Page 408 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 6

CPS2000 Agnes M. N. Ssekiboobo
by SSP in developing statistical capacity including best practices and
knowledge of what has and has not worked in similar circumstances have
been studied. Partnership between academic statisticians at universities
and training centres on the one hand and official statisticians working at
NSOs is very important and has been very useful to SSP as it augurs well
for the teaching of official statistics. Scaling up partnerships and
interactions between academic staff at SSP and official statisticians at the
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has enhanced the relevance of
statistical training at SSP. Some of the practical and applied courses are
taught by senior and experienced staff from UBOS and other data
producing agencies on a part-time basis so that the students are exposed
to practical and applied aspects of these subjects. The Plans for National
Statistical Development (PNSDs) encourage this relationship. The African
Group on Statistical Training and Human Resources (AGROST) has indeed
played its role in fulfilling its mandate by coordinating ongoing and future
statistical training activities in Africa. Together with UNECA and other UN
agencies, they will propel the continent towards achieving its targets in
the area of human resource development and also provide the required
advisory services.
n. Investing in staff development to improve performance of SSP cannot be
over-emphasized. Efforts on staff development are being implemented
through training, mentoring and motivation. To improve the quality of
service to students, the University has embarked on rigorous training of
staff in the last decade. A number of SSP staff have registered for further
studies at Makerere University or outside Uganda over the years and there
has been a steady increase in the number of PhD holders. However,
because of the policy of holding a PhD to be appointed a Lecturer, the
staff development funds at Makerere University have been overstretched,
though development partners like the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) have come in to support this
initiative.

3.3 Main Challenges at SSP and in general of Improving Statistics
Training:
These include:
a. Loss of monopoly in providing training in statistics and related subjects in
the country and in the African region has been a challenge. New
Universities in Uganda have started statistical training programmes and
also a number of old Universities in the African region are now teaching
statistics. This has created a challenge for the SSP to respond to this loss
of monopoly.

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