The African Development Bank (AfDB) in close cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the Africa Union Commission (AUC), is organising a workshop on "Preparing metadata for MDGs indicators for statisticians from national statistical offices in the Bank's regional member countries.

The 27 July to 3 August workshop is holding in Lusaka, Zambia. Metadata is essential for interpreting development-related data and making meaningful comparisons over time and between countries.

In the same perspective and building on improving data quality experiences from other parts of the continent, the Bank has also teamed up with the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Central Statistical Office (CSO) of Zambia, in a workshop on Measuring GDP by Expenditure using the commodity flow approach.

It is being attended by compilers of National Accounts statistics from national statistical offices of member states of COMESA and SADC. Following the conclusion of the workshops, participants will be able to instigate and manage processes for estimating GDP by expenditure using the commodity flow approach and use the knowledge acquired to produce exhaustive GDP estimates.