SEMINAR ON THE LAUNCHING OF THE STUDY
“AFRISTAT AFTER 2005”
7 to 9 May 2001
BAMAKO
AFRISTAT CONTRIBUTION TO
STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING IN MEMBER STATES DURING THE 1996- 2000 PERIOD
25 April 2001
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
MAIN ACRONYMS USED………………………………………………………………… 3
SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….. 11
2. NATURE, OBJECTIVES AND ORGANISATION OF AFRISTAT………………... 11
2.1 Nature of AFRISTAT………………………………………………………………… 11
2.2. Objectives……………………………………………………………………………. 12
2.3. Organisation…………………………………………………………………………. 12
3. GENERAL METHOD OF WORK AT AFRISTAT…………………………………... 13
4. PRESENTATION OF THE ACTIONS UNDERTAKEN AND MAIN
OUTPUT DURING THE PERIOD 1996 TO 2000………...……………………...… 14
4.1 Operational Setting up of AFRISTAT…………………….………………………. 15
4.2. Institution Capacity Building………………………...…………………………… 16
4.3. National Accounts……………………………………..………………………….... 18
4.4. Classifications……………………………………….……………………………… 21
4.5. Macroeconomics and Analysis of the Current Economic Context….…….. 23
4.6. Price Statistics and Household Surveys……………………………………..… 23
4.7. Agricultural Statistics……………………………………………………………… 26
4.8. Employment and Informal Sector……...……………………………...………… 28
4.9. Poverty……………………………………………………………….………………. 30
4.10. Enterprise Statistics..……………………………………………….…………… 32
4.11. Computer Activities and Data Processing………………………………….… 32
4.12. Documentation and Data Dissemination……………………………………… 34
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
5. BRIEF ANALYSIS OF ACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE…….….….…………… 37
5.1 Human Resources….…………………………………………..…………………… 37
5.2 Missions…………………………………….………………………………………… 37
5.3 Seminars……………………………………………………………………………… 37
5.4 Some Indicators for the Appreciation of Main Output……………...………… 38
6. PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES…………………………………………………… 39
6.1. Institutional and Organisational Problems………………………..…………… 39
6.2. Financial Problems……………………………………………………….………… 40
7. CONCLUSION……………………………………………..…………………………… 41
ANNEXES………………………………………………………………………………….. 43
Annex 1: Staff Distribution…………………………………….……………………… 44
Annex 2: Distribution of missions on the basis of various criteria………...….. 45
Annex 3: Detailed distribution of missions by countries, areas and years….. 46
Annex 4: Technical Meetings and Seminars Organised by AFRISTAT…..…… 50
Annex 5: List of AFRISTAT publications…………………………………………… 57
MAIN ACRONYMS USED
Acronyms in English are mentioned in the Table below only for those institutions and terms, which have an official translation in English.
Acronym (French) / Institution (French) / Acronym (English) / Institution (English)ACBF / Fondation pour le renforcement des capacités (African Capacity Building Foundation) / African Capacity Building Foundation
CAN / Association de comptabilité nationale / National Accounting Association
AFD / Agence française de développement / French Development Agency
AFRISTAT / Observatoire économique et statistique d’Afrique subsaharienne / Sub-Saharan African Organisation for the development of economic studies and statistics systems
ASECNA / Agence pour la sécurité de la navigation aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar / Agency for Air Navigation Security in Africa and Madagascar
BCEAO / Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’ouest / The Central Bank of West African States
BCS / Bureau de coopération statistique (EUROSTAT) / Office for Co-operation on Statistics
BEAC / Banque des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale / The Central Bank of Central African States
BIT / Bureau International du travail / ILO / International Labour Office
BOAD / Banque Ouest-Africaine de Développement / West African Development Bank
CERPOD / Centre d’étude et de recherche sur la population pour le développement / Population Study and Research Centre for Development
CDSE / Cadre pour le développement des statistiques de l’environnement / Framework for the Development of Statistics on the Environment
CEA / Commission économique des Nations unies pour l’Afrique / ECA / United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
CEBEVIRHA / Communauté économique du bétail, de la viande et des ressources halieutiques / Livestock, Meat and Fish Economic Community
CEBV / Communauté économique du bétail et de la viande / Livestock and Meat Economic Community
CEDEAO / Communauté économique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’ouest / ECOWAS / Economic Community of West African States
Acronym (French) / Institution (French) / Acronym (English) / Institution (English)
CEFIL / Centre de formation de l’INSEE à Libourne / INSEE Training Centre at Libourne (France)
CEMAC / Communauté économique et monétaire de l’Afrique centrale / Central African Economic and Monetary Community
