Page 175 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 2

STS479 Belkacem A.
o The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century
(PARIS21)
o UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
o AFRISTAT
o African Development Bank (AfDB)
o United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
o World Bank Development Data Group (DECDG)
Of course, many other agencies and international organizations provide
technical assistance and support in statistics fields. It is worth noting that
despite all these aids, the statistical systems capacity in Africa varies
dramatically from country to country and is still weak in some countries, see
Wingfield-Digby (2007). For a critical analysis, a review of key stages in the
development of data and statistics in Africa together with a review of the roles
of the involved institutions and agencies, we refer to the following papers and
reports: Bergamaschi, Moore and Tickner (2017), Della Faille and La France-
Moreau (2013), Lehohla (2008), Partners in Population and Development
(2009), Round, (2012).

3. Morocco’s experience in the South-South Statistical Cooperation
First, let us recall that the first statistical structures of the Kingdom of
Morocco were set up in 1942 with the creation of a central statistics service. In
order to have reliable statistical information and to coordinate and harmonize
the different statistical activities, a national coordinating committee for
statistical studies was created in 1959. Also, to meet the growing demand and
needs of statisticians, a training center for statistician engineers (National
Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (INSEA)), was created in Rabat in
1961. Later on, the national statistics office has been reorganized under the
supervision of the High Commission of Planning in a central and regional
statistics directorates that oversea the collection, compilation, extraction and
release of official statistics relating to the demographic, social, environmental,
economic and general activities and conditions of Morocco. In addition to the
statistical information produced by the High Commission of Planning, many
other ministries and sectoral administrations produce statistics on a day-to-
day or regular basis.
Given the increasing external and domestic demands in terms of data,
studies, analyzes and simple or composite statistical indicators, the National
Statistical System has put the use of digital technology at the heart of its
business model. Indeed, for instance, during the last two decades, the High
Commission for Planning (HCP) adopted several models, software and various
technological applications such as the Automatic Document Reading
techniques, the Computer Assisted Data Collection system, the integration of
Satellite Imagery and the Geographic Information System, etc.

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