This report presents all strategic issues and activity plans that are going to guide the work of the National Statistical Office (NSO), to enable the country meet its demand for high quality, timely, accessible statistical information and services for the next five years. Statistics are a vital part of Malawi’s development. They are needed for evidence-based decision and policy making; to provide quantitative measures of development progress; to allow Malawians to measure the implementation of policies and reforms; and to support economic management and the delivery of services. The Plan therefore advocates better utilisation of statistics to inform this process. Demand for good statistics is at an unprecedented level. Development initiatives, such as the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) at the local level, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the international level, require sound information if they are to have an impact.
There will be three themes that will guide the development of the NSO during the period of this Plan. The first is to continue the process of organisational change and reform, in order to more efficiently utilise resources to deliver improved statistical services. The second is to ensure that the statistics required to design, monitor and evaluate the MGDS are delivered effectively. The third is to develop and implement a strategy for improving the management and organisation of the whole National Statistical System (NSS), involving relevant Government Ministries and other producers and users of official statistics. The launching of the NSS in November 2006 is an important milestone towards a comprehensive and well-coordinated production of Official Statistics which will ultimately benefit our data users.
The Strategic Plan is organised in six chapters. Chapter one describes the evolution of the NSO to its present status and development frameworks that will need to be supported by various statistics produced by NSO. Chapter two portrays the Mission, Vision and Core Values of NSO while chapter three depicts Goals and Strategies. Governance, Organisation and Management are in chapter four. Chapter five outlines how the Plan is going to be implemented and monitored. Finally, Chapter six highlights areas believed to be critical for the Plan’s successful implementation.
I am grateful to the team that was involved in drafting this report. The team was led by Shelton Kanyanda and included Sophie Kang’oma, Willie Kachaka, Chris Matemba, Benjamin Banda and Malawi Yute. I am also grateful to various individuals, institutions and organisations for their valuable contributions and various members of staff at all levels who helped to guide the process.
Charles Machinjili
Commissioner of Statistics
ACBF African Capacity Building Foundation
ADC Appointments and Disciplinary Committee
BOP Balance of Payment
CD ROM Compact Disc Read Only Memory
CS Commissioner of Statistics
DCS Deputy Commissioner of Statistics
DFID Department for International Development
DHRM Department of Human Resources and Management
EIMS Education Information Management System
HIMS Health Information Management System
IT Information Technology
LAN Local Area Network
MASEDA Malawi Socio- Economic Database
MCCI Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
MDHS Malawi Demographic and Health Survey
MGDS Malawi Growth and Development Strategy
MIPA Malawi Investment Promotion Agency
MITPSD Ministry of Industry Trade and Public Sector Development
MODA Management and Organizational Development Associates
MRA Malawi Revenue Authority
NSO National Statistical Office
NSS National Statistical System
OPC Office of the President and Cabinet
RBM Reserve Bank of Malawi
RO Regional Office
SCS Statistical Common Service
SNA (UN) System of National Accounts
SP Strategic Plan
TWC Technical Working Group
UN United Nations
WAN Wide Area Network
The National Statistical Office (NSO) has been implementing its activities based on strategic planning since 1996. These Strategic Plans cover a five-year period. The current Strategic Plan covers the period 2007-2011. The strategic plan outlines the mission, vision, core values, goals, strategies and the critical factors determining the successful attainment of the goals.
The mission of the NSO is to provide high quality, timely and independent statistical information and promote its use for policy formulation, decision-making, research, transparency, and general public awareness. The vision is to set-up a National Statistical System (NSS) with a good public image, coordinating and setting standards for official statistics and serving as a “one-stop” statistics resource centre. The NSS was launched on 17th November 2006 and its purpose is to ensure the unification of data production processes. This plan is a stepping stone towards producing a strategic plan for the NSS as a whole, incorporating the NSO and sectoral plans. The NSO has its own core values which are confidentiality, integrity, independence, methodological proficiency, comparability and quality of statistics, transparency and accountability of management, customer satisfaction and sensitivity for gender issues.
This plan outlines six key goals; to promote, coordinate and manage the NSS; to produce better quality statistics; to enhance the service provided to users; to realise staff potential; to improve organisation and management; and to improve financial planning and control.