CESD / Centre européen de formation des statisticiens économistes des pays en voie de développement / European Training Centre for
Economists-Statisticians from
Developing Countries
CHAPO / Calcul harmonisé des prix sur ordinateur / Harmonised computer-aided calculation of Prices
CILSS / Comité permanent inter Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel / Inter- State Standing Committee for Drought control in the Sahel
CITI / Classification internationale type, par industrie, de toutes branches d’activité économique / ISIC / International standard classification by industries, of all types of economic activities
DGSEE / Direction générale de la statistique et des études économiques (Gabon) / Directorate General of Statistics and Economic Studies (Gabon)
DIAL / Développement et insertion internationale / Development and international integration
EDS / Enquête démographique et de santé / Population and Health Survey
EMAC / Etude multidisciplinaire de l’Afrique centrale / Multidisciplinary Study of Central Africa
EMAS / Equipe multidisciplinaire de l’Afrique sahélienne / Sahelian African Multidisciplinary Team
EMEAP / Enquête auprès des
ménages et des exploitants agropastoraux (Mauritanie) / Household and
Agro-pastoral farming Survey (Mauritania)
ENSEA / Ecole nationale supérieure de statistique et d’économie appliquée (Abidjan) / National High School of Statistics and Applied Economics (Abidjan)
ERETES / Equilibre Ressources - Emplois, Tableau Entrées-Sorties / Balance of Resources and Application of funds, Table of Incoming and Outgoing Funds
EUROCOST / European Center for Worldwide Cost of living Comparisons (asbl) / EUROCOST / European Center for Worldwide Cost of living Comparisons (asbl)
Acronym (French) / Institution (French) / Acronym (English) / Institution (English)
EUROSTAT / Office statistique des communautés européennes / EUROSTAT / European Communities Statistics Office
FAO / Organisation des Nations unies pour l’agriculture et l’alimentation / FAO / United Nations Organisation for Food and Agriculture
FED / Fonds européen de développement / EDF / European Development Fund
FMI / Fonds monétaire international / IMF / International Monetary Fund
IHPC / Indice harmonisé des prix à la consommation / HCPI / Harmonised Consumer Price Index
INS / Institut national de statistique / NSO / National Statistical Office
INSEE / Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (France) / National Office of Statistics and Economic Studies (France)
ISE / Ingénieur statisticien économiste / Engineer in Statistics and Economics
ISSEA / Institut sous-régional de statistique et d’économie appliquée (Yaoundé) / Sub-regional Institute For Statistics and Applied Economics (Yaounde)
NAEMA / Nomenclature d’activités des membres d’AFRISTAT / Activities Nomenclature of AFRISTAT Members
NOPEMA / Nomenclature des produits des Etats membres d’AFRISTAT / Products Nomenclature of AFRISTAT Member States
OCDE / Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques / OECD / Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
ODA / Overseas Developpement Administration (Royaume-Uni) / Overseas Development Administration (United Kingdom)
OEF / Office de l’emploi et de la formation (Mali) / Office for Employment and Training
ORSTOM / Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) / Development Research Institute
PARSTAT / Programme d’appui régional statistique / Regional Support Programme
For Statistics
PED / Pays en développement / Developing Countries
Acronym (French) / Institution (French) / Acronym (English) / Institution (English)
PIB / Produit intérieur brut / GDP / Gross Domestic Product
PNUD / Programme des Nations unies pour le développement / UNDP / United Nations Development Programme
PROSMIC / Programme statistique minimum commun / PROSMIC / Common Minimum Statistical Programme
PSB / Programme statistique biennal / Biannual Statistics Programme
SCN / Système de comptabilité nationale / National Accounting System
SGDD / Système général de diffusion des données / GDDS / General Data Dissemination Standard
SSN / Système statistique national / National Statistical System
UEMOA / Union économique et monétaire Ouest Africaine / West African Economic and Monetary Union
UNESCO / Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’éducation, la science et la culture / UNESCO / United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture
SUMMARY
This document was drafted by the Directorate General to serve as a basis for the discussion on Topic1 of the seminar on the launching of the study “AFRISTAT after 2005”. The paper is entitled “AFRISTAT contribution to statistical capacity building during the period 1996 to 2000: objectives, achievements, problems and difficulties encountered, solutions adopted or recommended”.
