Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West and Central Africa - Series of Projects Two (HISWACA - SOP 2)

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The key aspects of the PDO are the improvements of (a) the statistical performance of the National Statistical Systems (NSS) (b) data access and use (c) harmonization of statistics and (d) the modernization process of the NSSs and regional statistical systems. The focus area of the statistical performance component of the NSSs relates to their ability to generate data based on international standards, on time, and their wide availability and use.The harmonization component of the PDO involves the harmonization of statistical methodologies, key data collection instruments, and tools in line with international standards and Western and Central Africa (AFW) realities, to produce comparable, accurate, and up-to-date statistics to inform both national development and regional integration agendas. This will enhance statistical cooperation in the region to produce comparable and quality statistics, meaning National Statistical Offices (NSOs) (a) are provided with common regional guidelines and tools and (b) have trained staff with adequate skills to implement them. Another requirement to produce these harmonized statistics is the availability of financial resources at country levels to undertake statistical activities needed to implement the regional guidelines provided. The data access and use components focus on making statistical products and reports widely available, and tailored to users’ needs. The modernization component aims at building a stable and sustainable statistical system with adequate institutions and using innovative solutions and alternative data sources required for the production of quality statistics, along with modern equipment and buildings. One of the challenges is to ensure the representation of all groups, particularly forest people and pastoralists. The activities for this project are grouped into four components:Component 1: Harmonization and Production of Core Statistics using International Data Quality Standards: This component will support both the statistical harmonization process and the production of quality core statistics. First, it aims to support the statistical harmonization process at the continental and regional levels. The statistics harmonization encompasses procedures used predominantly in official statistics that aim at achieving, or at least improving, the comparability of different data produced. It principally aims to achieve standardized measurement processes and methods used to compile the statistics, especially through standardization of definitions, classifications, tools, and technical requirements. In this regard, this component will support statistical coordination between NSSs, ex-post harmonization, and the production of harmonized tools (definitions, classifications, methodologies, etc.) at the continental and sub-regional levels. Second, this component will support the production of quality core statistics based on population census and an integrated household surveys program using the previously harmonized tools, to meet the increasing demand for social, demographic, and economic data needed for the design and implementation of policies at national, regional, and continental levels. Activities under this component will improve Pillars 4 (data sources) and 5 (data infrastructure) of the Statistical Performance Index (SPI) where participating countries in the region are doing poorly in terms of statistical performance. Harmonization will help in the adoption of international standards and the production of a core set of economic, social, and demographic statistics will make data available to meet users’ demand for statistics. Activities implemented through this component will also be instrumental in ensuring the performance of the NSSs regarding the availability of indicators needed to monitor most of the SDGs (Pillar 3 of the SPI).Component 2: Statistical Modernization, Institutional Reform, Human Capital, Data Accessibility and Use: The second component aims to support statistical modernization; institutional reforms; improvement to data access, dissemination, and use; and human resources development. In today's fast-changing world, NSOs need to transform and modernize to respond better to emerging and increasing demand for timely and accurate data, to meet the 21st-century development data requirements and challenges. NSOs must consider how to move to the next stages in the data revolution, including becoming more resilient, user-centric, and providing data in new ways, and using new methods to complement traditional statistics. Big Data has shown the potential to be used to complement official statistics in many areas to enable NSOs to be more resilient in executing their mandate of providing users with the necessary information. To harness this potential, NSOs must modernize their methods and their organization to keep pace with possibilities, especially in using advanced technologies and developing new, cost-effective methods to integrate data from a variety of sources. In this context, this component aims to support NSOs of participating countries to prepare themselves in moving toward what the 2021 World Development Report (WDR) called an Integrated National Data System. In addition, this component will support efforts to improve data access, dissemination, and use. Furthermore, it will invest in human capital, academic training in statistics, and on-the-job training of staff to help address the shortage of statisticians with expertise and skills in specialized areas faced by countries in both regions, such as in national accounts, agricultural statistics, household surveys, trade statistics, financial statistics, and price statistics. Finally, it supports one of the key principles of institutional reforms in the form of technical assistance (TA) to participating countries seeking to update their Statistics Act or regulations to include provisions for sustainable funding of statistical activities and to finance TA to improve data protection frameworks applicable to statistical activities in participating countries.Component 3: Construction, Upgrading, and Modernization of Physical Infrastructure: The NSOs in the participating countries are the leading official statistical agencies within the NSS in data production, which means that the government will play a critical role to enable value creation in the data produced. They are a key factor in the productivity of any NSS institution and its performance. For example, power shortages and low internet bandwidth can severely limit productivity. Similarly, data statistical software for analysis and/or data science—such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), Stata, and so on—which are basic data manipulation tools (the process of organizing information to make it readable and understandable) and allow data sharing and accessibility of statistical production. In many countries, these tools are not readily available, and some staff use their own private resources for official business. This component aims to strengthen the capacity of NSOs and statistical schools with the equipment and tools needed to adequately fulfill their mandates. Under this component, the project will support the construction of a new building or rehabilitation of physical and ICT infrastructure for NSOs and schools of statistics. The needs assessment will be conducted country-by-country with the NSO. In Cameroon (Yaounde), ISSEA will rehabilitate its existing buildings and will extend them to include a new IT lab and media center, the NSO will also conduct architectural studies for future regional statistics agencies in the country, and plans to renovate the existing Census Building (Bureau Central des Recensements et des Etudes de Population [BUCREP]) building; Central African Republic (Bangui) the NSO plans to construct a new building for its offices in its existing premises; in Chad (N’Djamena) the construction of a new building complex for the NSO headqua