Mar 2, 2023 (Entebbe, Uganda): Heads of National Statistical Offices from the IGAD Member States convened in Entebbe, Uganda, for the Second Session of the IGAD Statistics Committee. The Deputy Executive Director of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Godfrey Nabongo opened the meeting. Others who made opening remarks include H.E. Lucy Daxbacher, the IGAD Head of Mission in Uganda, and Mr Awira Anthony, the Director of Planning, Coordination and Partnerships at the IGAD Secretariat. For the partners, Mr Infisi Joseph Iboudo – Chief, Statistical Development, Data Innovation and Outreach Section, Africa Centre for Statistics, made remarks on behalf of the Director of the Centre, Mr Oliver Chinganya. Ms Mary Wanyonyi, spoke on behalf of Ben Paul Mungereza, the Manager of Statistical Capacity Building at the African Development Bank.
The speakers acknowledged the importance of accurate, reliable and timely statistics for evidence-based policy-making and delivering the IGAD Regional Strategy. They commended the Secretariat and the Member States for the rapid progress in strengthening their statistics systems. They emphasized the need to take practical measures to support all Member States to move at the same pace through increased resourcing, learning and modelling from more advanced statistics organisations.
The IGAD Statistics Committee held its inaugural meeting on 4-5 April 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Composed of the Heads of the National Statistical Offices, the committee formulates policy and strategy. It provides professional guidance to develop programmes to implement the IGAD Strategy for the Development of Statistics (RSDS), which was developed in collaboration with the African Union Commission and validated by the Director Generals of the National Statistics Organizations of the IGAD Member States on 19 November 2020. The strategy guides the overall establishment of the IGAD regional statistical system.
During the meeting, the IGAD Statistics Committee will review the progress made by the IGAD Secretariat and Member States, with the support of various development partners, to implement the RSDS. They will identify the achievements, lessons and challenges and make recommendations to fast-track the implementation of the RSDS.