The objective of this document is to present, as objectively as possible, the achievements of AFRISTAT Directorate General over its first five years of operation and to identify the main problems encountered over the period in implementing the mandate entrusted to it by the constituent treaty. In addition to the introduction and the conclusion, the document comprises 5 sections: after recalling the objectives the organisation and general method of work of AFRISTAT, the document presents and briefly examines the activities undertaken and the main output in the main areas concerned. Thereafter the difficulties encountered and the solutions adopted or recommended are presented.
This document highlights the achievements of AFRISTAT over its first five years of operation in the following fields: institutional capacity building, national accounts, classifications, macroeconomics and current economic development, price statistics and households surveys, agricultural statistics, employment and the informal sector, poverty, enterprise statistics as well as computer activities and data processing. The activities, which contribute to ensure an effective dissemination of information, are also described.
The Economic and Statistical Observatory of Sub-Saharan Africa is a tool for the building of the statistical capacities and the harmonisation of concepts and methods, a pre requisite to the comparability of statistics. It should promote the dissemination of statistical information within the sub-region.
For the effective performance of its mission, the Observatory has a permanent organ, namely, the Directorate General which is a flexible and small structure including, in addition to the Director General and the Deputy Director General, 10 Experts whose profiles were defined according to the priorities spelt out in 1992 by the Founding States: two National Accountants, one Price statistician, one Expert in Household Survey, two statisticians Experts in Data Processing and Computer, one Macroeconomist, one Economist Statistician specialised in the informal sector, employment, and poverty, one Agricultural Statistician and one Expert in enterprise statistics. France supports six of these experts under technical co-operation agreement. In addition, 10 locally recruited staff members assist this team.
At the financial level, after a two-year transitional period (1996-1997) during which the AFRISTAT Budget was sustained by a subsidy from France and part of the financing provided under a support programme of the European Union, routine activities are being financed for an eight-year period by the AFRISTAT Fund which was set up with contributions from Member States and France. Other donors contacted had declined the offer to subscribe to the capital of the Fund, preferring to finance statistical projects at national or regional level.
During the five-year period, 1996-2000, the AFRISTAT Directorate General maintained a sustained rhythm of activities despite the problems and difficulties encountered.
After five years of activities, of which approximately three were marked by optimum operations one can ask the question as to what was the impact of these activities on the development of the national statistical system, of Member States.
The response to this question is difficult at least for the following three reasons:
- The development of the national statistical systems is the result of the combined efforts of the Member States, AFRISTAT (as a tool for capacity-building) and donors, since the main responsibility falls on the Government of each country.
- In order to assess the impact of the efforts of the three items mentioned above, it is necessary to have appropriate performance indicators for each of the statistical sectors of activity. This evaluation exercise is currently underway at the AFRISTAT Directorate General.
- The data concerning the resources allocated to statistical development, particularly to financial resources are relatively incomplete and often difficult to assemble.
The following positive observations can however be made:
- The creation of AFRISTAT has enabled the NSOs to break their isolation from one another. Consequently, leaders at the highest level such as the national Experts of the various fields of activity could establish fruitful contacts, exchange their respective experiences and indulge in brainstorming through the frequent meetings organised by the Observatory. The technical support provided by the AFRISTAT Experts to their national counterparts contributed not only to the imparting of know-how but also to assisting the latter in boosting their self-confidence;
- With the adoption of the Common Minimum Statistical Programme (PROSMIC), Member States currently have a strategic framework for the development of statistics during the next five years. It is up to them to adapt it to their specific needs;
- The basis for the harmonisation and the comparability of statistics were established over the past five years with the following developments:
Design of common activity and products classifications;
Design of a common methodological base for national accounts and utilisation of a common tool, namely the ERETES module
Design of common concepts for surveys on employment and the informal sector;
Development of a common methodology and tool for the design of the consumer price indices (ref. the UEMOA and CEMAC Prices Projects)
Development of methodological guides in the areas of prices and national accounts;
The commencement of improved dissemination of statistical information by using new technologies: Internet, CD- ROM etc.
