Statistics Botswana introduces technology solutions
Statistics Botswana has introduced Innovative solutions to mitigate the disruptions caused by COVID- 19 outbreak to its data collection activities.
According to the agency’s Chairperson, Letsema Motsemme ‘ surveys are being conducted digitally as alternative means to generate vital information for planning purposes’
Writing in the latest Statistics Botswana annual report, Motsemme said COVID- 19 pandemic has and continues to disrupt consumer price index ( CPI) compilation and collection. Data enables stakeholders, especially the business community, to formulate policies, plan and make decisions. The country’s data authority’s operations, particularly collection and compilation of consumer price index ( CPI), have been disrupted since April 2020, when measures designed to limit the spread of COVID- 19 were implemented. Over the past months SB has been using imputation to account for missing items
on the CPI data collection. The adopted imputation strategy was developed by the International Monetary Fund ( IMF), following consultation with the regional and national statistical organisations to address an increased number of temporary business closures. Some of the most affected industries by the COVID- 19 safety protocols have been the hospitality and food industry due to lockdowns and restricted movements. However, Motsemme is optimistic that successful implementation of ongoing and planned strategic initiatives will enable the organisation to keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of the economy and data expectations from users of official statistics. This year the headline project for SB is the 2021 Population and Housing Census. Motsemme said being the largest and most complex, the project presents opportunities for the data authority to transform its technological infrastructure. “Investment in information technology infrastructure will support the census project and subsequent intercensal survey”, Motsemme said.
Last year, SB concluded the ICT strategy and the Data Quality Assurance Framework ( DQAF). According to SB, when fully implemented, the ICT strategy will enable automation of most of the organisation’s business processes, promoting efficiency in the production of official statistics. “This strategy will also enable the organisation to increasingly grow its work on accessing and using big data to produce official statistics”, Statistician General Dr. Burton Mguni said. DQAF implementation will include development and packaging of statistical standards, rollout of the framework and finalisation of the DQAF user manual, code of practice and compliance guidelines which will support the operability of the framework. Meanwhile 16 sectors of the National Statistical System ( NSS) had been enrolled into the Botswana Strategy for the Development of Statistics ( BSDS) by the end of the 2019/ 20 financial year. “This is a cumulative figure starting from the beginning of the implementation of the strategy in 2015. An important rationale for the enrolment of the NSS sectors into the BSDS is to improve data collection, organisation and production as well as use of statistics in that sector”, Dr. Mguni said. Mguni said the strengthening of statistical capacity in the NSS sectors of which many are Ministries, Departments and other Agencies ( MDAs) has a huge impact on the provision and quality of indicators used for monitoring and evaluation of development frameworks including the National Development Plan 11 ( NDP11), Vision 2036, Africa’s Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs).