Five ways to catalyze sustainable statistical capacity in Africa
By Ankur Nagar
“Data and statistics are to policymaking what instruments are to an airplane. Without them, we are flying in the dark,” the Bern Network on Financing Data for Development stated recently, describing a key challenge that needs to be met to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).¹ With its Statistical Capacity and Open Data Inventory scores lagging behind most other regions², the SDG data challenge for Africa is increasingly urgent.
Overall Statistical Capacity scores across countries in Africa (2018)
To tackle the challenge, the Africa region has received the largest allocation of international support to statistics in recent years², with the Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) contributing to the effort. What makes TFSCB funding distinct is its focus and flexibility. As we shared in our earlier story, TFSCB offers relatively small, fast-disbursing grants that catalyze sustainable solutions to fill urgent gaps in the development data ecosystem.
For instance, TFSCB-financed projects have galvanized governments and other development agencies to offer sustained funding for statistics; its seed-funding has sparked innovative technology pilots to continually collect critical data; its contributions are helping scale university curricula to address the emerging demand for data scientists — the catalytic effect paradigm keeps evolving with TFSCB’s extensive portfolio of 400+ projects.
From TFSCB’s recent work in Africa, here are five examples that demonstrate the catalytic effect its funding has on the continent’s SDG data ecosystem:
1. Catalyzing finance for a rapid data collection system in Malawi
With over 50% of its population living in poverty, Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world.³ It is also prone to frequent weather shocks including floods and droughts, which severely impact livelihoods. In March 2019, the country was struck by heavy rains and winds form Cyclone Idai, which affected 15 of Malawi’s 28 districts, and an estimated 975,588 Malawians.⁴
While Malawi has received World Bank support for recovery from Cyclone Idai⁴, it lacks a monitoring system to consistently track the impact of weather shocks on poverty and to monitor the socioeconomic status of households in disaster impacted areas. To fill this data gap, TFSCB has seed funded a pilot project to develop a decentralized data collection system, which will enable local enumerators to rapidly collect data through smartphones and tablets.
The project, seed funded with US$195,000 from TFSCB, has already catalyzed additional financing of over US$250,000 from international development agencies
Once implemented, the project will enable Malawi’s National Statistical Office (NSO) to produce rapid, low-cost poverty estimates without awaiting the next household survey, which is conducted once in 3–6 years. It will also help track the condition of households in cyclone-impacted areas, on a monthly basis.
Given the innovative approach, other development partners have been galvanized to provided additional funding — over US$250,000 has already been offered by international aid agencies to increase the number of pilot districts in Malawi from 3 to 10. In addition, the Japan-World Bank Group Science Technology and Innovation Partnership is negotiating with Japanese telephone providers to access free second-hand phones and tablets for the pilot.
2. Catalyzing digital capacity to map Uganda’s refugee camps
By January 2020, over 2.2 million people had fled South Sudan to avoid the ongoing conflict and seek refuge in neighboring countries. The largest number of refugees — about 40% — are in Uganda.⁵
As new arrivals continue to reach Uganda’s rapidly expanding refugee camps, access to essential services, such as water, sanitation, power, and cooking fuel, remain a key challenge for the refugees and host communities. The country now hosts the second largest refugee camp in the world — meanwhile, continually mapping the spread of refugee settlements, and collecting real-time data about access to essential services had been nearly impossible, till recently.
In 2018, as part of its Innovations in Development Data program, TFSCB funded a project to bridge the development and emergency data gaps for the refugee crisis in Uganda.⁶ Led by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), the project helped create digital map layers — primarily generated by the refugees themselves — for 12 refugee-hosting districts in Uganda.⁷
The TFSCB-funded project has helped map over 1,500,000 buildings, 36,000 km of roads, and more than 4,000 facilities and services across refugee communities and hosting districts in Uganda
The project also enabled the availability of open data about Uganda’s refugee crisis through the OpenStreetMap platform and the Humanitarian Data Exchange — which ensures that the map layers can be freely accessed by government agencies and humanitarian organizations in the design and implementation of interventions. In addition, over 550 refugees and host community members have been trained in digital mapping though the project so that they can create and update maps for local decision-making.