Operational strategies are outlined to meet each of these goals. Key proposals include the development of coordinated and harmonised statistical standards, including standard classifications and definitions and promote their use within the NSS, improvements to governance and organisation, primarily through implementation of the recommendations contained in “A situation review of the institutional framework and capacity of National Statistics System in Malawi”, a report by the Management and Organizational Development Associates (MODA) as well as the recent Civil Service Functional Review which includes the review and revision of the 1967 Statistical Act. Management strategies include the need to develop and implement better work planning and reporting systems; improve the transparency and accountability of internal decision making; strengthen regional offices, statistical units in the line ministries and encourage district assemblies to have statistical units with the aim to decentralise statistical functions to the districts, enhance the coordination of the Statistical Common Service; and improve the marketing of statistical products.
The output and overall indicators to be achieved by the end of the five year period are:
Sufficient and productive human resource in place;
Effective teamwork,
Enhanced coordination and communication within the NSO and the entire NSS;
Statistic Act Reviewed and Revised;
Statistics Act Provisions publicized and enforced both at the workplace and to the general public;
Statistical Clearinghouse made available,
Capacity building for statisticians and support staff and
HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy launched.
The critical success factors regard the capabilities and resources needed to achieve the strategic objectives. The plan isolates human resource capacity, statistical common service, information technology, advocacy and legislation, user needs and financial resources as areas that need more attention for the successful implementation of the plan.
Finally the success of the plan requires support from a number of key stakeholders including the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Ministry of Finance, OPC, Department of Human Resource Management and Development, the Law Commission, data producers and users, Development Partners and the general public.
The NSO is a Department of the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC). It was established soon after independence in 1964, to collect official statistics and provide them to policy and decision makers.
The headquarters are based in Zomba with three regional offices in the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu performing data collection and dissemination services. It has a staff compliment of over 300 and operates under the 1967 Statistics Act.
The NSOs first Strategic Plan was produced in 1996 for the period 1996-2000. The Plan was approved by the National Statistics Committee, which was chaired by the Minister of Finance and composed of all major government statistics producers and users. Much of the plan has now been implemented; the approach used in the implementation process included the introduction of a performance management system through the development of a set of strategic and operational objectives, activity plans and the introduction of individual and divisional annual work plans.
The period for the previous Strategic Plan (SP) is over and there is need to strategize NSO’s activities for the next 5 years. In addition, there are a number of developments that have taken place in the course of implementing the previous Strategic Plan that require a strategic response.
The first of such developments is the reintroduction of the Statistical Common Service (SCS) in 2003. This is a grouping of public officers employed by the Commissioner of Statistics to provide statistical services in the public sector. This group of officers is based in different Government Ministries and Departments and reports to the head of their respective institutions but remains under the directorate of the Commissioner of Statistics who controls and manages them. The SCS together with the entire government common service was abolished in 1996 leading to loss of touch between the Commissioner and statistical officers in line Ministries. However the reintroduction of SCS in 2003 has brought about the need to strategize statistical efforts in areas of management, staff training, dissemination practices and accessibility of data.
The second important development is the launch of the Malawi National Statistical System (NSS) on the 17th of November 2006 as part of the commemoration of African Statistics Day. A National Statistical System is a coherent coordination of data producers, suppliers and users in the production, management, dissemination and utilization of official statistics under the guidance of a legal framework, infrastructure and institutional arrangements. The current Strategic Plan has been designed to address these issues and act as a stepping stone towards producing a strategic plan for the NSS as a whole, incorporating the NSO and sectoral plans.
Although recommended in the previous Strategic Plan, the 1967 Statistics Act currently in use needs to be revised to serve as benchmarks for good, modern practice, changes in government system and the launch of NSS taking account of the UN’s Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics, which should help to meet Malawi’s needs. This review needs to be one of the preliminary works in the implementation of a National Statistical System in Malawi.
The MGDS which is the current government’s development framework clearly highlights the need for data as well as the importance of recognizing that new initiatives will further require data. In the document, statistics are quoted on most pages to identify issues and underpin policy analysis; recognising their role in transparency and accountability of governance and community participation in policy formulation; as well as the needs of monitoring and evaluation. It is therefore clear that a wide range of good quality statistics will be required to measure inputs to and outputs from programmes and policies, implementation processes, and strategy outcomes. The MGDS will require more comprehensive and up-to-date national statistics than ever required before. Further more statistics will need to be disseminated widely using innovative techniques, so that both those that deliver and receive services can monitor their effectiveness.
