GSS, OHCS and others to work together to create national plan for statistics development

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS), Chief Directors of government ministries, departments, and agencies, National Development Planning Commission have held a stakeholders engagement on the need to appreciate the impact of data, statistics, research, and policies for national development.

The two-day engagement revealed that in the last decade, significant interventions have been instituted in Ghana to better align policies, data, statistics, information, and research across key government institutions as well as the private sectors and development partner community.

Notable among these are the National Data Roadmap (2017) to improve the tracking of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the passage of the Statistical Service Act (ACT 1003) in 2019 leading to the operationalization of the National Statistics Advisory Committee (NSAC) to strengthen the production of harmonized and quality statistics and facilitate the coordination of statistical activities; the implementation of the Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa Project (HISWAP), to harmonize statistical practices and enhance data production and stewardship.

Additionally, the engagement was intended to create a roadmap that will help the GSS and the other agencies introduce the Power of Data and the national data partnership mechanism for creating and sustaining political incentives for investment in data, establish a common understanding of the rationale for the engagement, develop a matrix on the status of data sharing within and across the participating institutions, profile human resource and information and communication technology capacity needs of all participating institutions among others.

At an SDG Summit in September 2023, during the UN General Assembly, a new coalition came together to launch the High Impact Initiative on the Power of Data, where Ministers from member states, including Kenya, Ghana, the UK, Colombia and Botswana were joined by Ashley Judd, Actor and Goodwill Ambassador for UNFPA; Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the UN and Junhua Li, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).

The goal of the Power of Data is to unlock the data dividend to drive progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); recent research shows an average return of US$32 for every US$1 invested in strengthening data systems in low- and middle-income countries.

Participants at the meeting were; Dr. Grace Bediako, Chair of the GSS Board, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician. Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darkoh, the Head of the Civil Service, Dr. Claire Melamed, the CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD); Ms. Vibeke O. Nielsen, the Inter-Regional Advisor for Statistics Training and Capacity Building, United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD); Ms. Angela Lusigi, the Resident Representative for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and Dr. Johannes Jutting, the Executive Head of PARIS21.

Source:myrepubliconline