Workshop on Statistical Organization
and Management for SADC Member
States – UNSD
Group 1 Discussions
Legislation
Leadership
Planning
Luanda, 03 December 2006
Legislation
A. Statistical Policy
1. Regional Level
•
•
SADC countries should formulate statistical policy in
order to guide statistical operations of member states
SADC countries should develop appropriate rules and
regulation, in line with UN recommendations, to govern
the Protocol on statistics
2. National Level
•
Member states should update their statistical legislation
in line with SADC policy as well as the Protocol on
statistics .
B. Statistical Framework
•
•
•
SADC countries should set up statistical
frameworks to cover the entire statistical system
The frameworks should specify the modus
operandi for the coordination of the players in the
system
SADC secretariat should strengthen its
statistical operations by filling up all vacant
positions
Leadership
A. Technical Level
•
The head of the Statistical Office should be appointed
on professional merits
B. Personal Level
•
•
•
Consideration for selection should take into account the
culture and environment of the statistical system of the
country
The leader should be able to build team spirit
The leader should mentor others to take up leadership
roles in the institution
Planning
• Plans should be medium to long term
• Countries should adopt National Statistical
development plans (NSDS)
• The NSDS should be flexible
• The NSDS’s should be sustainable
Workshop on Statistical Organization
and Management for SADC Member
States – UNSD
Group 2 Discussions
Legislation
Leadership
Planning
Luanda, 03 December 2006
Leadership
Training
Problems
• There is no structured training programme;
• We have problems of performing at a leadership level
Solutions
• We need to have co-ordinated training programme on
leadership.
• We need to have a co-ordinated cadreship development
programme, for next levels of management.
• We also need to differentiate between Leadership training and
Management training.
• Examples: Strategic management, Risk management,
Communication, etc.
Taking risks
Problems
• Limitations and constraints: financial, decision-making.
• Personality issues also play a role in how a leader can take
risks.
Solutions
• Environment should allow the person to exercise a high level of
independence, professionally and in making decisions.
• The powers of the leaders should be adequately legislated.
• Executive coaching (formal and informal) and peer group
support, such as SADC Statistics Committee.
• Study tours, budget available in the Development Account.
Capacity
Problems
• When a leader is not able to deliver the necessary figures due to
capacity (e.g. expertise, skills, financial)
Solutions
• We need high profile professional authority; our business
requires high level technical / intellectual competence:
especially that we are faced with emerging agencies that are in
the business of statistical production.
• Leaders of NSOs should assert their authority internally so that
they can get their teams to deliver.
• Study tours, budget available in the Development Account.
Legislation
Position of Chief Statistician
Problems
• The level of appointment of the Chief Statistician within member
states can also pose a problem on how the NSO and the entire
national statistics system are positioned.
Solutions
• We need minimum recommended standards for the UN Handbook
on Official Statistics on the level of the Chief Statistician.
• NSOs should be assisted (e.g. through the SADC protocol) to
revise their legislation and use this to position the level of the Chief
Statistician: a framework for the SADC Statistics Protocol has
already agreed upon.
• We need proper co-ordination of regional and world intervention.
Stats programmes & resourcing the agency
Problems
• Governments sometimes do not support the work programme of
the NSOs.
Solutions
• We need clear legislation on statistical programmes and how
such programmes are approved as well as the necessary
financial support.
• We need to make our governments understand that the
responsibility for funding the NSOs lies with them.
Intellectual/ technical competence
Problems
• We have problems in advancing the technical competence
regarding the use of legislation, sometimes to the detriment of
intellectual / technical excellence, e.g. the use of confidentiality.
Solutions
• We need to empower our staff to deal with data: unonymised
micro-data issues.
• We need an Ethics Committee to implement and monitor
aspects of the statistics legislation that deal with confidentiality.
• SDX and DevInfo initiatives.
Planning
Prioritisation
Problems
• Donors sometimes arrive with programmes they need to implement
and the need data urgently, and therefore want NSOs to prioritise their
data collection programmes, sometimes with a signed government
agreement.
• Staff members are tempted to participate in donor sponsored projects
for financial gain.
Solutions
• We need comprehensive statistical master plans (long-term), strategic
plan (medium-term) as well as business plans (implementation) with
the inherent resource (financial, human, time) requirements.
• We need procedures on acting allowances fro staff members
seconded to donor sponsored projects.