The GDDS Project Phase 2
Presented by William E. Alexander
Deputy Director
Statistics Department
International Monetary Fund
Southern African Development Community
Steering Committee Meeting
Durban, South Africa
July 14–16, 2006
The Predecessor (Phase 1):
“GDDS Project for Anglophone
Africa”
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Supported development of metadata, and
TA for capacity-building:
– Provided
• Macroeconomic and financial statistics by IMF
• Socio-demographic statistics by World Bank
 Well
over 200 TA missions to 14 countries
 Mid-2002 – mid-2006
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The Successor Project
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The IMF and World Bank jointly administer the
project, with macroeconomic and sociodemographic statistics components
“Modules for Strengthening Statistics”
To cover all Anglophone countries in Africa
(some 20)
Mid-2006 – mid-2009
US$8 million, funded by DFID
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GDDS Project for Anglophone
Africa Funded by DFID
Phase 1 countries:
Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho,
Liberia, Malawi, Namibia,
Nigeria, Sierra Leone,
Sudan, Swaziland, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe
New Phase 2 countries:
The Gambia, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Seychelles,
South Africa, Tanzania, and
Uganda
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Key Features of the Modular
Approach
 Creation
of capacity-building blocks
 Structured activities
 Commitment to agreed results
 Self-help—small groups of countries
work together
 Enhanced interaction in the region
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Proposed Success Criteria for the
Successor Project

Capacity-building through measurable
improvements in agreed areas (modules)
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Countries make the development of their
statistical system part of their national
development strategy

Effective coordination nationally, regionally,
and with donors
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GDDS continues to provide framework
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What are modules?
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Selected priority areas for TA
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Well-planned activities
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3–5 countries work together
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Mutual commitment to agreed results
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What are the advantages?
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Focus on critical improvements
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Assured results
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Creating building blocks
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Enhancing interaction in the region
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Providing “hooks” for donor coordination
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Examples for Modules (IMF)

Real Sector
– Better use of existing data for National Accounts, Advance to QNA
– Rebase the CPI, introduce the PPI

Financial/Fiscal Statistics
– Step-by-step improvements of national data standards

External Sector
– Improving the services account of the BOP
– BOP surveys

GDDS/SDDS
– Graduate to the SDDS
– Incorporate capacity-building for statistics into Poverty Reduction Strategies
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Next Steps
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Some 8 IMF and 8 World Bank modules to
choose from
Launch workshop in late September
Implementation to start with regional module
workshops for 3–5 countries
Each country to host some 3 expert visits
Initial set of modules to be completed in
18–30 months
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