14 Jun 2023

 In a bid to strengthen the national data ecosystem, Statistics Botswana (SB) this week donated more than 200 tablets to the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture (MYSC).

Speaking at the ceremony, Statistician General, Dr Burton Mguni, said the digitisation of data was rapidly spreading and that Botswana was not excluded. “We take cognisance of the importance of the continuous increase in the application of technology in the production of quality official statistics,” he said.

Dr Mguni said the youth, gender, sport and culture ministry served many clients in different parts of the country daily. It was complex to manage their data. He noted that manual processing would require greater human capital and that it would still leave data reporting with significant time lags.

He said the tablets would enable the ministry to effectively handle large volumes of data from internal sources and district youth offices.

Receiving the tablets, acting deputy permanent secretary at the MYSC, Ms Dineo Phuti, said the gesture came at the right time when the global agenda considers data management as a resource.

“The gadgets that will be handed over to MYSC today, will play a pivotal role in evidence-based, decision making and standardised data collection efforts using technology.”

Ms Phuti said their ability to generate relevant, accurate and timely statistics had improved. Employees would use the tablets nationwide to enhance E-library services, the ministry’s data collection and management activities across districts as well as customer satisfaction surveys.

The devices handed over were used in the 2022 Population and Housing Census. ENDS