At global level, the use of statistics cannot be over emphasized. The MDGs require timely and good quality statistics to complement monitoring of national development policies and international comparison of development indicators.
The following steps were followed to produce the NSO’s third Strategic Plan:
· During implementation of the second Strategic Plan user needs assessments were undertaken at various stages of the Plan by NSO, local as well as international consultants in a process that would culminate in the revision of the Plan and the development of an umbrella plan for the NSS.
· NSO revised its activities in the 2002-2006 Strategic Plan towards the end of 2006. This involved all heads of sections and divisions at the NSO.
· Through the same forum an activity plan for 2007-2011 was proposed.
· An NSS workshop was convened in Mangochi on 3-4 January 2007 to take stock and recommend the way forward on drafting strategic plans for the NSO and NSS.
· A drafting team was set up composing six members of staff from different divisions of the NSO, four of whom are also involved in the development of the NSS Strategic Plan.
· This followed a review of the previous strategic plan, taking into account recommendations from MODA report that was carried out to assess the entire National Statistical System.
· In April 2007, the drafting team submitted its draft report to an editorial team.
· Upon editing, the report was presented to a wider group of NSO staff, with representation of technical, clerical and support levels for further comments and amendments.
· Comments and views were solicited directly from key users and producers of statistics, and indirectly through the use of the NSO’s web site. Comments were also invited from the general public through announcements in the National Press and Radio. Suggestions received as a result of this process were then discussed and incorporated where possible.
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To provide high quality, timely and independent statistical information and promote its use for policy formulation, decision-making, research, transparency, and general public awareness |
To set-up a National Statistical System with a good public image, coordinating and setting standards for Official Statistics and serving as a “one-stop” statistics resource centre.
In order to achieve these aspirations in a sustainable manner, the following critical issues need to be addressed:
· Enhanced production of high quality, relevant and timely statistical products and services;
· Developed professional culture with highly motivated, qualified and professional staff working to their full potential under improved conditions of service;
· Better office infrastructure: transport, equipment, IT, and buildings;
· Upgraded structure in SCS Units to develop career path;
· Strengthened Regional Offices and statistical units in line ministries and district assemblies encouraged to establish statistical units;
· Enhanced coordination and liaison between NSO and other producers of official statistics, such as line ministries involved in maintaining Management Information Systems.
· Reviewed and revised Statistics Act
The following values shall guide staff in their operations and conduct:
Keep confidentiality of all data provided by respondents in accordance with the 1967 Statistics Act (and its successor).
Produce and disseminate statistics in an objective and independent manner without any political or outside interference.
Use the best available expertise and methodology in the delivery of services, to ensure quality statistics that are accurate, timely and relevant to users.
Ensure that statistics can be compared with others, by maintaining internationally and locally agreed standards.
Be transparent and accountable in all operations at all levels.
Continue to conduct consultations with users and publish relevant user guides for all products to ensure customer satisfaction.
Continue to be an equal opportunity employer and produce and disseminate gender - disaggregated data at the lowest possible level.
The implementation of the previous Strategic Plan had some achievements as well as challenges. While some of the challenges will be tackled in the current strategy, others will not be taken up as they have become irrelevant.
A number of milestones have been achieved during the implementation of the previous Strategic Plan. The following are some of the milestones that have been achieved:
1) Functional Review :– The current structure of the NSO is based on a functional review that recommended the introduction of the post of Assistant Commissioner in the Economics Division at P4 level. In addition, the review further recommended the establishment of Chief Statisticians at P5 level in all the regional offices.
2) Staff Development :- As one way of having qualified staff, the NSO managed to send for further education a number of officers to pursue Master Degree and Post Graduate courses. On the other hand junior officers were also sent for Certificate and Diploma courses in statistics at the University of Malawi (Chancellor College) and the East Africa Statistical Training Centre (EASTC) in Tanzania.
3) Partial Relocation: – As set out in the previous Strategic Plan, the NSO would undertake a phased relocation to Lilongwe in order to better serve government ministries and departments who are the major users of official statistics. Looking at the costs involved, it was difficult to move all the offices at once to Lilongwe. To this effect, partial relocation started with National Income Accounting and Balance of Payments sections moving to Lilongwe due to their close relationship with key users of macro-economic data who are based in Lilongwe.
