Enhancing the Awareness of Official Statistics in Egypt: The Approach to Increase their Value Ayman Hathoot, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), ayman_m@capmas.gov.eg  27 June 2018 SESSION 12

1. Introduction (CAPMAS) is the main source of official statistics in Egypt It produces data to benefit all segments of the society Responsible for : Enabling them the statistical skills to use, understand and interpret data. Challenge: Approach to increase awareness of official statistics for : the public Staff Member University Graduates

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-1 Communicating with the Media Radio daily radio program "Egypt in figures“ - broadcasted in the morning listeners receive one specific statistical information Ramadan quiz Occur in Ramadan month contains simple statistical information, and question contestant must collect and send the answers (30episodes) to CAPMAS

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-1 Communicating with the Media (Cont.) Radio At the end of the month, CAPMAS announces winners to award prizes Measuring the value Number of participated contestants in the quiz the trend of the participated contestants over years. Both reflect the value of holding that program and its role in enabling the public to possess suitable statistical literacy

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-2 Communicating with the Media (Cont.) television and official newspapers discuss the most important public and current events Prices-inflation-unemployment- population growth rates. Measuring the value No.of comments Facebook, Twitter and other social media Using CAPMAS data instead of other data

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-3 Communicating with the Media (Cont.) Measuring the value (Cont.) Journalist Journal articles is reviewed by CAPMAS’ experts Public Relations department transfer the article to experts Expert write comments if there is any notice Public Relations send the comment and any useful information to the journalist to correct. Journalist may meet the expert directly to discuss.

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-4 the international annual book fair products of the CAPMAS displayed with the presence of statistician experts to answers any inquires. .Measuring the value Expected number of visitors Questionnaire to know and analyze - Attitude the public towards the statistical products - Information about their future requests to achieve .

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-5 statistical literacy at school Some statistical curriculum put in the different stages of the school about statistics and activities carried out by CAPMAS. Measuring the value Feed back about population census showed: students possess good information during the implementation of the 2017 census children were guiding their parents about the role census and census representative.

2-Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-6 Communicating using internet The history of CAPMAS shows that little data was disseminated without its metadata that explain that data data requested from the National Information Center and Presidency of CAPMAS' office take a long time. Paper data – microdata is forbidden.

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-6 Communicating using internet (Cont.) To overcome that challenge By 2010, CAPMAS' experts has cooperated with (OECD) software (Nesster Publisher) is used to document the data with its related metadata Data published using National Data Archive (NADA).

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-6 Communicating using internet (Cont.) Benefits Arabic website, which has more than 1000 study http://capmas.gov.eg/Pages/ShowPDF.aspx?page_id=htt p://www.censusinfo.capmas.gov.eg/Metadata-ar- v4.2/index.php/catalog/ English website, which has more than 200 study, is: http://www.censusinfo.capmas.gov.eg/Metadata-en- v4.2/index.php/catalog/

2- Providing statistical literacy for the public 2-6 Communicating using internet (Cont.) Measuring the value Number of bulletins or surveys on the site compared with the previous month Number of bulletins with the same month compared with the previous year to measure the progress; Number of downloads for each statistical product to judge which is the most important and the less to take a decision toward them; and Information about persons who visit and download data (country; job; kind of downloaded, etc.).

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-1Cooperation with the Academic Bodies Egypt has statistical academic bodies that CAPMAS deal with: Institute of Statistical Studies and Research Cairo Demographic Center Faculty of Economics and Political Science that teach different branches of statistics Measuring the value , CAPMAS covers all tuition fees at all study stages for staff who are serious in their work and have a desire to increase their statistical literacy.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-2 National Center for Statistical Training (NCST) Established in 1970 for its staff member and public and governmental sector who work or expected to work in statistics field. It conducts free annual academic and practical training program applied in 175 hours in seven weeks includes: (lectures of Phases of statistical productions ,methods of presenting statistical data; Data ware house statistical measures; introduction to preparation of statistical report; etc.).

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-2 National Center for Statistical Training (NCST) Cont. Additional seventy five hours for the university qualified employees . Advanced training program (six weeks) for higher than university graduates plus university graduates who got high degree in the university training course.

3-Training the Current Staff Member Measuring the value For the trainees : A periodic evaluation carried out during the training program. At the end of the training program, all participants are committed to submit a research paper For the training program: A questionnaire distributed on the trainees to know their opinion about the program to modify the performance and avoid the shortcomings in the future.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-3 Central Statistics Departments Within each government body and the public sector companies a central statistics department that collect data from its branches provide data to CAPMAS The NCST coordinates both departments of data collection and that concerned with the bulletin production in CAPMAS, and the central statistics departments.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-3 Central Statistics Departments All the three departments hold meetings among them according a schedule to discuss the obstacles they encounter to solve. Measuring the value the three departments write a report includes their conclusion and recommendations to activate them in the next statistical year through following up system and measuring the progress.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-4The Monthly Training Day CAPMAS has established The Monthly Training Day to enhance statistical literacy for all employees and avoid monopoly.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-4The Monthly Training Day the staff members in CAPMAS from all departments (more than 1000) attend to know the most important activities that carried out during the month Measuring the value Activation of the recommendations that presented based on what has discussed through following up and evaluation system to monitor the progress.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-5 Summer Training for University Graduates Statistical studies in universities characterized by academic study CAPMAS interested in providing university graduates with a practical training as they expected to be staff members. A summer training program is prepared for a month that includes visits to the departments that share to produce the statistical output.

3- Training the Current Staff Member 3-5 Summer Training for University Graduates they distributed on the departments to take a task of the official work to accomplish and transfer to another different department to accomplish different task. Measuring the value The departments prepare a report about these trainees to choose the best of them to work in CAPMAS after a personal interview with them by university experts from specialized colleges and institutes.

4- Recommendations A great effort must spent to increase the value of official statistics. The support by the top management is necessary to achieve. To measure customer satisfaction about statistical services accurately, providing the web users with the feedback for each page of the website is crucial for future improvements by asking them about the usefulness of the contents and their comments.

4- Recommendations CAPMAS should be aware about the role of The International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP) and benefit from the services they provide to promote statistical literacy .

Enhancing the Awareness of Official Statistics in Egypt: The Approach to Increase their Value Thank you Ayman Hathoot, Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), ayman_m@capmas.gov.eg