African Governments urged to integrate Wholistic Data in Development Plans
By Irene Gaitirira
Published July 21, 2019
African leaders are urged to integrate statistics and geospatial information in their national development plans.
The Regional Committee of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management in Africa (UN-GGIM: Africa) contends that an in-depth knowledge of links among people, economic activities and geographic locations could promote a deeper understanding of key social, economic and environmental issues than is possible through an assessment of socioeconomic data alone.
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The UN-GGIM: Africa urged governments to ensure national statistical, planning and mapping authorities collaborated effectively in the development of respective data infrastructures and systems on the continent.
This, they said, would encourage a potential unification of national statistical offices and national mapping authorities bringing shared benefits to both offices.
They recommended that UN-GGIM: Africa be established as an overarching governance framework in the field of geospatial information management, science and technology to ensure it has capacity to adapt policies and strategic actions to address issues of particular relevance to Africa and also ensure that national bodies are capable of addressing Africa’s unique concerns.
The meeting, that was held in October 2018 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, was hosted by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
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