The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has underscored the need for collaboration with the University of Ghana so far as data systems are concerned.

According to Government Statistician, Prof Samuel Kobina Annim, insights into national interest will see a great boost if the institution allows for this linkage which will subsequently tie into enriching policy decisions of the country.

He said this during the High-level Academia-based launch of the Ghana Statistical Service Stats Bank which was organised by the UG’s Regional Institute for Population Studies in collaboration with the GSS and Statistics Denmark.

Addressing the gathering at the ISSER Conference Hall at the university campus, he explained that the signing of an agreement to align this proposal will go a long way to streamline the relationship in the sourcing of user-centred information for national discourse.

“We will be happy if we get the university to share with us the microdata dissemination policy, take the conversation forward for us to sign an MoU with the university, and we believe that it will be better coordinated if all the departments follow this, and the university has a centralized microdata dissemination policy,” he said on Tuesday, August 29.

Prof Annim wished that both parties kick-start efforts towards signing a memorandum of understanding which will see resources mobilised towards establishing a strong mechanism to firm up his proposal.

The Government Statistician said this will aid facilitation of the ongoing coordination of the national statistical systems since the University of Ghana has prioritized data utilization.

For him, this will also be a stepping stone towards ensuring data-driven development to ensure well-targeted government programmes.

“Vice Chancellor, that is the only way we can get a university to provide us with data which will help us complement what we have and where possible, validate what we have.”

Responding to these sentiments, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Nana Aba Appiah Amfo described this as a laudable idea worth exploring.

Prof Appiah welcomed the move and conveyed her outfit’s readiness to see Prof Annim’s proposal come to life.

“You can be assured of the University of Ghana’s willingness to collaborate with the Ghana Statistical Service,” she added.

“There are units in the university which are already working on creating data banks and we will be very happy to collaborate with you so that we can put our efforts together to achieve greater results.”

She also thanked the GSS for the opportunity granted the university to host such an august event.

What is StatsBank?

The StatsBank is an online database for accessing disaggregated census statistics. This is the first of its kind in Ghana and presents an innovative and user-friendly results dissemination method which allows users to generate customised tables and maps at the national, and sub-national levels at no cost.

The StatsBank is also a repository for macroeconomic indicators and, in the long term, will provide data on other censuses and surveys.

Speaking at the University of Ghana, the Government Statistician indicated that it is “not just a census bank, but a statistics bank that will integrate different data sets.”

“So going forward, what we are going to do is, we are not going to restrict it to only censuses, and even in the space of censuses, it is not going to be only population and house census. 2017 and 2018 we did an agriculture census, we are going to superimpose that data on the stats bank. All the surveys that we are going.. we are going to stick all these data on the StatsBank,” Prof Samuel Annim added.

Also present was the Deputy Head of Mission at the Denmark Embassy, Vibeke Sandholm Pedersen.

She reiterated the collaboration between GSS and Statistics Denmark which birthed this project.

Ms Pedersen further intimated that statistical data is only useful when it is accessible to all.

“Access to statistical data can strengthen our democracies. It can guide decision-makers and the general public as it allows decisions to be made on an informed basis. Access to statistical data also ensures transparency and accountability which is also of great importance in our democracies.”

Director of the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) at the University of Ghana, Prof Ayaga Bawah recounted his outfit's role in putting together the 2021 Population and Housing Census and its continuous efforts to throw on the existence of same.

StatsBank Hackathon

As part of the events leading up to Tuesday’s launch, a hackathon was organized for UG students to explore ways to maximise date provided on the StatsBank.

Prof Bawah says this contest “required teams to develop an innovative statistical product based primarily on data from the stats bank.”

Team Beta came tops in the Hackathon and were recognized for their hard work.

They took home a cash prize of Ghs5,000 and a certificate.

There are other StatsBank Hackatons also being hosted at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the University of Allied Science, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Development Studies (UDS).

The aim is to promote the use of census data for policy-relevant research.