The Nature and Magnitude of UNFPAs Assistance to Statistical Development in SSA

1
 The Nature and Magnitude of UNFPAs Assistance
to Statistical Development in SSA

• By
• Jason O. Onsembe Jean-Marc Hie UNFPA/CST,
  Addis Ababa

2
UNFPA contributions to statistical development,
since 1970s

• UNFPA has a long history of supporting
  statistical development in Sub-Sahara Africa.
  This includes support to programmes like, for
  example
• The World Fertility Survey (WFS) (1970s)
• Regional Advisory services for demographic
  statistics (RASDS)(1970/80s)
• The Demographic and Health surveys (launched in
  1980s and still on-going)

3
UNFPA contributions to statistical development,
since early 1970s (CONTD)

• Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys (CPS) (1970/80s)
• National Household Survey Capability Programme
  (NHSCP) (1980s)
• Statistical Training Programme for Africa (STPA)
  (1980s)

4
The programmes contributed to the following

• Increased capacities at the statistical offices,
  including training of staff
• Increased demographic data
• Development of vital registration systems
• Establishment of several training institutions
  (e.g. RIPS, IFORD)
• Availability of experienced technicians to plan
  and conduct censuses and surveys

5
UNFPAs Current support to statistical
development

• Production and use of population data
• Technical support to countries
• Technical Backstopping to countries
• Training and statistical capacity development
• Establishment of databases
• Support to programmes
• Institutional development

6
(1) UNFPA programmes and support to population
statistics

• Financial support for population censuses and
  large-scale surveys is undertaken within country
  programme assistance frameworks.
• For example The 2000 round of census is
  conducted under Population and Development
  Strategies (PDS) sub-programme, within the
  overall country programme.

7
(2) Technical support to countries

• UNFPA provides technical support to countries by
  use of three approaches
• Country Support Team (CST)
• Chief Technical Advisers (CTA), based in country
• Short-term consultants.

8
Types of support given by CSTs and Consultants

• Technical backstopping at critical stage of
  large scale data collection and analysis
• Organizing and participating in workshops
• Preparing guidelines and training manuals

9
Types of support given by CSTs and Consultants
(contd)

• Imparting skills through on-the-job-training
• Conducting formal training programmes
• Establishing databases for programme ME

10
Outcomes of UNFPA support

• Established functional statistical
  bureaus/units, which effectively respond to
  national data requirements
• Ready availability of data including population
  statistics, economic statistics, demographic
  statistics.
• Enhanced National institutions, operations and
  related systems

11
Constraints affecting statistical development

• Inadequate funding due to poor government support
  to Statistical development In a number of
  countries, a greater proportion of statistical
  development is received from external sources.
•  Serious attrition of staff due to poor salaries,
  and poor managements.

12
Collaboration among development partners

• UNFPA has played a major role in coordinating or
  collaborating with multilateral and bilateral
  agencies in planning and implementing programmes
  related to production and use of population data.

13
Partners in population statistics

• These include International Labour Organization
  (ILO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF),
  UNECA, World Bank (WB), EUROSTASTS), United
  Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United
  States Agency for International Development
  (USAID), CIDA), Swedish International Development
  Agency (SIDA) and, development Fund for
  International al development (DFID), etc.

14
National data production activities with multiple
partners

• Population and housing censuses
• Demographic Surveys (Fertility Surveys, DHS,
  Labour forces surveys)
• Multiple indicators surveys (MICS),
• Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS)
• The Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ).

15
UNFPA role in resource mobilization

• UNFPA plays a key role in mobilizing resources
  from multi-bi and bilateral funding.

16
Coordination mechanisms

• Several coordination mechanisms are used
  including The Interagency Censuses Coordinating
  Committee (ICCC), which brings together six
  partners, including UNFPA, World Bank, US Bureau
  of census, USAID, CIDA (Canada), United Nations
  Statistics Division

17
Increased demand for population data

• In recent times, demand for data has increased
  due to the need to
• Disaggregate data at national and sub-national
  levels
• Ensure effective implementation and monitoring of
  the ICPD PoA and other developmental programmes
   

18
Increased demand for population data (contd)

• Measure achievement of results as required by
  many donor agencies, including UNFPA
• Provide data for indicator measurement for the
  new development frameworks, (MDGS, NEPAD, PRSPS
  and CCA)

19
UNFPA Policy on assisting census activities

• UNFPA provides support to all census activities.
  However, in view of reduced resources in UNFPA,
  the assistance is limited. Decisions on
  providing support is based on three criteria.

20
UNFPA Policy on assisting census activities
(contd)

• Countries that have never conducted a census
  before, qualify for full funding
• Countries that have undergone civil wars or
  natural calamities, qualify for higher funding
  subject to the available of funds
• Countries that have undertaking a census before,
  qualify for selective assistance, usually
  technical support.

21
Strategies for Improving Status of Statistics in
the Region

• Enhancing capacities of persons, systems and
  institutions through support to training
  programmes
• Fostering inter-country collaboration in capacity
  building
• Promoting coordination between governments and
  development partners

22
Strategies for Improving Status of Statistics in
the Region (contd)

• Promoting dialogues between producers and users
  of data.
• Enhancing strong commitment at all levels of
  Government, more especially for provision of
  budgets
•  Developing a well targeted census advocacy
  campaign for increased awareness
•  Strengthening national databases to ensure
  simplified data retrieval and dissemination.

23
Strategies for Improving Status of Statistics in
the Region (contd)

• Regional and sub-regional organizations should be
  encouraged to support data collection activities,
  including UNECA, Africa Union (AU), the economic
  Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), etc
•  Ensuring that data collection and analysis are
  gender-specific, dissemination is made on timely
  basis and data is disaggregated into population
  sub-groups, especially by sex.