INTERNATIONALINTERNATIONALSTATISTICAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTEINSTITUTE

Workshop Leadership in modern

Statistical Systems

African Charter on Statistics by

Awa Thiongane

OutlineOutline• Background • African Charter on Statistics: the Process?• African Charter on Statistics: What is it?• Implementation: Legal Procedure• Effective Implementation of the Charter • Way Forward• Issues for Discussions

BackgroundBackground• Steps taken by African Heads of States during the

two last decades including:– The Lagos Plan of Action (1980)– The Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic

Community (1991) which has been in operation since 1994

– The Constitutive Act of the African Union (2000) which entered into force in 2001

– The NEPAD adopted in 2001

• Overall Objective– Continental integration

Background Background (contd.)(contd.)

• Objectives of the AU include:

– “…. Accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;

– …. Promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;

– …. Establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations;

– … Promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies;

– … Coordinate and harmonize the policies between the existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union; ……”

Background Background (contd.)(contd.)

• The African Economic Community (AEC) Stage 1: Strengthening of existing RECs;Stage 2: Stabilization of Tariff Barriers and Non-TB -

Studies on gradual removal of TB/NTB and harmonization of custom duties /third states;

Stage 3: Establishment of a free trade area;Stage 4: Coordination and harmonization of Tariff and No-

Tariff systems;Stage 5: Establishment of the African Common Market (ACM) Stage 6:Consolidation and strengthening of the ACM -

Implementation of the final stage of the African - Monetary Union (AMU) and of the ACB and - Creation of a single African Currency.

Background Background (contd.)(contd.)

But :But :• Nothing on how to effectively inform all these Nothing on how to effectively inform all these

processes leading to the attainment of the processes leading to the attainment of the objectives of the African Union, monitor and objectives of the African Union, monitor and evaluate the programmes and projects generated evaluate the programmes and projects generated during the processes; during the processes;

Nevertheless :Nevertheless :• Awareness raised on the key role of statistical Awareness raised on the key role of statistical

information; information; • The result-based paradigm adopted, leading to: The result-based paradigm adopted, leading to: African Charter for Statistics :African Charter for Statistics :• Establishment of the African Charter on Statistics Establishment of the African Charter on Statistics

as a first stage in the process that put statistics at as a first stage in the process that put statistics at the core place of African development the core place of African development

African Charter on Statistics : The African Charter on Statistics : The processprocess

The Charter is the end-result of a participatory process including the following steps: – Proposal made during the AUC Workshop on Harmoni-

zation of Statistics (Bamako, Mali, September 2006)– Decision of the AU Executive Council on the preparation

of an African Charter on Statistics (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 2007)

– Validation by Directors of NSOs (Rubavu, Rwanda, June 2007)

– Adoption by African Union organs of decision includingSummit of Heads of States and Governments (Addis

Ababa, Ethiopia, 4 February 2009)

African Charter on Statistics: What is African Charter on Statistics: What is it? it? (contd.)(contd.)

• A legal instrument which is characterized by:

– Its solemnity • refer to the legal procedure: adoption by Heads of State –

ratification to be done by Parliaments where appropriate– The various areas it aims to address • defining the African statistical system, African statistics,

and African statisticians among others– The various stakeholders • States parties, decision-makers, data users, producers,

and providers, development partners, etc.

African Charter on Statistics: What is African Charter on Statistics: What is it? it? (contd.)(contd.)

• To this end, it, inter alia, aims at:– Serving as policy framework and advocacy tool for

statistical development in Africa, – Ensuring improved quality and comparability of statistics,

and use of statistical information for policy formulation and monitoring the integration process

– Strengthening coordination of statistical activities and enhancing harmonization of statistics

– Building institutional capacity of Statistical authorities and ensuring their autonomy

– Raising awareness on the need for allocating adequate resources to statistical activities

– Providing a code of professional ethics to African statisticians

African Charter on Statistics: What is African Charter on Statistics: What is it? it? (contd.)(contd.)

