News Detail

TRAINING OF DISTRICT OFFICERS ON ADMINISTRATIVE DATA COMPILATION

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the Ministry Ot^s Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) to support selected Metropolitan. Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to compile administrative data. The data is expected to provide inputs into the 2022 Annual Progress Reports of the MMDAs as well as their Annual Work Programmes for 2023 and beyond,

To ensure the data are consistent with MMDAs data needs, the Medium-Term Development Plans, MTDP, (2022-2025) and 2020 Annual Progress Reports (APRs) were reviewed to reflect identified data gaps in the templates. Developed in MS Excel, the template has over 150 indicators, including the 20 core indicators NDPC require all MMDAs to report on in their APRs. It covers 15 topics including agriculture, education, health, ‘,vater, road network, SDGs budget, sanitation, etc.

The 101 selected MMDAs were trained in March 2022 in the use of the templates to compile the data and a follow-up in May and June with data validation training to ensure district statisticians check the accuracy of the collated data. A third of the districts were sampled in August 2022 to understand the level of completion, validation and engagements with the District Planning and Coordinating Units (DPCU). On average, about 70% of the templates are completed. 85% of validation done and 64% ofMMDAs have engaged with DPCUs increasing the possibility of these data informing the 2022 APRs that are due within quarter one of 2023.

Justification for scaled-up

l . Following a presentation made to delegates at the 2022 NALAG Conference in May, almost all MMDCEs present requested to cover their districts so they are not left behind in meeting their annual performance agreement with the sector minister.

2. Direct request made by Minister for MLGDRD following a visit led by the Government Statistician in May to brief him on the project.
3. In July, GSS and Africa Center for Parliamentary Affairs organised a Data Fair in Parliament for Members of the House and there was resounding request to cover all MMDAs.
4. A multimedia documentary prepared during the implementation of the project in the 101 MMDAs captured several district actors, i.e. planning officers, budget analysts, coordinating directors, regional ministers, district chief executives, and statisticians, expressing the value of the exercise for the work of all MMDAs.
5. In line with Leave-No-One Behind, enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the recent push to encourage Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) for SDGs implementation at the local level, this programme remains the singular most important opportunity for evidence-based VLRs.
6. It has been the hope of the Development Partners (DPs) who funded the project implementation in the 101 MMDAs that this will be sustained through a scale-up to the remaining 160 districts.
7. A scale-up of this project will provide the needed statistical infrastructure for the District Statistical Departments as established by Local Government Act 635 (2016) to demonstrate their relevance and usefulness in the decentralisation efforts.

Overall Objective

To improve the availability and use of routine administrative data to inform public policy and financial management that responds to the needs and aspirations of citizens and communities at the sub-national and national levels.

Specific Objectives

To enhance the capacity of District Statisticians and Planning Officers on data compilation, including Citizens Generated data, to increase evidence-based decisionmaking in all MMDAs

To enhance the capacity of District Statisticians and Budget Officers on the alignment of the SDGs budgets with the Annual Work Programme derived from their 2022-2025 Medium-term Development Plan

To build the capacity of MMDAs on the use of metadata to compile consistent and comparable data over time and across districts,

Expected Outcomes

District Statisticians compile relevant district-level data to inform the annual work programme and annual progress report

Participating MMDAs better align their annual budget to the SDG targets as required by the directive of MOF in 2019

All district statisticians have the capacity to ensure quality administrative data products which are nationally and internationally comparable

Published knowledge products (process report and multimedia documentary)

Data collection tool

To align the data templates to be consistent with MMDAs data needs, the Medium-Term Development Plans, MTDP, (2022-2025) and 2020 Annual Progress Reports (APRs) were reviewed to reflect identified data gaps in the templates. Developed in MS Excel, the template has over 100 indicators, including the 23 core indicators NDPC require all MMDAs to report on in their APRs. It covers 15 topics including agriculture, education, health, water, road network, SDGs budget, sanitation, etc.

Organisation — TOT

To ensure ownership and oversight, and for the sustainability ofthis programme, the GSS and the partners plan to conduct zonal training of trainers (TOT) for all 16 regions which will in turn lead to the training of the selected MMDAs staff. The eight (8) regional officers for the ToT are:

Department for the 160 MMDAs.