StatCom7 ends with call on Africa to prioritize digitalizing continent’s statistical systems

Abstract

The Seventh Session of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom7) ended with high-level participants emphasizing the importance of digitizing the continent’s statistical systems; use of big data; data and statistics coordination; and political will for effective statistics development in Africa. Oliver Chinganya, Director of the Africa Statistics Centre (ACS) at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said statistical coordination and partnership was crucial to ensure statistics are holistically produced by national systems in an efficient way in line with common and harmonized standards, norms and principles. StatCom-Africa member country representatives, National Statistics Office representatives and observers from national, sub-regional, regional and international organizations; NGOs; academia and research institutions; and the private sector attended the meeting held the theme; “Developing regional solutions to enhance the resilience of African national statistical systems to meet the need for data during the Decade of Action in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”.