Written by Francis Nutou
Accra, March 15, GNA Through the second phase of strategic sector cooperation, Ghana aims to build a robust and comprehensive national data system to facilitate evidence-based planning and policy-making.
The Ghana Statistics Service (GSS), the Danish Statistics Authority and the Embassy of Denmark in Ghana have signed a three-year (2024-2026) agreement to enable the creation of a national statistical system.
Government statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim signed for Ghana, while Professor Tom Norling and Mr Carsten Zangenberg signed for the Embassy of Denmark and Statistics Denmark respectively.
The signing ceremony took place on Wednesday, March 13, at the Marriott Hotel in Accra.
Through this cooperation, the country will ensure progress towards a greener statistical period, making efficient use of survey and administrative data and addressing existing data gaps through digitization.
Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Samuel Kobina Anim, a government statistician, said the project will enable the evaluation of administrative data by integrating all datasets.
He said there is a need to reboot national data and statistics systems to bridge data gaps at various levels to properly assess government interventions and support policy decisions.
Explaining the essence of the national statistical system, Prof. Annim said that the second phase of “Planting Forests for Food and Employment (PFJ II)” announced by the departmental minister will benefit about 2 million farmers. I gave an example.
“If that two million is not translated into statistics that remain in our social register, we will have no basis to evaluate it. This is the role of administrative data,” he said.
“So our definition of reawakening the state system when state intervention reaches a certain number of people is to integrate all data sets,” he said.
This would, for example, “allow data on 2 million people to be matched with those benefiting from other interventions such as school meals and livelihood assistance against poverty (LEAP),” Professor Anim said.
The government statistician also said that the second phase of the project will focus on human-centered statistics with disaggregation and multiple indicators to measure quality of life at all levels.
It will therefore help make statistics more inclusive for the poor and help make better policy decisions to deal with the environment, including the effects of climate change and pandemic preparedness, he said. Stated.
He also said that metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) and ministries, ministries and agencies (MDAs) would be able to develop better cooperation with all stakeholders within the national statistical system.
Professor Tom Norling, Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana, said there are endless opportunities for the Office for National Statistics to integrate existing administrative data across authorities and departments.
Carsten Zangenberg, Head of Communications and Sales at Statistics Denmark, said the statistics produced through this partnership will help provide facts and reliable evidence for planning.
“We need to make good decisions informed by data, so we have to work together in the coming years,” he said.
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