Bank conducts statistical capacity building for African countries

The African Information Highway, a first of its kind data hub developed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to revolutionize data management and dissemination in Africa, will be spotlighted at the 61th World Statistics Congress.

The Congress, taking place in Marrakech, Morocco, from 16-21 July 2017, will bring together more than 2,500 statisticians and members of the global statistical community to present, discuss, promote and disseminate research and best practices in the field of statistics and their applications.

As one of the official sponsors of the Congress, the African Development Bank is funding the participation of 40 statisticians from its member countries. Several of the sponsored participants will make presentations on key issues, while others will serve as panelists or resource persons at the Congress.

The AfDB Team will also present topics in panel discussions, including the presentation on the African Information Highway (AIH), the role of SDMX in modernizing data reporting in Africa), the National strategy for the development of statistics, the International Comparison Program and a communication on Civil Registration and Labor statistics.

The Bank will present the Africa Information Highway (AIH) to participants through an exhibition booth at the Congress.

"At the exhibition booth, our team will present and explain all tools that the Bank provides to African countries under the program. We will also assist visitors to better understand the other tools we offer, and how they can be used to generate useful statistical data from African countries," said Lawson Emessan Lawson, Officer in Charge of the Statistical Capacity Building Division of the AfDB.

The AfDB launched the African Information Highway (AIH) in 2012. The Highway currently serves as a supporting mechanism for its ongoing statistical capacity building program being implemented in its regional member countries. As part of the AIH initiative, the Bank installed Open Data Platforms (ODP) in the 54 African countries and 16 regional/sub regional organizations to facilitate data collection, management, dissemination and sharing.

Live data links have been established between the AfDB and national statistical offices, central banks, and line ministries on the one hand, and development partners, international organizations and other users, including the general public and the private sector, on the other.

The ODP system incorporates a data submission tool that facilitates direct reporting and updating of country data to the AfDB's and any other interested partners in the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) format.

The Highway and its Open Data Platforms were recently voted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) as one of the most innovative data initiatives in the world for informing the post-2015 Data Revolution and SDGs agenda.

The Platform presents a unique opportunity for African countries to take the lead in implementation and promotion of international statistical standards across all countries in the region and in enhancing the quality of the data disseminated by African countries.