By Mulengera Reporters
Led by their Principal Public Relations Officer Didacus Okot, Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) communications officers on Wednesday addressed a news conference, during which a range of activities to be held in preparations to mark this year’s Africa Statistics Day, were enumerated and explained.
At the media event held at UBOS headquarters (Statistics House), the dates for the different commemoration events were communicated. Aided by Nancy Anyango, Lydia Namono Niyibizi (Outreach & Quality Assurance Department Head) and PPRO Faith Atuhurira, Mr. Okoth also explained why each of the activities was chosen and the purpose the same will serve in line with this year’s theme (Leveraging Innovations in Data & Statistics to promote a Just, Peaceful, Inclusive & Prosperous Society for Africans).
This commemoration day has annually been marked and celebrated (on 18th November) in every African country since the year 1990. The idea is to generate additional public awareness about the role reliance on official high-quality statistics plays in planning and evidence-based decision making in each of the African countries. The duty to organize such commemorative celebrations in every country falls on the shoulders of the National Statistics Office (NSO), which in Uganda’s case is UBOS.
According to Dr. Chris N Mukiza, the Executive Director for Uganda’s NSO, the UBOS leadership is taking advantage of preparatory events relating to the Africa Statistics Day, to amplify public awareness towards the quality-enhancing processes that the Bureau follows during collection, production, analysis and dissemination of official data and statistics.
It’s on such official data that the GoU, CSOs, private sector, the academia and development partners rely while making resource allocation decisions.
Dependency on the official statistics and data produced by UBOS enables the GoU to engage in effective long-term planning and evidence-based decision making while deciding resource allocation priorities and designing the appropriate interventions, all aimed at improving the quality of life for ordinary Ugandans.
Besides awareness creation and deepening the stakeholder engagement, the Ugandan NSO is leveraging this year’s celebrations to roll out weeklong activities, which will be running from 12th to 21st November.
Mukiza says that UBOS will be using these activities to publicize the extent to which the Bureau (which in 2024 pioneered the conduct of digital census) has embraced and integrated new technological innovations in the collection, production, analysis and dissemination of official statistics and data. Digitization of data collection, production, analysis and dissemination processes has created efficiencies including timely completion of such undertakings, while minimizing data fraud and other distortions.
The weeklong engagements also present additional opportunity for UBOS to create awareness about such new innovations the Bureau has been adopting in its processes, and thereby simplifying work and deepening efficiency in data collection and dissemination or even storage and access.
The Bureau is also using the weeklong activities to deepen stakeholder engagement, while receiving instant feedback from the different stakeholders as well. There is plenty of feedback and exchange of ideas being enabled through the forums like the Thursday public lecture on digitization of administrative data, and the annual Gender Statistics Forum too (slated for Thursday 20th November).
The Africa Statistics Day-related engagements and activities are being leveraged by UBOS to have direct discussions, feedback and exchange of ideas with representatives of the relevant GoU MDAs, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Academia, private sector organizations representatives and the general public coming to participate in such forums. That way, inclusivity is deepened.
The ongoing weeklong activities are also being used to deepen collaborations between UBOS and other data producers, data suppliers and users. The same is also a platform for the Bureau to publicise and create awareness about best practices that must be complied with in contemporary statistical production processes. Effective data utilization is also being discussed and understood better during the engagements enabled during the weeklong activities, all aimed at commemorating and marking the Africa Statistics Day.
It’s also about community empowerment whereby the weeklong activities are to be used to educate the public (directly and through media representatives) about the importance of relying on official and quality statistics in planning and evidence-based decision making. These activities are also a perfect platform through which stakeholders and members of the public get to realize the need and possibility to rely on official data or statistical information to effectively engage in public debate.
THE SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES:
Here are some of the specific activities UBOS has lined up to mark this year’s Africa Statistics Day, while deepening public and stakeholder awareness about it’s works and mandate.
According to Ms Namono, on Tuesday 18th November, a report on National Governance, Peace & Security-related service delivery by the GoU will be released and disseminated. It’s based on findings from a survey that was conducted by UBOS staff in the field.
On Wednesday 19th November, the Geo-Information Systems Day will be celebrated. This happens annually in order to enable NSOs to lead the respective countries’ stakeholders in celebrating and reflecting on accomplishments deriving from application and adaptation of GIS technology in data collection processes.
In full GIS stands for Geographic Information System, which is a computer-based capability or tool used to enable the capturing, storing, analysing and displaying geographically referenced data and location-based information. According to Okoth, UBOS is also using the weeklong activities to create awareness and deepen stakeholders’ understanding and appreciation of such capabilities, which the Bureau is already leveraging in its contemporary data collection operations.
The annual Gender Statistics Forum, during which stakeholders reflect on gender-related data generated by UBOS, will be held on Thursday 20th November. Explosive discussions are expected since gender debates tend to be an emotive affair and Ugandans are encouraged to follow and participate in the discussion that will be relayed live on TV and via social media livestreaming. Physical attendance of the conference at Statistics House will strictly be by invitation.
As part of the Bureau’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) undertakings, the weeklong activities will also be characterized by a blood donation drive that will simultaneously be ongoing at Statistics House for the Kampala region and the Bureau’s regional offices in Mbarara and Gulu. Okoth and Namono called upon ordinary community members and all the other people to participate in donating blood, as opposed to leaving this to only UBOS staff.
“We need to enthusiastically respond to this blood donation exercise as Ugandans because you never know when an emergency occurs and blood will be required to save a life of a close relative, friend or loved one. It could even be you in need of such emergency resuscitation,” Okoth implored during the Wednesday news conference.
The Bureau is also deliberate on using the media representatives attending and coming to cover these weeklong activities to publicise and amplify public awareness creation about the different statistical products UBOS keeps churning out from time to time.
It was also explained that participation into organizing the Africa Statistics Day is indicative of the fact that, as Uganda’s NSO, UBOS can’t work alone in isolation. Namono explained that their work and research products have to pass the integrity and universal credibility test by complying and aligning with the mandatory requirements imposed under NDP 4, the African Agenda 2063 and the SDGs-related requirements.
The UN Economic Council for Africa (on which all government Ministers concerned with NSO operations sit) guides all National Statistics Offices as they prepare to celebrate the Africa Statistics Day whose uniform theme is equally decided at that level.
All these deliberate quality assurance efforts go a long way in validating the globally-comparable standards UBOS (as Uganda’s NCO) abides by while going about its data collection, production, analysis and dissemination mandate. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