3. Catalyzing the supply of data science skills in Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with an average growth rate of 8% per year since 2011. However, its GDP growth gradually declined during 2012 -2018. Education and market-responsive skills are critical to maintain its rapid growth while making the growth more inclusive — the country’s poverty rate remains high at 46.3%.⁸
Across Francophone Africa, including in Côte d’Ivoire, there is an increasing demand for data science skills. While the government and the private sector can count on statisticians trained in Côte d’Ivoire and in Cameroon — this supply does not fully address the diversifying demand for data science, big data, and data analytics professionals in the region.⁹
With its support for a specialized Data Science Masters curriculum in Côte d’Ivoire, TFSCB will catalyze the expansion of the data science sector in Francophone Africa
To increase the availability of highly-skilled data scientists in Côte d’Ivoire — in response to the fast-growing demand — TFSCB is supporting the expansion of the Data Science Institute at the Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boigny in Yamoussoukro through:
- Developing a Data Science Master’s curriculum that meets the “Center of Excellence” requirements of the Africa Centers of Excellence for Development Impact
- Producing high-quality, openly available training materials, including scripts written in R / Python / SQL, and practical assignments
To ensure the curriculum’s relevance, students will use data to tackle real issues, for instance solving the challenges faced by the small producers of cocoa and coffee in Côte d’Ivoire. TFSCB would initially support two cohorts of data scientists (40 students), which is expected to increase in subsequent years.
4. Catalyzing the transformation of Djibouti’s statistical institutions
Located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, Djibouti’s fast-growing city-state economy is driven by a state-of-the-art port complex.¹⁰ Yet, away from its urban center, many live a nomadic existence or in extreme rural poverty.
To tackle poverty, and to monitor its economy — which is vulnerable to global market downturns — high-quality statistics are essential for the country. Yet, Djibouti has long relied on International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates for its national accounts data, including for GDP figures.¹¹
During 2017–2018, TFSCB supported parallel initiatives to strengthen Djibouti’s statistical capacity, including: (1) developing a fresh National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS), which is feasible and reliable; (2) strengthening Djibouti’s National Account System; and (3) conducting a comprehensive Household Survey for Social Indicators.
By establishing the importance of reliable data, the TFSCB project has catalyzed the transformation of the ‘Department of Statistics and Demographic Studies of Djibouti’ into the ‘Djibouti National Institute of Statistics’
When the initiatives were launched, they were considered high risk due to the lack of capacity at the erstwhile Department of Statistics and Demographic Studies of Djibouti (DISED). Yet, with TFSCB’s technical support and DISED’s motivation to modernize — within two years, the cross-sector diagnostic work for the NSDS was completed; preliminary GDP data was produced; and a Household Survey, covering 4,474 households, was generated.¹²
The institutional collaboration and synergy generated by these projects also popularized the importance of data production in the country — up to the highest levels. As a result, the government decided to transform DISED into the Djibouti National Institute of Statistics (INSD), thereby raising its profile.¹³ Recently, the INSD collaborated with the World Bank to make all of its Household Consumption Surveys available online.¹⁴
5. Catalyzing expert capacity for policy advice in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) is a think tank charged with providing rigorous analysis and policy advice to the government. Although, till early 2010, this key national institute lacked skilled professionals who can create, manage, and analyze economy-wide datasets and models for policy advice.¹⁵
To build this critical pool of manpower in Ethiopia, TFSCB supported the Data Systems and Economy-Wide Analysis Project that recruited international and local experts to train EDRI staff to generate effective policy advice using:
- Econometric techniques and game theory
- Application of the Social Accounting Matrix
- Calculation of key indices, including: materials price index; wholesale price index; export and import price indices; and others
The project also organized workshops and developed online tools to strengthen the practical understanding of the policy analyses.
The TFSCB project catalyzed the supply of key economic indicators — including the Addis Ababa Wholesale Price Index — for timely policy advice
Using the fresh skills, EDRI initiated the compilation of Ethiopia’s Social Accounting Matrix and the Computable General Equilibrium model in 2010. EDRI now also produces regular monthly updates on key economic indicators, including: the Core Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Addis Ababa Wholesale Price Index, and the Real and Nominal Effective Exchange Rates.
Do visit the TFSCB website for more best practices and examples from statistical capacity building projects across the globe. TFSCB is supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Government of Korea, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland.
References
- The Bern Network: A global alliance to strengthen development data, PARIS21
- Statistical Capacity Development Outlook 2019, PARIS21
- Malawi overview, World Bank
- Project Information Document: Malawi Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Financing with Cat DDO, World Bank
- South Sudan Refugee Situation (as of Jan 31, 2020), UNHCR
- Announcing Funding for 12 Development Data Innovation Projects, World Bank
- Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building: Annual Progress Report (May 2019), World Bank
- Côte d’Ivoire overview, World Bank
- Support to the Data Science Institute at the Institut National polytechnique Houphouet Boigny, World Bank
- Djibouti overview, World Bank
- Project Paper: Djibouti National Strategy for Development of Statistics and Strengthening of National Account Production project, World Bank
- Groundbreaking Household Survey Reaps Broad Array of Data in Djibouti, World Bank
- Restructuring Paper: Djibouti: National Strategy for Development of Statistics and Strengthening of National Account Production, World Bank
- Data for all: Djibouti releases a new data library contributing a key global public good and helping track the country’s progress, World Bank
- Ethiopia: Data Systems and Economy-Wide Analysis Project, World Bank
