Namibia - Statistical Capacity Building (SCB II) in Regional Member Countries for Mdg Monitoring & Results Measurement

The proposed operation is the second phase of the Statistical Capacity Building Program (Scb-II) in Namibia. Its design is founded on the Reference Regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Development in Africa (RRSF). The program also benefitted from the experiences gained from the design and implementation of the SCB I program, also known as the International Comparison Program (ICP 2005) in which 48 countries on the continent of Africa, including Namibia, had participated. It has four components: i) Support to activities of (a) improving the system of national accounts, price statistics and other economic statistics through implementation of the International Comparison Program (ICP); and (b) design of the national statistical development strategy and training of NSS staff; ii) Improving social statistics, poverty monitoring and analysis; iii) Improving Statistics on priority focus areas: (a) Infrastructure Statistics; (b) Environment and Climate Change Statistics; (c) Agriculture Statistics; (iv) Data Development, Archiving and Dissemination. By strengthening statistical capacity in Namibia, the program would contribute to increasing the capacity of the NSS staff including data users, to produce sufficiently disaggregated and high quality data to undertake effective project/program design and preparation, feasibility and sector studies, and other country analytical work. This will include monitoring the progress towards achievement of MDGs (now SDGs) and poverty reduction. The results of the program would contribute a valuable input in enhancing the creation of new business opportunities in the public and the private sectors of Namibia. They would also enable the Bank to generate a strong pipeline of programs and projects for financing in the country.