02 Apr 2024

The Botswana National Statistical System and the data statistics management system face challenges related to data availability, quality, and utilisation.

This insight was shared by Dr Burton Mguni, the statistician general of Statistics Botswana (SB), during the recent National Dialogue on the Power of Data High Impact Initiatives held last Thursday.

The event, a collaboration between SB and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), aimed to facilitate a collective discussion on leveraging high-impact data initiatives to enhance coordination and efforts in strengthening the national data system of the country.

Dr Mguni highlighted various challenges, such as resource constraints encompassing financial, technological, and human resources necessary for comprehensive and timely data collection, processing, integration, dissemination, and archiving.

He pointed out that these limitations affect the capabilities of SB, government ministries, agencies, and other institutions providing administrative and other forms of data.

He stressed the importance of addressing these challenges to guide development strategies effectively, emphasising the need for a collaborative approach from both local and international partners.

Dr  Mguni also expressed concerns about the slow progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally, attributed in part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on many countries.

Therefore, he stressed that leveraging on high impact mechanisms such as the power of data, could provide opportunities for prioritising investment in the national data and statistical system, embracing open data, harnessing technology to enable countries to strengthen evidence-based policy making and through that achieve sustainable development.

To address this global concern, he said the high impact initiatives were intended to get progress on the SDGs back on track for the achievement by 2030, as originally intended.

Dr Mguni explained that the power of data high impact initiative, therefore, was aimed at unlocking the data dividend to drive progress on the SDGs and accelerate the pace of sustainable development.

“Its objective is to accelerate political commitment towards having stronger data systems, which would expand availability, access and use of data to further enable evidence-based decision making.

We, at SB, support this initiative as its objectives and potential return are in line with what we, and stakeholders in this country, are working to achieve,” he added.

SB and GPSDD have been in partnership for a number of years, hence GPSDD had extended technical assistance to Botswana on a number of areas, including capacity building in access and use of privately held data, data values and the national capacity for environmental climate change and agricultural data and statistical development, through the Data for

Now Programme, which was a joint partnership initiative with the United Nations Economic Condition for Africa.

The national dialogue that was attended by stakeholders from various sectors and key actors of Botswana data and statistics community was meant to explore how to leverage the collective commitment of the data and statistics community to address the country’s data priorities.

Dr Mguni called upon all stakeholders to seize the power of data to unlock the data dividend to drive progress on the SGDs and other development agendas, locally.

Explaining what the power of data initiative means for Botswana and leveraging on the initiative, he said it would help enhance national development for societal benefit. It will also address data gaps on key SDGs indicators for better reporting.

The meeting agreed on how to strengthen coherence and collaboration between the national statistical system and the United Nations system and other development partners, as well as the private sector and civil society.

At the end of the dialogue, stakeholders were also expected to have discussed and agreed on a two-year draft plan for consolidating gains and possible financial models for harnessing the data dividend and building structures for continuous and sustainable impact. ENDS