • 2nd ASSD was held in Rwanda in February 2007 • Theme: Towards a Complete Enumeration of the African Population in the 2010 round • 3rd ASSD was held in Ghana in December 2007 • Theme: Best Practice and Sharing of Experience for the 2010 round • 4th ASSD is being held in Angola in February 2009 • Theme:Data Processing of Census Data in the 2010 round • 5th ASSD will be held in Senegal in November 2009 • Theme: Analysis and Utilization of Census Data in the 2010 round

  4. Bedrock Resolutions of 1st ASSD The resolutions of the Founding Session of the ASSD still form the road map for statistical development • Resolution 1. African statistical community to meet annually to deal with statistical, socio-economic and political issues in the context of NEPAD • Resolution 2. All African States should conduct a census in the 2010 round

  5. Bedrock Resolutions of 1st ASSD • Resolution 3. A comprehensive capacity building programme should be initiated focusing on: (a) the capacity of national statistical agencies based on a detailed needs analysis of each agency, (b) developing under-graduate and post-graduate programmes in collaboration with universities, (c) broadening public awareness of the role of national statistical agencies while cultivating a culture of learning in mathematics and statistics

  6. Cape Town’s 7 Bedrock Resolutions of ASSD (Cont.) • Resolution 4. Ensuring statistical systems sustainability by • (a) reversing the decline of African statistical systems partly through census taking, • (b) improving data coverage and quality for MDG’s, • (c) Aligning NSS’s with the African Union and NEPAD programmes, • (d) Deliberately including gender in national statistical systems, • (e) Lobbying governments to invest in reforming their NSS’s, • (f) developing National Statistical Development Plans • Resolution 5. The ff roles for the ff organisations were identified : • ECA: Provide leadership in implementation of 2010 round, Convene symposia to monitor progress of 2010 round, • UNFPA: Provide technical and financial support in 2010 round , • UNSD : Establish an International Statistics Development Centre to extend technical support to Africa, • AU: Include statistics as one of its programme areas, Peer Review Mechanisms to cover statistical development

  7. Cape Town’s 7 Bedrock Resolutions of ASSD (Cont.) • Resolution 6. Encourage institutional reform in Africa • Resolution 7. Strengthen the coordination role of the UNECA through the establishment of a bureau of statistics or Friends of the ECA

  8. Resolutions on which progress can be reported with ease at this stage • Resolution 1: Annual meetings • The ASSD machinery is well oiled and in motion. • Ghana marked the 3rd Symposium; Angola is the 4th ASSD • Resolution 2: Inclusive 2010 RHPC • Most African states committed to undertaking a census in the 2010 round. • All Census 2005/6/7/8 have been undertaken • Resolution 3: Capacity Building • A lot still needs to be done to develop statistical capacity in Africa. • ISIbalo Capacity Building Programme has been developed as a a brainchild to met the demands highlighted in ASSD resolutions especially with African young statisticians programme

  9. Resolutions on which progress can be reported with ease at this stage • Resolution 5: Roles of organisations • ECA has asserted its leadership role in the 2010 round by taking an active partnership role in the convening of the symposia • UNFPA is providing technical and financial support in 2010 round UNSD has played important part in technical assistance • The African Union has become a player – African Staitstics Charter approved • Resolution 7: Strengthening the coordination role of the UNECA • Friends of UNECA in place • African Centre for Statistics established and Prof Kiregyera appointed Director in July 2007

  10. Resolutions on which it might be difficult to report progress at this stage • Resolution 4: statistical systems sustainability • What have we done to or how do we measure progress in the five areas identified by the resolution? • Resolution 6: Encouraging institutional reform in Africa • Institutional reform is part of the ECA work programme • Needs to be strengthened at country level if census-taking must succeed for its intended objective

  11. The Significance of the ASSD • The ASSD has a two-pronged vision: • All African States must undertake a census in the 2010 round, • A complete count must be attained by each country • It challenges Africa to ‘leave no stone unturned’ in her 2010 census efforts • It advocates an integrated and holistic approach to census undertaking • It ensures an optimistic take-off to the 2010 RPHC

  12. Where does the success of ASSD Lie? • For Africa to attain a complete count of its population FIVE strategic focus areas must be addressed: • Need for political leadership • Need for sufficient capacity • Need to mobilize resources • Need for broad-based ownership of censuses • Ability to implement resolutions

  13. Reality Check: How far are we from achieving the ideals of the ASSD? • 2005/6 Cadre:Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt and Lesotho • 2007/8 Cadre: Swaziland, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sudan and Malawi • Post Conflict Cadre (2005-8): Angola, DRC, Eritrea, Somalia and Liberia • Planning is underway: What is the probability that the plans will yield complete counts? • There are challenges such as insufficient capacity, lack of resources, poor quality enumerators, lack of funds, absence of or inadequate legal frameworks, etc.

  14. Critical Success Factors identified for the ASSD • Accurate statistics (census data) are mandatory for informed policy/ decision making • Africa must articulate a common position to enhance the continent’s prospects of success in the 2010 RPHC • The challenges are not impossible to overcome • Buy-in is needed from all stakeholders including the ordinary person in the street • Africa needs to break the “post-colonial stress” syndrome and assert her self-esteem • Africa needs to invest in censuses. Censuses are way cheaper than ignorance • ECA, UNSD and AfDB must jointly lead the development of statistical capacity in Africa.

  15. After Accra: Where to Next? • 3rd ASSD marked a watershed for change from rhetoric to implementation • Theme for 3rd ASSD in Accra was: “Best Practices and Exchanging Experience: the Africa 2010 Round of Population & Housing Censuses.” • Africa Addendum to P&R was tabled – reflects an African contextual dimension to census-taking that will assist African countries to better track and monitor MDGs and other development agendas

  16. After Accra: Priorities Going Forward • Friends of the ECA to devise strategy for sustainable resource mobilization of ASSD even at the highest political level with emphasis on national country level resource mobilization; • Mobilizing Technical and financial support to six priority countries emerging from conflict; • Focus on key variables for GENDER and census-taking in Africa as standing agenda of the ASSD and promote the establishment of a gender desk in NSO’s in Africa; • Focus on the CLIMATE CHANGE Debate and the role of statistical measurement

  17. After Accra: Priorities Going Forward • Review Capacity –building strategy for planning and management of censuses for 2008/09/10/11 cadre of countries; • Support dissemination strategies of Census 2005/6/7 cadre of countries • Funding for ASSD

  18. Conclusion • It is not clear if all African countries will be able to conduct a census • Reporting continues to be haphazard in the absence of a comprehensive reporting system – ASSD Secretariat and ACS to jointly streamline this in 2009 • The SADC Census Project team working on an African Census Management Excellence Model, a critical component of the African Statistics Excellence Model- to be adopted for ASSD • A proposal for an African Census Peer Support Mechanism has been developed and was presented in Accra. ASSD Secretariat to table a proposal at the 4th ASSD in Angola

  19. Obrigado

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