122 years
3 August 2007
On behalf of the South African government, Statistics South Africa has been
mandate by International Statistical Institute (ISI) to host, organise, manage
and promote the 57th session of International Statistical Institute to be held
in Durban in 2009. This will probably be the biggest international gathering in
South Africa before the 2010 soccer World Cup. It will be the first time that
ISI session will be held in Sub-Sahara Africa in 122 years. Statistician
General Pali Lehohla and Executive Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Councillor
Obed Mlaba will lead a South African delegation to receive the ISI hand over in
Lisbon, Portugal on 19 August 2007.
International Statistical Institute is composed of some 2 000 elected
members who are the world's leading statisticians from 130 countries.
Conventionally, an ISI session, held biannually, provides a platform for the
gathering of over 5 000 of the world's statisticians to share experience in
diverse range of statistics amongst public, private, research and educational
institutions. Yet historically, African (and even South Africa) participation
at ISI has remained extremely limited. This historic session will mark a
significant milestone in South Africa's critical path towards the development
of statistical human capacity in Africa.
The International Statistical Institute is one of the oldest international
scientific associations active today, an autonomous society which seeks to
develop and improve statistical methods and their application though the
promotion of international activities and co-operation.
The 57th session of the ISI
The main goal of this session is to build human statistical capacity in
South Africa, Southern African Community Development (SADC) and Africa beyond
2009. To further demonstrate South Africa's commitment to reverse the legacy of
apartheid on mathematics and statistical development. Five years ago the
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel drew attention to a number of challenges that
South Africa faces in its endeavour towards statistical development.
As the African continent witnesses an upsurge in statistical activity,
partnerships and notable political direction aimed at improving statistical
data measurement and quality for monitoring and evaluating better development
outcomes in Africa, an area of focus in this revitalisation process becomes
even more acutely that of statistical capacity building. While African
countries boast a more credible and tangible education outcomes, statistical
development remains limited due to a combination of factors. These factors
include in the first instance, current evidence-based approaches to development
far exceed the capacity of the poorest countries.
This could be attributed to a combination of factors such as capacity
problems in African national statistical offices, a lack of political will to
support statistics for measuring the development agenda, unsustainable funding
initiatives, underperformance, domestic under-funding and conflicting donor
agendas. Despite decades of technical assistance and financial aid directed
towards statistics, many were not performing adequately. Statistician General
Pali Lehohla is available for comment.
Enquiries:
Solly Kganyago
Tel: 012 310 4732
Cell: 082 568 6122
Issued by: Statistics South Africa
3 August 2007