- The technical expertise of the Observatory is acknowledged far beyond the geographical zone made up by its Member States and also by the bilateral and multilateral donors. In testimony is the following operations carried out, both in non-member States as well as on behalf of African Inter-Governmental Organisation:
Support to the establishment of a national consumer price index in Madagascar, with financing from France;
Design of the first price index in Djibouti, with World Bank financing;
Study of purchasing power parities in ASECNA Member States;
Design of a national account modernisation programme for Cape Verde;
Compilation of the terms of reference for the harmonisation of the statistical priorities necessary for multilateral supervision within ECOWAS;
Organisation and co-animation of several seminars bringing together AFRISTAT Member and non-member States, particularly in the field of agricultural statistics (with the FAO) household surveys (with the World Bank), the informal sector with several institutions and donors) and poverty.
These significant achievements should be broadened and consolidated and should not hide the insufficiencies which still subsist.
- Even though some progress was made, the national resources (human, financial and material) allocated to the development of national statistical systems still remain very inadequate;
- The organisation and general management of national statistical systems are still inadequate in many countries despite the recommendation of the seminars organised for the Directors of NSOs;
- The dissemination of statistical information is still weak with many insufficiencies;
- The administrative difficulties encountered in the implementation of the statistical programmes financed by donors must be mentioned among the impediments to the development of statistical activities: projects whose financing is secured take months or even years to materialise.
In conclusion, the following points can be emphasised:
AFRISTAT Member States currently have an operational integration tool whose routine functioning is ensured over a long period through an original financing mechanism, and whose expertise is now acknowledged at the regional and international level.
The strategic framework for the medium term development of statistics is in place. It spells out the major orientations, objectives, activities and expected results in six fields of great importance for the Member States and the international community.
The basis for the harmonisation, comparability and improvement of national statistics were established with the adoption of conceptual frameworks and methodologies, common classifications and tools.
Appropriate training sessions were carried out and others are programmed in the short and medium- terms.
The statistical isolation of Member States was broken to some extent. Working in common in the sub-region had become a reality.
The technical conditions for the creation of a future African statistical system are in the process of being fulfilled gradually.
A lot was achieved in five years in conformity with AFRISTAT mandate. However, much ground still remains to be covered. The challenge can be won if Member States rely on the thorough work done for them and with them by the Directorate General and if they allocate adequate resources to the development of statistics because, in the final analysis, it is these Member States which are first of all responsible for the improvement in statistical information and the first beneficiaries of this improvement.
- INTRODUCTION
This document was prepared by the AFRISTAT Directorate General to serve as a basis for the discussion of Topic 1 of the seminar for the launching of the study “AFRISTAT after 2005”. The paper is entitled “AFRISTAT contribution to statistical capacity building during the period 1996 to 2000: objectives, achievements, problems and difficulties encountered, solutions adopted or recommended.”
Five years after the effective start of AFRISTAT activities at its head office in Bamako on 2nd January 1996, it became necessary, following a decision by Management Committee and approved by Council of Ministers to undertake a study on the future of AFRISTAT for the following main reasons:
- When signing on 21st September 1993 in Abidjan the treaty establishing an Economic and Statistical Observatory of Sub-Saharan Africa called AFRISTAT, the Ministers of Finance of Member States of the Franc Zone established a financing mechanism for the first ten years phase. This phase, which began on 1st January 1996, will end on 31 December 2005. It is therefore necessary to reflect, as from now, on the role, activities and mode of financing of the Observatory after this date and to take the necessary decisions on time for the new mechanism to be operational on 1 January 2006 latest;
- Since the inception of AFRISTAT, a lot of changes have occurred in its environment: establishment of two economic and monetary unions, namely CEMAC and UEMOA[1], which bring together 14 of the 17 Member States; AFRISTAT was enlarged to include States which are not members of the Franc Zone, and other States expressed interest in joining; the submission of new requests for statistical data particularly within the framework of strategies for poverty reduction strategies, the strengthening of the regional integration process, particularly with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)[2] after the decision taken by the Heads of State to create a single monetary zone before the end of the year 2004, etc.
These changes call for a reflection on how to adapt the institutional framework, the organisation and functioning as well as the programme of activities of AFRISTAT.
The objective of this document is to outline, in the most objective manner, the achievements of AFRISTAT Directorate General over its first five years of operations, and identify the main problems encountered over the period in implementing the mandates entrusted to it by the constituent treaty. The objective is not an evaluation of AFRISTAT. Independent consultants will carry this task, during the last but one phase of the study, which will begin in March 2002.