Tanzania har rod i sine statistikker – de er upålidelige og mangelfulde og det er en bremse på udvikling. Det skriver Verdensbanken.
WASHINGTON, March 24, 2011 – The World Bank Thursday approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit of 30 million US dollar to support the development of a national statistical system for Tanzania.
The project aims to provide relevant, timely and reliable data for evidence-based policy making in support of the Government’s poverty reduction strategies and the process of economic development.
It is also expected to contribute to better governance and accountability by providing reliable, relevant and freely accessible information for civil society, media, researchers and analysts.
Demand for more and higher quality official statistics has been growing in Tanzania in recent years. In addition to Government, new data users from civil society, the business community, media and academia have appeared demanding new and more advanced statistical products and services such as geographical information systems (GIS) and high-frequency and sub-national data.
These changes have resulted in a demand for a responsive, demand-driven national statistical system that is able to deliver the data needed to support effective policy and decision making at all levels.
However for several reasons, the current national statistical system in Tanzania is inadequately structured or equipped to meet the increasing demands from data users.
In addition, the main actors – the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician in Zanzibar – are severely constrained (hæmmet) by limited technical ability, scarce human and financial resources, dilapidated (nedslidt/forældet) physical infrastructure, lack of coordination and deficient dissemination mechanisms.
There is also a need to reform the organizational and legal framework including a revision of human resources policies.
Previous development initiatives have been patchy, uncoordinated and partly driven by availability of external resources. There has been little opportunity to develop a long term, sustainable, coherent and realistic strategy for the development of national statistics.
The World Bank support forms part of a larger development program currently underway in support of core reforms, investments in skills and equipment and development of statistical sources, methods, policies and procedures under the Tanzania Statistical Master Plan (TSMP), which was approved by government in June 2010.
The TSMP is the first attempt to develop a comprehensive and coherent strategy for the statistics sector in Tanzania, including core reforms.
– Although the quality of statistical data and information has been improving and increasingly being used at policy-making level, much remains to be accomplished and improved to provide data that perfectly suit and meet users’ needs and requirements, said Thomas Danielewitz, the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project.
– This project will provide the resources to improve the data needed to support an evidence-based planning and decision making culture, thereby complementing other important government processes, such as budget management and auditing (revision), he added.
The estimated cost of the project is 64,4 million dollar, including 10 million from the United Kingdom (DFID) and 4,9 million from Canada (CIDA) through a basket funding arrangement.
Other Development Partners have expressed an interest in financing parts of the project. In total, firm and tentative commitments of 57,5 million dollar, including the World Bank credit is guaranteed. It is expected that government or other donors will be covering the remaining 6,9 million.
This is the fourth operation to be approved by IDA for Tanzania during fiscal year 2010-11. In total, the World Bank’s currently active country portfolio includes 24 operations with a net commitment of 2,622 billion dollar.
In addition, Tanzania benefits from 11 regional projects, in which Tanzania-specific financing amounts to over 230 million dollar.
For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/tanzania