4) Networking Regional Offices:- For efficient data sharing within and beyond the NSO, it was recommended in the previous Strategic Plan that all regional office be on a Local Area Network (LAN). The central regional office has been networked and is currently under a LAN. The current strategic plan intends to complete the LAN connection to the other regional offices.
5) Malawi Social Economic Database (MASEDA):- In order to enhance services rendered to users, the NSO has developed a database of socio-economic indicators that can be accessed through a website. The database is referred to as the Malawi Social Economic Database (MASEDA) and can be accessed at the following website: www.maseda.info.
6) Statistical programs implementation:- A number of statistical activities and surveys were successfully implemented during the previous strategic plan period as follows.
a. The Second Integrated Household Survey (IHS2) (2004-2005)- A survey that provided benchmark poverty and vulnerability indicators for the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
b. The Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (2004) – A survey that provides health, nutrition and demographic indicators in the monitoring of indicators in the MGDS as well as the MDGs.
c. The Welfare Monitoring Surveys (2004, 2005, 2006) – This survey provides annual estimates of poverty and other welfare indicators in the inter survey periods such as the Integrated Household Surveys.
d. Revision of National Accounts Estimates:- The National Accounts have been successfully revised using new supply and use (SUT) tables in line with SNA 1993. This has been made possible due to improvements in the Annual Economic Surveys, Business Information Registry, Foreign Trade Statistics, Price Statistics and Agriculture Statistics.
e. Consumer Price Index:- The monthly consumer price index and inflation rates have been timely and widely publicized and utilized as an indicator for policy making in both the public and private sectors of the economy.
f. Other Statistical Programs achieved but not in the Previous Strategic Plan:- During the previous Strategic Plan, there were a number of surveys that were successfully implemented although they were not within the Plan. Such surveys include:-
i. HIV and AIDS Behavior Surveillance Survey (BSS) with funding from National Aids Commission, Family Health International,
ii. Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys with funding from UNICEF
iii. Migration Survey with funding from UNFPA
These surveys addressed new priority needs for behavioural change indicators and other indicators for monitoring national policy frameworks such as the MDGS and international needs such as the MDGs.
Although some achievements were made as stipulated above, there are still some outstanding issues not implemented. The following are some of the issues not accomplished and the challenges faced:
a) Reviewing and revising the Statistics Act: The Statistics Act was not reviewed and revised as recommended in the previous plan. The biggest challenge the office faced was inadequate funding to undertake legal processes and lobbying other stakeholders. The lesson learnt and recommendation is that ample time and adequate resources are required for lobbying and legal review.
b) The NSO becoming Semi-autonomous:- The proposal for the NSO to become semi-autonomous was turned down by Government. This decision will be revisited in the next plan period but the focus is currently on developing the NSS.
c) Relocation to Lilongwe:- Not all the Divisions have moved to Lilongwe. Only partial relocation has taken place as indicated above. The biggest challenge has been inadequate funding. However, during the 2006-2007 National Budget session, some funds were allocated for the design and costing of an office block in Lilongwe.
d) Filling vacant positions in the Statistical Common Service and Regional Offices:- Although some positions have been filled, there are still some vacant positions that have not been filled especially in statistical units in line Ministries. The challenge has been the long process involved to recruit and/promote officers through the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Human Resource Management and Development.
e) Inadequate funding allocated to NSO:- There has been inadequate funding allocated to the NSO over the years and this has hampered or delayed implementation of some planned statistical programs. Surveys such as Informal Sector Survey; Labour Force/Employment Surveys were not implemented due to funding. The National Census of Agriculture and Livestock was planned to be undertaken in 2003 cropping season but funds only became available in 2006.
f) Lack of statistical coordination:- Due to lack of funds, the Statistical Steering Committee was inactive and rarely met over the planned period.
g) HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy:- Although proposed in the previous plan, the NSO has not been able to secure resources to put it in place.
Limiting factors identified by the MODA review were inadequate funding, staff shortages, lack of further training, especially at post-graduate level, and shortages of vehicles and office equipment.
Feedback from users has been generally positive with much use made of the statistics produced, including good media coverage, for instance of the Consumer Price Index, poverty estimates and revision of the national accounts. The office has responded positively to a number of demands from users. For instance, there is increased demand for district level information and by gender. The office is disseminating information through MASEDA at district, Traditional Authority and Extension Planning Area levels for certain indicators.
