Best practices in the formulation of statistical development plans

Abstract

From the mid 1980s many national statistical services in Africa experienced deterioration in the services they rendered to the public. One national statistical service notes that the position of its statistical outputs started to deteriorate in the later half of the 1980s when many outputs were either considerably delayed, or ceased to be delivered. The main reasons for these, it is stated, were inadequacy of personnel, unattractive schemes of service, inadequate equipment, data processing constraints, inadequate resources, and expanded demand for data against the ongoing structural changes in the economy.This paper is an attempt to respond to the recommendation cited above and also to fulfill part of the requirements of the subprogram 4 "Harnessing Information for Development" of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for the 1997 period. It has the objective of presenting selected country practices and a synthesis of best practices in the form of a framework and recommendations for the preparation of statistical development plans.