The High Level National Data Forum for Uganda was organised by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) with support from the United Nations in Uganda, USAID and Development Initiatives.

It is one of the five events that were organised to mark this year’s African Statistics week under the theme: Leveraging the data revolution for national development.

In his speech, read by the Second Deputy Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Kirunda Kivejinja, President Museveni saluted UBOS and the UN in Uganda for holding the data forum, the first of its kind in Uganda.

“I am pleased to be associated with the initiative of taking time to reflect on how we are measuring the different sectors of our economy,” the President wrote in his speech.

He particularly commended the forum organizers for capitalizing on the ongoing data revolution to spark development in Uganda and encouraged them to borrow lessons from the NRM revolution which he says sparked off wide spread economic development in Uganda.

“We have the resolve, capacity and opportunity to use evidence, through collecting and harnessing data,” the President assured the nation.

Embracing the data revolution

 Mr. Ben Paul Mungyereza, the UBOS executive Director believes Uganda has all the right reasons to celebrate the African Statistics week because the country has made great strides in revolutionalizing data.

“We are talking about revolutionalized data. With data you do things better, you do things in ways that you were not doing them before,” he told participants.

Mr. Mungyereza said that Uganda is doing well in as far as statistical production is concerned and this is one of the reasons why in 2000, Uganda started celebrating a week rather than a day of African Statistics.

“Uganda has long series of statistical data that is comparable to none in the region,” he said.

Mr. Alain Sibenaler, speaking on behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda Ms. Rosa Malango said that with new technology, data is becoming bigger, faster and more detailed than ever before:

“We are indeed in a data revolution which we must embrace and do things in a different way,” he told participants. “In the UN, we believe that Uganda has an opportunity to achieve its transformational revolution, to embrace its national development plan and the Vision 2040 by linking the digital dividend with the demographic dividend.”

The African Statistics Day is commemorated annually on 18th November with the objective of continuously raising awareness about the importance and use of statistics in the economic and social development on the continent.

By Umar Weswala