Background of ASD
The African Statistics Day (ASD) was adopted in May 1990 by the Sixteenth Meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers responsible for Planning and Economic Development. The day is celebrated on November 18 each year in order to “increase public awareness about the important role which statistics play in all aspects of social and economic life” of our countries and the continent, but the date may change due to various reasons.
Main Objectives of the celebration of African Statistics Day:
- Increase awareness of Official statistics, availability and accessibility,
- Create a dialogue space between Producers and Users of official Statistics,
- Engage the public and private sector in production, dissemination and use of administrative and official statistics,
- Enhance the capacity of academicians, local government and media to access and use official statistics for evidence based decision making and reporting,
- Disseminate statistical publications.
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Celebration of the Africa Statistics day in the past
The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) since its creation in 2005, celebrates annually the African Statistics Day with various topics related to the production, dissemination and accessibility of statistical information as well as their use for evidence based decision making in Rwanda. It has been always an opportunity to bring together producers and users, professionals and juniors, academicians, M&E specialists from government and private institutions, civil society, media and international organizations, for discussing the development of statistical activities. From these discussions, different suggestions were given and allowed improvement of the production of statistics and their accessibility.
The following are the recent topics of the African Statistics Day as celebrated in Rwanda:
- Celebration of the Africa Statistics day, 2019
Date: 12th December 2019
Theme: Quality and Timely Labor Force Statistics for National Transformation
Venue: NISR Training Centre (TC), Kigali
Key activities:
- Presentations about labor force surveys, findings, and methodology
- Open discussions on the labor force survey.
- NISR awarded the winners of NISR Infographic Competition 2019 and best Data Journalistic Story Tellers, 2019
- Celebration of the Africa Statistics day, 2018
Date: 20th December 2018
Theme: High-Quality Official Statistics to ensure transparency, good governance, and inclusive development
Venue: Serena Hotel, Kigali
Key activities:
- Discussions on the design process of the third National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS3),
- NISR awarded the winners of NISR Infographic Competition 2017 and best Data Journalistic Story Tellers, 2018
- Celebration of the Africa Statistics day, 2017
Date: 12th December 2017
Theme: Better Lives with Better Economic Statistics
Venue: Serena Hotel, Kigali
Key activities:
- Dissemination of the Demographic Dividend report,
- NISR awarded the winners of NISR Infographic Competition 2017 and best Data Journalistic Story Tellers, 2017,
- Statistics Stage show: an innovative way of data dissemination by students of UR-Huye, Department of applied statistics.
- Celebration of the Africa Statistics day, 2016
Date: 18th November 2016
Theme: Data revolution: Strengthening statistics for regional integration, structural transformation, and sustainable development
Venue: Serena Hotel, Kigali
- Celebration of the Africa Statistics day, 2015
Date: 27TH NOVEMBER 2015
Theme: Better data, better lives: harnessing modern technologies to enhance national Statistical Systems
Venue: Serena Hotel, Kigali
- Celebration of the Africa Statistics day, 2014
Date: the 26th of November 2014
Theme: Open data for accountability and inclusiveness
Venue: Lemigo Hotel, Kigali