The Africa Information Highway – Progress, new development and planned work Statistics Department, ESTA Chief Economist Complex, ECON

Introduction Components of the AIH System Implementation Partnership Challenges Planned work 2Agenda Statistics Department – Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank

Increase data access thereby enhance transparency, accountability, and governance Significantly improve data exchange among RMCs Improve data quality through enhanced adherence to international standards Make AfDB a hub/knowledge center for development data on RMCs Promote regional integration and harmonization 3 Statistics Department – Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank Introduction : Objectives

COMPONENTS OF THE AIH SYSTEM

controlled entirely by authorized RMC personnel. Official statistics only. Same as above but direct linked to Statistical Data Portal. MDG indicators. Open data platform is open to all users –after registering Statistical Data Portal MDG Data Portal Open Data Platform or ODP 5 Integrated Data Dissemination System in all 54 African countries, 9 Regional and Sub-regional organizations comprising: Statistics Department – Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank Components of the System

IMPLEMENTATION

Installations of the system in countries started in January The system is now installed in:  All 54 African countries  9 Regional and Sub-regional organizations  6 Statistical Training Centers  21 Central Banks of Africa (to be expanded to all of them)  12 Ministries of Finance (to be expanded to all of them)  Other country ministries Level of Implementation

PARTNERSHIP

AfDB Opendata used to collect data and meta data International standards used to collect data (leverage new technology that is rapidly being developed_SDMX) Strengthen and sustain NSOs, but be more than business as usual E-GDDS Initiative 9 Our partnership with IMF… Statistics Department – Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank

GDDS participants are encouraged to disseminate data categories through National Summary Data Page (NSDP) using the AfDB Opendata platform – Insufficient progress in updating metadata in RMCs – Low Rate of Graduation to SDDS – Dissemination is important step to raise quality and transparency 10 Our partnership with IMF (2)… Statistics Department – Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank

CHALLENGES

Implementation Challenges  Internet infrastructure still weak in many African countries and/or Stat offices.  Countries still face data management challenges  Advocate for governments to release timely data  Promote the use of Open data  Availability of data does not guarantee its use

WORK PROGRAM

Statistical Support for the Bank’s High 5s (Africa’s Transformative Agenda)

Peripheral initiatives  Food Price Data Collection (FPDC) – Weekly food prices data are being collected from 42 countries.  Farmers Digitalization Farms Registry Project (FDFR) Advice farmers on their farm produce  Country Census Dashboards –specialized portals for disseminating census data  Country Executive Monitor- Macro indicators for high level decision makers.  Connect Africa: This tool is useful to help connect small companies in Africa to far-off companies.

Implementation arrangements At three levels  Regional by ESTA (in collaboration with partners & in some cases with Bank departments)  Sub-regional - SROs  Country

Advantages of AIH 1.Increasing data access 2.Reduced data-reporting burden for RMCs 3.Promoting the regional integration and data harmonization agenda 4.Improving data quality through enhanced adherence to international standards 5.Significantly improving data exchange among RMCs 6.Enhanced data support for Bank operations

Seminar with AIH focal points in Libreville, Gabon High 5s SDGs: to lead this initiative in Africa Complement the NSDP pages with SDGs template and High 5s for indicators 18 Way Forward Statistics Department – Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank

19 Some useful links: Statistics Department Website The Data Portal AfDB: Nigeria: Zambia: Senegal: Country Open Data Afdb: Botswana: Lesotho: Ipad Tool Afdb ECON & Afdb Statistics are Ipad tools to view official statistics reports and data from the AfDB Statistics Department. The application are available in the Apple Store for free download. Statistics Department Chief Economist Complex African Development Bank Group