Furthermore, demand for data through the enquiries desk has increased. For instance, indications are that the number of hits to our website www.nso.malawi.net has increased threefold in the past four years.
There are also User-list and directories for monthly indicators such as the Consumer Price Index and Trade statistics.
The NSO’s goals are to:
· Promote, coordinate and manage the National Statistical System.
· Produce better quality statistics.
· Enhance the service provided to users.
· Realise staff potential.
· Improve financial planning and control.
· Improve organisation and management.
Refer to Annex A for the detailed matrix of goals and outputs.
The NSO is the central player in the production of official statistics. The launch of the National Statistical System on 18th November 2006 needs to be further promoted to enhance cooperation in some areas Goal 1: Promote, coordinate and manage the National Statistical between those involved in the production of official statistics to prevent overlaps, or incompatibilities and then promote harmonization, and standardization in the provision of statistics. The 1967 Statistics Act determines the legal responsibilities of the Commissioner of Statistics, but the Act’s provisions are outdated and largely inadequate to meet the current changes in the government system and general data needs.
The following strategies shall be used to develop a System of National Statistics:
· Develop a strategic plan for the NSS, incorporating the NSO and sectoral plans
· Establish the post of Director of Change and Communication at P3 level as shown in the proposed organizational chart (Annex C) who would be responsible for activities listed in 4.2.2-4.2.7
· Establish an NSS Project Implementation Unit within the NSO headed by a Coordinator
· Review and revise the 1967 Statistics Act so as to clearly define the mandate of NSO in collecting statistical data, setting standards, and coordinating National Statistics.
· Develop co-ordinated and harmonised statistical standards, including standard classifications and definitions, and promote their use within the NSS.
· Enhance statistical advocacy through sensitization workshops, at national, regional, district and local level.
· Enhance the roles of NSS Steering Committee and provide room for frequent meetings to discuss progress of the NSS.
· Prepare an inventory of National Statistics.
· Develop a statistical training programme for statistical officers within the NSO and those in the statistical common service.
· Develop and publish a framework for National Statistics.
· Promote use of up-to-date Information Technology including relevant software that is standardized and harmonized within the NSS.
The NSO core function is to provide users with official statistical information of good quality, which is fit for its purpose. Timeliness, accuracy, availability, relevance and coverage can lead to the improvement in quality of statistics. A number of innovations and improvements to quality have already been made in recent years, but there are a number of further actions that the NSO intends to take.
Strategies
The following strategies shall be pursued to provide better quality statistics:
· Actively seek views from data users on the quality of statistics continually throughout the plan period.
· Ensure that quality control mechanisms are in place during all stages of survey and other data collection exercises.
· Apply consistent publication standards when releasing all statistical data.
· Systematically review the quality of published statistics and the way they are compiled throughout the plan period.
· Adopt international standards for official statistics.
· Promote and co-ordinate statistical standards with other producers of official statistics through the NSS.
· Ensure that staff are equipped to produce quality statistics through specialised training within and outside the country.
The NSO produces statistics because users need them. It is vital the NSO remain close to policy debates and understand the needs of users in order to provide the best service and the most relevant statistics.
The following strategies shall be pursued to provide an enhanced service:
· Raise public awareness about the importance and role of NSO products and services by exploiting marketing and promotion opportunities such as the media, the Internet, trade fairs, national statistical days and the regional office structure.
· Publish statistics in a user-friendly way (market disaggregated) so that users can easily understand them, without compromising technical soundness, and produce methodological guides in all areas.
· Formally assess the needs of users in each major area of statistics.
· Establish technical working groups of statistics users and producers in some specific areas.
· Produce and maintain a directory of official statistical sources and a catalogue of data users and frequently requested data sets.
· Establish enquiry points to deal with specific data requests within the NSO and line ministries.
· Enhance and maintain an electronic databank of statistics
· Continue to develop methods for electronic dissemination, including the Internet, CD-ROM, and other methods.
· Enhance and implement a record management system.
· Be proactive in marketing the products and image of the NSO.
· Relocation of NSO Headquarters to Lilongwe and strengthening regional offices in Blantyre, Mzuzu and Zomba.
· Encourage and promote district assemblies to have statistical units.