• To achieve such objectives, the Charter was drafted based on existing best practices:- UN Fundamental principles- EU Code of practice (without its indicators)- IMF SDDS and GDSS

- Please note that the updated ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics was not yet adopted but should be taken into account in the implementation of the Charter

Implementation: Legal procedure (as of Implementation: Legal procedure (as of Feb. 2011)Feb. 2011)

SignatureSignature20 Countries out of 53 signed the Charter:– Niger, Togo, Rwanda (May 2009), Cote d’Ivoire,

Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Congo, Ghana, Gambia (June 2009), and Benin (August 2009)

– Mauritius, Kenya, Gabon, Zambia (January 2010), Sao Tome & Principe, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal (February 2010), Burkina Faso (July 2010), and Malawi (August 2010)

Implementation: Legal procedure (as of Implementation: Legal procedure (as of Feb. 2011)Feb. 2011)

RatificationRatification– Only Mauritius have ratified the Charter on 9 February

2010 and deposited the ratification instruments on the same day

EnforcementEnforcement– The Charter shall enter into force 30 days after the

deposit of the instruments of ratification by 15 member States

Effective implementation of the Effective implementation of the CharterCharter

• To revise Statistics Act in order to enshrine the Charter in it• To set up the coordination organs • To convince States parties on the need to change the status of

NSOs into autonomous or semi-autonomous bodies • To set up, in a collaborative effort, a continent-wide Strategy

for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA) in support of policy and programme formulation, monitoring and evaluation towards the integration process

• N.B.: – A draft SHaSA (with its first pillar – the Africa Strategy for the

Implementation of the SNA 2008) has been adopted by the AUC and EAC Conference of Ministers in 2010

– Work is ongoing - Mapping statistical initiatives to SHaSA exercise will be finalized from 14 to 18 March 2011 and a new version of SHaSA to be presented to AUC and ECA Conference of Ministers (24-27 March 2011)

Effective implementation of the Effective implementation of the Charter Charter (contd.)(contd.)

• To align SHaSA with NSDSs at country level• To comply with international standards after having done the

adaptation work to African specificities where needed • To effectively implement GDDS principles, most of the

countries are members to this initiative• To convince Governments to allocate adequate resources to

statistical activities, this will also need a dissemination and use of data strategy that justify the use of resources

• To bring on board Statistical training centres and Universities in order to take into account emerging issues in curricula, etc.

Monitoring the Charter Monitoring the Charter implementationimplementation

• Presently, no clear M&E system for the Charter

• This M&E system should benefit from:– Best practices (EU Code of Practices)– Lessons learnt from the implementation of the

Code of Practices and similar processes (GDDS reporting and peer-review piloted in Francophone countries), etc.

Way ForwardWay Forward

UN• Regional assessment of the implementation of the FP

recommended by the 42nd Session of UN StatCom, February 2011 (FP is enshrined in Charter)

AUC• To set up strategy to speed up the process of signing and

ratification of the Charter • To prepare advocacy documents to popularize the Charter

and ensure ownership by all stakeholders• To prepare a Manual to guide the implementation of the

Charter • To base peer-review of NSSs on the Charter principles in

4 pilot countries

Way ForwardWay Forward (contd.)

AUC (contd.)• But as for Peer-view of NSSs – It’s worth noting that AFRISTAT & PARIS21 already

conducted peer-review of NSSs in Burkina Faso and Niger (2009) and in Benin and Congo (2010) using in the guide for peer-reviewers questions on all Charter principles

– The peer review was conducted during 5 working days, a duration which was felt not enough to go thoroughly in the review

– Evaluation of the pilots reviews need to be done prior to the continuation of the process

• But, there is a need to set up an M&E system for the Charter

Issues for Discussion?Issues for Discussion?

Please not that:

– Charter has not yet enter into force– Nevertheless some issues are already taken into

account (noticeable steps taken in terms of updating Statistics Act to include UN FP, change of NSO Status, participation of StatCom-Africa in joint AUC and ECA Conference of Ministers, etc.)

Issues for Discussion? Issues for Discussion? (contd.)(contd.)

Questions:– Will the Charter improve statistical practice in

individual countries and how?• Different presentations of this meeting will be an opportunity to

discuss such an issue in a more practical way

– How best to effectively implement Professional ethics issues? • Strong support from well-organized and visible regional and

national statistical associations? And greater involve in the global statistical association, the International statistical institute.

– What kind of monitoring system to put in place ? • How to link it with the existing indicators?

Thank You Thank You