Africa Symposium on Statistics Development, Cape Town
30 January 2006
THE 2010 ROUND OF POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUSES
Chairperson;
Ambassador Abdellai Jenna, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA)
Heads of Statistical Agencies
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished delegates
Dear friends
Let me welcome you to both South Africa and to Cape Town, this city of such
remarkable contradictions. I trust that your stay here will be memorable, if
only for the quality of agreements that you will strike on the 2010 Round of
Population and Housing Censuses.
This conference has its genesis in September 2000 when 147 heads of State
and Governments, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, committed themselves
to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to free the
entire human race from want.
They acknowledged that progress should be based on sustainable economic
growth, which must focus on the poor, with human rights at its core. The
Millennium Declaration is remembered most for its articulation of the
measurable objectives as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The adoption of that Declaration, with its strong emphasis on human and
economic development across Africa, represents an enormous victory in the
struggle to overturn the ravages and the excesses of centuries of colonialism
on the African continent.
To help track progress, the United Nations Secretariat and the specialised
agencies of the United Nations (UN) system, as well as representatives of
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) defined a set of time-bound and measurable
goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy,
environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
International experts also selected relevant indicators to be used to assess
progress over the period from 1990 to 2015, the targets date for meeting these
expectations.
In September 2005, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi
Annan, presented the findings of the first review of progress being made
towards achieving the time-bound Millennium Development Goals.
The findings for Africa were appalling! Not only did the data paint the
picture of the extent of underdevelopment, it also recorded the fact that even
if all of the MDGs were attained by 2015, African development would still lag
way behind every other continent. Moreover, profound concern was expressed
about the quality of the data available.
Two immediate challenges present themselves. Firstly, how can we continue to
lobby for the centrality of African development initiatives if the data we
present has little credibility? Secondly, how can we ask governments and donors
to direct resources towards areas of need if we cannot empirically establish
where the needs exist?
I am reminded also of another victory secured in the Bretton Woods
Institutions in the struggle against the âonce-size-fits-allâ structural
adjustment programmes. This victory is represented by the shift to the
methodology of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), which are adopted by
governments in developing countries after participatory processes in their
countries. Whilst these PRSPs describe the macroeconomic, structural and social
policies and programmes that the country will pursue, the under girding of the
PRSPs is entirely statistical. Undoubtedly, if the under girding is unsound,
the programmes built on such foundations will be severely compromised.
There is common cause that national statistical systems in Africa still
present profound weaknesses, including poor political support; inadequate legal
and institutional framework for statistical activities; a lack of co-ordination
and weak management. One of the real difficulties that confront statistical
agencies is their relationship with political principals. In politics, we donât
always wish to hear unpleasant truths. It is far easier to convince ourselves,
our donors and the entire world that the situation is a vast improvement on
reality. However good that may make us feel, the paradox is that it might
generate disinclination on the part of donors to resource our needs, if we have
made the case that such resources are no longer required. What then will be the
role for our statisticians?
There is an obvious need to reverse the decline of African statistics. The
concern is based on the fact that for instance, 19 out of 56 countries and
areas in Africa have not conducted a population census in the last 10 years,
nearly twice as many in the previous decade. Consequently, factual
country-level data in a majority of the cases replaced by estimates produced by
international organizations often on the basis of inferring information from
other countries or from surveys that are completely out of date.
As a result, for many African countries, national trends to inform and
monitor the implementation of development policies cannot be produced.
The history of census taking in Africa has been characterised by
irregularity, incompleteness, inaccuracies and subsequently a gross
under-utilisation of census data. Consequently, census results have not
adequately informed policy formulation and programme implementation, and
socio-economic development in general, more so because government policy makers
and planners were ill-equipped to utilise the results.
Yet the centrality of population and housing censuses in knowledge
management in Africa, in the pursuit of evidence-based decision-making, and in
monitoring progress made towards achieving national development goals cannot be
overstated.
A number of experts have begun to focus attention on the serious quality
deficiencies in the data on which the conclusions of the United Nations MDG
report are based part of the problem is the inadequate data and for some MDG
indicators, no data exist.
In addition, the process of the preparation of the 2010 World Programme on
Population and Housing Censuses, all regions, with exception of Africa, have
organised working groups, tasks forces and other meetings, with the
collaboration of their member states, to assess their census experiences for
the 2000 round as well as to have a regional position on the proposed
recommendations with respect to the United Nations Principles and
Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses.
During the 22 - 26 August meeting in New York, the Expert Group Meeting on
the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses was concerned by
the lack of progress and preparation at the African region level and resolved
that a meeting for census experts being organized in time for preparing the
report in time for submission to the UN Statistics Commission in March
2006.
The main aim of this symposium is thus to facilitate the strengthening of
the role of African countries in the world programme on 2010 population and
housing censuses, to strengthen collaboration on census related activities, to
develop strategies for African countries to fill the glaring data gaps that
limit Africaâs ability to monitor progress made towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals.
How do we achieve these objectives?
* Encouraging all African countries to undertake a population and housing
census in the 2010 round
* Focusing and fostering linkages in the MDG related and census campaigns
* Making a concerted effort to create the necessary capacity to achieve these
objectives and
* Improving reporting mechanisms between National Statistical Agencies and
International Agencies.
I am exceedingly grateful that all of you have responded so promptly and at
short notice to attend this symposium in order to give impetus to the 2010
initiative. I am particularly appreciative of the attendance and enthusiasm of
the Executive Secretary and his team at the Economic Commission for Africa.
The 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses needs a Pan African
Champion and I can think of no institution or initiative better placed than the
ECA to lead and inspire.
In closing I want to quote my President, His Excellence, Thabo Mbeki, in his
opening address at the launch of the African Union, Durban, 9 July 2002:
He said, âBy forming the Union, the peoples of our continent have made the
unequivocal statement that Africa must unite! We as Africans have a common and
a shared destiny! Together, we must redefine this destiny for a better life for
all the people of this continent developing new forms of partnerships at all
levels and segments of our societies, between segments of our societies and our
governments and between our governments.â
And this is the challenge for the statisticians, because if we canât measure
it, we cannot manage it.
Thank you very much.
Issued by: Ministry of Finance
30 January 2006