The NSO is one of the institutions that has benefited from training officers both within and outside the country. However, the number of graduate and professionally trained staff is relatively small compared to the intricate tasks that the office has to perform, and it is necessary to develop the skills of all staff at all levels. It is therefore the priority of the NSO to provide further statistical training to staff with flexible and transferable skills.
The following strategies shall be pursued to realise staff potential:
· Ensure that all staff agree personal development plans with their managers each year, which are consistent with the goals and work plans of the office.
· Formulate a staff training programme that meets the career development needs of all cadres and grades.
· Introduce a policy of job rotation.
· Improve the management capabilities of staff by developing and implementing a programme of management training.
· Design and implement an induction programme for all staff members who need it.
· Divisional annual plans shall include skill auditing to identify gaps in key skills and human capacity that will be required for a division to implement its annual work plan effectively and efficiently and incorporate these gaps into the training plan.
· Establish and publicise a personnel policy, including an internal code of conduct.
Financial resources are limited in Malawi and they must be carefully prioritised, managed and utilised if adequate statistical outputs are to be produced. In addition, the cash budgeting system of government, where budgeted funds are only allocated on a monthly basis imposes constraints in the way finances can be managed and requires additional effort and care.
The following strategies shall be pursued to improve financial planning and control:
· Allocate and monitor funds through an internal Expenditure Management Committee that shall meet every month.
· Implement a system of quarterly work and financial planning for all divisions.
· Decentralise financial management, as far as possible, by allocating funds to divisions to carry out agreed priority activities in their work plans.
· Improve accounting procedures, including the computerisation of accounts.
· Establish the Internal Procurement Committee to improve transparency and accountability and to promote the efficient utilisation of funds when procuring goods and services, managing fieldwork and publishing statistical data.
· Review accounting systems in each regional office with a view to decentralisation.
· Improve the transparency and efficiency of budgeting and expenditure management processes, through involvement of heads of divisions.
The implementation of the NSS will require improved organizational structure of the NSO and indeed the entire NSS. Such improved organizational structure has been proposed in this report and will be forwarded for government consideration.
The following strategies shall also be pursued to improve the way that the NSO is organised and managed:
· Publish an annual work programme together with a review of achievements and progress made during the previous year.
· Strengthen the regional statistical offices so that they are able to perform some data collection and dissemination activities in certain areas and liaise with users.
· Introduce a system of performance management and open appraisal, where all divisions and sections operate according to annual work plans.
· Ensure that all staff with management responsibilities receive training to improve management skills.
· Delegate more management responsibilities to divisional and regional managers who will also delegate more responsibilities to their staff.
The NSO is a government department that is administratively governed by the Malawi Public Service Regulations; Public Finance; Procurement and National Audit Act; and legally by the 1967 Statistics Act. A National Statistical Steering and Coordination Committee, composed of representatives from various data producers, line Ministries and chaired by the Commissioner of Statistics has been formed as part of the National Statistical System Development Strategy.
The NSO should become the overseer of official statistics and indeed the entire statistical system governed by a legal framework and the Malawi Public Service Regulations; Public Finance; Procurement and National Audit Act. The existing statistical regulations and proposed governance and coordination structures are outlined below.
The Statistics Law is closely based on the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, with the exception of budgetary independence of the NSO. In addition to setting out the role of the NSO, the Law includes a number of provisions relating to collection, compilation, dissemination, confidentiality, rights and obligations, and penalties. (See Annex E for the 1967 Statistics Act).
The Statistics Act should be revised to define the NSS, emphasize the coordinating and supervisory roles of the NSO and establish a strengthened NSO. The revision should be done by the NSO in corroboration with the Law Commission. The Draft Act should be shared with key stakeholders including the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Ministry of Finance, Department of Human Resource Management, Ministry of Local Government and the Statistical Association of Malawi. This process should be completed by the end of 2007.
Lobbying: The NSO should lobby other parts of government and the legislature to ensure broad acceptability of the Draft Act and its smooth passage in Parliament.
