The
Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) yesterday handed over information technology
materials and furniture to the Ministry of Interior and the Department of
Livestock Services at a ceremony held at its premises in Kanifing.
The
materials were donated as part of the World Bank Trust Fund for Statistics
Capacity Building under the Integrated Financial Management Information System
(IFMIS).
Speaking
on the occasion, Nyakassi Sanyang, the statistician general at GBoS, said the
materials will enhance the productivity of the recipients.
“This
is commitment we made and it is also part of our mandates as the coordinator of
the national statistical system to ensure that capacity of all institutions
within the system are strengthened to provide all the data expected from them,”
he said.
Mr
Sanyang said the idea of providing support to the institutions emanated from
the deliberations of the 2012 User/Producer Forum. The forum was attended by
all the institutions within the National Statistical System to share with GBoS
the type of data they produce, the methodology applied in the collection
process and how these data are processed and analysed.
He
said the institutions were also requested to explain the challenges they
encounter during the process of data collection and processing.
“The
workshop report was reviewed and the management of the bureau decided that
capacity building should be provided to all the institutions but at different
levels,” the statistician general said.
He
said they are also planning to conduct other capacity building activities such
as training on basic statistics and research methodologies, statistical softwares
and micro data repository.
“The
bureau is negotiating with the University of The Gambia and other service
providers to provide these trainings and very soon these trainings will be
conducted,” Mr Sanyang said.
He
explained that GBoS has also recruited an international consultant to conduct a
capacity needs assessment for the entire National Statistical System and to use
the assessment results to design a 5-year sustainable capacity building
strategy.
“We
are expecting to receive this document very soon and we promise that with time
most of our capacity gaps will be addressed,” the statistician said.
Lamin
B. Jaiteh of the Ministry of Interior said the materials will make their works,
particularly data processing, less cumbersome.
