Page 403 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 6

CPS2000 Agnes M. N. Ssekiboobo
Statistics training in a developing country:
prospects and challenges experienced in the last
two decades at the School of Statistics and
Planning, Makerere University, Uganda
Agnes M.N. Ssekiboobo
School of Statistics and Planning, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Abstract
Some of the experiences and challenges being met today in statistics training
at the School of Statistics and Planning (SSP) are not new but a confirmation
of what has remained relevant while some strategies that have been put in
place to improve statistics training need to be refocused or new ones
developed. It should however be noted that there are new or emerging issues
like climate change, management of natural disasters, rural statistics and
others. Capacity for collection and handling of statistics in a number of
developing countries in terms of institutional arrangement, trained personnel
and methodological development is rather limited. As a result the national
statistics system is also limited in providing statistical products and services to
meet user data needs. The gap between data requirements and data
availability and quality is widening in many developing countries and thus the
need to invest in statistics training and data management so as to bridge this
gap and allow cross-cutting analysis. There is also need in Uganda to carry out
a training need assessment to find out the basic skills required. Given the
unprecedented challenges as well as opportunities for statistical development
in Africa which stem from the new focus on managing results and evaluations
of a number of continental action plans, and concerns raised thereof, SSP had
to reposition itself to play a greater role in current statistical reforms and
development in Africa by realigning its training programmes appropriately.
The paper will therefore review the journey that SSP has embarked on in the
last two decades, the available training opportunities, the challenges that have
been encountered and prospects of dealing with them. The main objective of
all this will be to see how SSP can contribute better to the efforts of developing
countries becoming self-reliant in the provision of trained statistical personnel
at different levels so as to build a robust, self-sufficient and sustainable
national capacity for statistics production.

Keywords
review, development, programmes, research, opportunities.

1. Introduction
The School of Statistics and Planning (SSP), formerly known as the Institute
of Statistics and Applied Economics (ISAE) was established as an autonomous

392 | I S I W S C 2 0 1 9