April 8, 2022 (ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) conducted the first ever Session of the IGAD Statistics Committee from April 4 to 5, 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The two-day session brought together two representatives from each IGAD Member State. The group was composed of the Director Generals or Heads of the National Statistics Offices, and the Coordinators of the National Statistics Systems (i.e. the IGAD Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics (RSDS) Coordinators to be). Representatives from the African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC/AUC) and The African Centre for Statistics, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ACS/UNECA), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and development partners also participated in this session.
Awira Anthony, Director of IGAD’s Planning Coordination and Partnership Division, said in his opening remarks: “The IGAD Statistics Committee (ISC) is a body comprising of the Heads of National Statistics Offices (NSOs) in the Member States and will be responsible for supporting formulation of policy and strategy, and for providing professional guidance for the development and implementation of statistics programmes for the IGAD Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics.”
The 1st session aimed to formally launch the IGAD Statistics Committee (ISC) and to discuss the implementation of the IGAD Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics at the national and regional levels; adopt the ToR for ISC; and share good practices in Statistics among the IGAD Member States.
Participants welcomed the success of the 1st Session of the IGAD Statistics Committee (ISC). National Statistics Offices from Member States were congratulated for their efforts. The focus was not only on building capacity as a Member State but also as a regional body.
The IGAD Regional Strategy for the Development of Statistics (RSDS) over its lifespan aims to achieve a mission to facilitate the generation, dissemination and use of high quality, reliable and harmonized statistics required for achieving peace, security and inclusive prosperity in the IGAD region. The rationale of the IGAD RSDS is: provision of data to the African Regional Integration Agenda; supply of data for development of the IGAD region; and the role of the RSDS in the African Statistical System (ASS).
As stipulated in the RSDS document, IGAD Statistics Committee (ISC) is key among the institutions within which the IGAD Regional Statistical System will carry out its operations. The ISC will be a body of professionals comprising the heads of NSOs in the Member States and the Secretariat. It is to be responsible for supporting formulation of policy and strategy and for providing professional guidance for the development and implementation of statistics programmes for the IRSS.