The MODA review noted that “while as the institutional framework is functional, it is not well coordinated and focused”. Coordination will be improved through the following mechanisms:
It is envisaged that the National Statistical Steering and Coordination Committee will be the main coordination governing body on official statistics in the country. The functions of the Committee will be to provide a forum for users and producers of statistics, the universities and Government to advance common understanding of policy issues and related data requirements, setting data priorities, clarifying the objectives for data collection and agreeing on the best methods for collecting data. The NSO, which provides the Secretariat of this Committee, will have to ensure that Committee meetings are scheduled well in advance and that the agendas cover issues of general interest, and evaluating and monitoring progress on statistics capacity development, and relevance and quality of official statistics production and dissemination.
Under the National Statistical System there is an existing Statistical Common Service with staff placement and statistical units within the line ministries. Sectoral statistical units in ministries e.g. health, education, agriculture collect sector data either independently or in cooperation with the NSO. Some of their key functions are: conducting sector specific sample surveys, collection of statistical data on administrative records and disseminating these “sector statistics”.
Sectoral statistics need to achieve synergy and be improved so that they can respond better to the information needs for monitoring the MGDS programmes. This will be done through improved training programmes, better design of data collection instruments, better data management including development of sectoral databases, etc. Existing sectoral databases are for health- HIMS; education- EIMS; Agriculture- National Crop estimates and agro-economic surveys; Justice – Criminal Justice Statistics.
The district statistical system will be strengthened as a source of local statistics in support of grassroots development as envisaged in the Decentralization Policy and Act. This will be done by:
· Improving local/data/indicators generation and statistical services provision: This will be done in close collaboration with various stakeholders including the Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat and the Ministry of Local Government.
· Improving capacity: Capacity will be built in district assemblies to collect their own data and use them. This will be done through recruitment of professional staff, training and backstopping by the NSO.
· Improving information dissemination: NSO through MASEDA will assist District Assemblies to develop their own information systems including development of District Databases.
· Enhancing Coordination: As part of developing District Information Systems, coordination in the collection and handling of data on different sectors will be enhanced.
The NSO will promote the formation and support of existing subject specific Technical Working Groups. The following existing working groups will be strengthened:
(a) National Accounts & Balance of Payments TWG comprising NSO, RBM,
MEPD, MoF and MITPSD;
(b) Trade Policy National Working Group comprising NSO, MITPSD, MRA,
MoF, MCCI, MIPA;
(c) M&E National TWG
(d) Health M&E Research TWG
(e) 2008 Population and Housing Census Stakeholders TWG
(f) MASEDA Technical Working Committee
The NSO is a corporate member of the Statistical Association of Malawi. The Statistical Association of Malawi is a professional association of all statisticians in the country. It advocates for statistical code of conduct and professional ethics. The NSO will promote membership of its staff in the Association and help promote its activities. The Commissioner of Statistics is the patron and trustee of the Statistical Association of Malawi.
The right of access to data from the NSO is set up in the data release policy which specifies the following conditions:
· Neither the basic data nor any reprocessed version or application thereof may be copied or transmitted to other persons or organizations, directly or indirectly without prior written consent from the Commissioner of Statistics.
· All publications produced using the database should explicitly acknowledge the National Statistical Office (Malawi) as the original source of the data.
· Specification should be made that the application and/or analysis is the result of the user’s independent processing of the data.
· A copy of all publications/research projects should be sent to NSO for information purposes.
The head of the NSO is the Commissioner of Statistics at P2 level; the Deputy Commissioner is at P3 level. The rest of the staff structure and complement is indicated in the current Organisation Chart (see Annex C). To enhance the role of the NSO in relation to the NSS and higher profile of statistics generally in Malawi, for instance in implementation of the MGDS and monitoring of the MDGs, a revised organization chart and grading structure is proposed (see Annex D). The proposed structure will be recommended for a Functional Review. This review will include consideration of staffing and grading of the Statistical Common Service.
