A Young Statistician’s Reflections on Investing in Human Capacity to Drive Sustainable Development

Fransina Amutenya is a Senior Statistician at, Namibia Statistics Agency. She has benefitted from the Takwimu Young African Statisticians (TYAS) Programme aimed at developing and empowering young statisticians in Africa. The programme, supported by the Economic Commission for Africa provides a platform for young statisticians to collaborate, innovate, and advance their skills, helping them stay in tune with the global data revolution. She speaks about her statistical experience:

What do statisticians do and what attracted you to become a statistician?

Statisticians design data collection tools to gather information on a certain subject often called the population. They analyze the collected data to write a story or report on the findings. In brief, Statisticians are researchers.

How did I become a Statistician? On my first day at university, I intended to register for a Bachelor of Science (Pure science) course. The Faculty officer seated at the registration counter at the time then said, "Hello young girl (I was 17 at the time), there is a new course in our faculty called Bachelor of Science in Population Studies, please consider enrolling for this course instead of pure science" ...As they say - the rest is history, I enrolled, and to this very day, I am forever grateful to Ms. Tekla Tjipura for steering me into this call of a Statistician.

Why are data and statistics important for development and decision-making?

Data and statistics are crucial for development and decision-making for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is only through empirical evidence that we can make informed decisions. By analyzing data, policymakers, businesses, and organizations can understand current trends, patterns, and potential future scenarios, enabling them to make decisions that are grounded rather than speculative. Secondly, with statistics, we can identify areas of concern or opportunities for improvement. Policymakers can detect inefficiencies in a process, uncover disparities in access to resources, or recognize emerging market trends.

Thirdly, we use data to monitor progress and allocate resources efficiently. In the same vein and probably most importantly, statistics can serve as a basis for accountability and transparency in the decision-making processes. By documenting and sharing data on various aspects of development, decision-makers can be held accountable for their actions and policies. All in all, data and statistics play a fundamental role in guiding development efforts and ensuring that decisions are evidence-based, targeted, and effective.

How can data and statistics be used in meeting the SDGs?

Data and Statistics can be used to monitor progress, detect areas of concern, and allocate more resources if need be. As such, we can use data and statistics to track progress on the SDG targets, identify indicators that are lagging behind and see where to allocate more resources or better yet design interventions.

How best can governments harness the power of data and statistics in policy making?

There are several strategies that governments (especially in Africa) can adopt to unlock the full potential of data and statistics in policy making.

Firstly, Governments should invest in building robust data infrastructure, including data collection systems, databases, and analytical tools. This infrastructure should be designed to collect, store, and process data from various sources securely and efficiently. Secondly, there is a need to promote transparency and accountability by implementing open data initiatives. This is key because, by making government data publicly available, policymakers can empower citizens, researchers, and businesses to analyze the data and contribute to evidence-based policymaking. Collaboration and data sharing across different agencies and sectors should also be encouraged. This is to break down silos and embrace the culture of data-driven decision-making among policymakers and public servants.

Further, with the help of Statisticians and Economists, national governments can leverage advanced analytics techniques (artificial intelligence) to extract insights from large datasets and anticipate future trends. Finally, and probably most importantly National Statistical Offices must prioritize privacy and ethical considerations during the entire data management process as this helps build public trust and ensures that data is used responsibly and ethically in policymaking.

Could you share your experience working with the Namibia Statistics Agency?

I joined the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) in November 2014. What a life-changing journey it's been. I have acquired so many analytical skills while on the job. From technical to managerial. To date, I can comfortably say that I can capacitate any national government to calculate its income & consumption aggregate, design its multidimensional poverty index, and above all calculate its national poverty lines. Welfare measurement will always be key to my heart as I can produce vulnerability profiles to help improve the lives of those affected, including the bottom 10 percent of the population. All in all, it's been a game-changer and an exciting journey serving as a Senior Statistician for Welfare and Gender Statistics at the NSA.

What kind of challenges do statisticians encounter in their duties?

I am tempted to say that, encountering an incomplete survey questionnaire from the field, often due to respondent fatigue or refusals, posed a significant challenge for statisticians. However - we can always address this issue by generating proxy indicators to supplement. Instead, the most daunting and stressful situation for any statistician out there is inadequate funding. The impact of COVID-19 on government funding projects (especially in Africa), including those for statistics, has been profound. Lately, data users are forced to rely on outdated statistics to design programs and justify their policy decisions. For any Statistician out there, this scenario represents the ultimate nightmare - the inability to adequately serve your client is painful.

Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: [email protected]

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