United Nations Regional Workshop on Data Dissemination and Communication THE 21 ST CENTURY DATA DISSEMINATION PARADIGM – AN AFRICAN PARADOX; THE CASE OF UGANDA. 9 TH SEPTEMBER 2013 Godfrey G. Nabongo – Uganda Bureau of Statistics

September 2013 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 2 CONTENTS  Introduction  Data Dissemination  The Dissemination paradigm  The Emerging trends  The Operating Environment  African Dilemma  Uganda’s Case  Challenges – the paradox  Recommendations  Conclusion

INTRODUCTION UBOS is a semi- Autonomous Agency of government whose mandate is the Production, Coordination and Dissemination of socio-economic statistics; and is responsible for Coordinating, Monitoring and Supervising the NSS. Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> September 2013

November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 4 DATA DISSEMINATION It has to do with: spreading, scattering, circulation, dispersion, diffusing, rolling-out, storage and transfer of data.

November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 5 DATA DISSEMINATION PARADIGM identification of user and customer groups  Central Government  Local Governments  NGOs, Private Sector and Civil Society  Educational institutions and public libraries  Research institutions  The General public  Media Establishment of Databases Development of dissemination systems Development of metadata

EMERGING TRENDS Different service concepts for different user groups Better services in line with the service concepts Increased use of visualisation and GIS Customisation of the data Making data access systems easy, understandable and user friendly Marketing the data and related services & how to get them - efficiently and systematically Necessity for metadata and data production methodology November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤

Fast changing and high level IT options Social Media Mobile Devices New Information Access Culture All information, any place Information explosion – Grey data Digital populations All generations (builders, baby boomers, X, Y) November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤ 7 DATA OPERATING TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 8 THE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA DILEMMA Legal environment - Weak, obscure and/or missing Information policy, IT policy Technological imbalances/ Apparent digital divide Low computer penetration – social surfing/ High mobile phone penetration – basically text and voice Cultural impediments and social diversity Poor reading/research culture Low statistical literacy/ numeric averse Relatively low education levels Multiple Ethnicity/ multitude of languages Chronic dependency on finished products Survey/census reports not data (spoon feeding) Weak economic base Low prioritisation of investment in data infrastructure & Initiatives

UGANDA’S CASE Ugandainfo Data & indicators from: Censuses, Surveys and routine administrative sources on: Agriculture, Health, Education, Energy, Water, Housing, Gender, Revenue, Finance, Immigration etc Other information – Governance, UBOS products: Reports, Indicators, etc Country STAT Data on Food and Agriculture December 16, 2015 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤ 9

UGANDA’s CASE Contd Press Releases for Regular Indicators Dissemination Workshops for Survey releases Distribution of hard copy publications, CDs and (mailing list) Enhancing the LRC (under Communication and PR) capacity to handle data dissemination Partnerships with Libraries/Resource Centres Database dissemination partnerships (eg IPMUS, Google) UNSD-DFID Data compilation & Dissemination project ( to improve dissemination of development indicators through a central point with corresponding metadata ) December 16, 2015 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤ 10

UGANDA CASE Contd Achievements Constituted a functional MDG sub committee. Updated MDG database and identified missing indicators. Developed an MDG data development Strategy. Enhanced capacity of MDG focal points in generating metadata, production and management of MDG database. Matched all MDG indicators with relevant data sources to address their sustainability. December 16, 2015 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤ 11

UGANDA CASE Contd Lessons Effectiveness of developing and sustaining the MDG database depends on coordination, cooperation and collaboration of key players. SDMX exchange must be supported by a reasonable internet connectivity. Efforts underway to operationalise the National Statistical Data Bank concept to address the data quality, central data repository and exchange in the NSS. Support from the top leadership of the NSO is key. The incentive for the dissemination platform is key for continuous buy in of the respective MDAs. December 16, 2015 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤ 12

November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 13 CHALLENGES Many dissemination systems on offer BUT not promoted outside NSOs Data dissemination systems often not indigenous – short lived, face support challenges Inadequate metadata Few local database users – Often remote/ no feedback Increasing information requests as opposed to data requests Challenges of Pricing data and related services Alternative Data sources on the internet (? Credible)

THE PARADOX November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics ¤ Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala Uganda ¤ Website: Tel: +256(0) ¤ 14 More effort be put into data dissemination systems The shift to paperless dissemination Multiple data dissemination tools Difference in key target audiences viz their abilities Less direct local access to data  Weak/poor data access and management infrastructure  Low user capacity to access and manage data into desired forms Increasing information demand / user friendly formats  Translations  Visualisations  Spartial analysis

November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 15 RECOMMENDATIONS More work to be done in disseminating and reaching the local stakeholders effectively Increased communication effort required

November 3,2010 Uganda Bureau of Statistics <> Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, Uganda<> Website: Tel: +256(0) <> 16 THANK YOU!