By DOH JAMES SONKEY
In prelude to the 23rd edition of the African Day of Statistics on November 18, 2019, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women dubbed UN Women organised last November 12 and 13, 2019 at their Bastos Head Office, a two-day roundtable discussion for producers and users of Statistics on the theme ‘production and dissemination of gender statistics in Cameroon: challenges and opportunities.’
Chairing the opening, the Assistant Representative of UN Women, Jalal Hind explained that “The roundtable is aimed at increasing the capacity of the National Statistical System of Cameroon in the drafting and implementation of the strategy for the engagement of gender statistics users, in order to promote an effective and efficient dialogue between producers and users of official gender statistics.”
In a chat with The SUN, she explained that “UN Women wants to see that producers meet different needs of users so that they respond to their queries and to the expectations in terms of what is really needed as concerns statistics in Cameroon for necessary follow up of the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the 2063 Agenda of the African Union and national policies as well.”
The African Statistical Day adopted by the 16th of African Ministers in charge of planning and economic development conference of the Economic Commission for Africa is celebrated each year to raise public awareness on the major role of statistics in all aspects of social and economic life in Africa but also to improve awareness on official statistics, their availability and accessibility, create a space for dialogue between producers and users of official statistics, involve the public and private sectors in the production, dissemination and use of administrative and official statistics, strengthen the capacity of academics, local authorities and the media to access and use official statistics for decision-making and for the publication of evidence-based reports, disseminate statistical publications.