In order to better perform its functions more efficiently and be in line with other government institutions, the NSO would like to elevate senior management officers as follows:
The proposed structure for NSO Management:
Commissioner of Statistics at PS level
Director of Change and Communication at P3 level
Assistant Commissioner Agriculture and Environment Statistics at P3 level
Assistant Commissioner Demography and Social Statistics at P3 level
Assistant Commissioner Economic Statistics at P3 level
Assistant Commissioner Technical Support Services at P3 level
Director of Finance and Administration at P3 level
See Organization Chart attached as Annex D
Transforming the current Technical Support Services Division into ‘The Communication, Change and Information Presentation Division’
Apart from its current activities the Division will also be responsible for:
· Marketing and Communication services
· Co-ordinating the Implementation of the NSS framework
The Marketing and Communication Section will have the following responsibilities:
· The publication and management of awareness creation events and processes for stakeholders
· Conducting periodic NSS feedback workshops and using results to influence NSO strategy
· NSO publications
· Library management
The current Strategic Plan shall still focus on exercising prudence in financial spending and procurement as well as investing in staff development and training, in order to realise the goals set in chapter 3. Specifically, the Strategic Plan shall look into the following management issues:
4.4.1 Planning and management of statistical and administrative activities
A Statistical Activity Plan mechanism will be employed as a step towards implementing the Strategic Plan (see Annex B). This framework will be used to carry out activities in the next five years. It will ensure accountability and transparency, and be used as a baseline to monitor progress towards the achievement of the agreed goals and objectives. The Activity Plan will also be used to prioritise activities when developing divisional annual work plans and associated budgets, which will be the main internal planning and monitoring mechanisms.
The progress of the Strategic Plan shall be monitored and evaluated through the Strategic Plan Committee, which will be meeting every quarter of the year. Input from a broader spectrum of NSO staff will be incorporated in a mid-review Strategic Plan meeting.
In addition, management meetings will continue to be held every month to assess progress against work plans and make collectively, agreed corrective decisions regarding the operations of the NSO.
A performance management system will continue to be used as a tool in appraising staff. In addition, an open appraisal system which provides a two-way communication between officers and their line managers is being recommended for adoption.
Transparency and accountability with respect to budgeting and allocation of resources shall be further strengthened, in particular by continuing to implement decisions based on resolutions of Budget Allocation Committee, Internal Procurement Committee and Strategic Plan Committee.
Decision-making regarding procurement of goods and services shall be the responsibility of the Internal Procurement Committee in line with the guidelines provided by the Office of Director of Public Procurement. This shall promote accountability and transparency as well as efficiency in use of funds.
The Appointments and Disciplinary Committee (ADC) will meet every quarter, so that it can deal with appointment and disciplinary issues for junior staff expeditiously and in a transparent manner. This will help to maintain a disciplined workforce as issues relating to discipline will be dealt with promptly. Quarterly ADC meetings will make it possible for the Strategic Plan Committee meetings to be kept abreast of developments in terms of human resource capacity and skill gaps since one of the crucial factors in implementing the Strategic Plan will be human resources, both in number and skills.
Skill gaps that will be identified will be addressed through appropriate training courses in line with individual sectional or divisional work plans. In addition, job descriptions for every post will be developed against which staff will be appraised.
Vision to develop and maintain highly motivated and professional staff will be realised through:
· Investment in training, based on assessment of training needs. This will include on-the job training, use of books, other study aids, training courses, distance learning, and attachments and study tours to similar well-performing organisations.
· Performance based promotions
· Improved job satisfaction, through job enrichment and delegation of responsibilities where possible
Training needs and plans will continue to be developed through the NSO Training Committee, which shall continue making final decisions on training issues as well as ensuring that equitable training programs are developed and implemented. Within the agreed training plans, staff will develop and agree personal development plans with their line managers.
a) Statistical Steering Committee
b) Information Technology Committee (ICT);
c) Training Committee;
d) Publications Committee;
e) Welfare Committee;
f) Internal Procurement Committee;
g) Appointments and Disciplinary Committee;
h) Budget Allocation Committee
i) Relocation Committee
The NSO’s proposed activities during the planning period are set out in Annex B. The Activity Plan includes the existing regular statistical programmes, and new regular activities as well as ad hoc activities. It is recognized that new priorities will arise and the NSO needs to be flexible in responding to these. Many of the activities are carried out in partnership with user or donor organizations. This plan period includes two major periodic household surveys, 2006/07 National Census of Agriculture and Livestock and the 2008 Population and Housing Census. The decennial population census is the biggest undertaking that the National Statistical Office undertakes to provide accurate and timely information about the population for the smallest geographic levels. It provides benchmark national estimates of demographic and health indicators and serves as a framework for the regular household surveys, which include the annual Welfare Monitoring Survey, which is held annually except when the 5-yearly Integrated Household Survey is held, next in 2009.Also 5-yearly are the Demographic and Health Survey which will be held in 2009; the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey planned for 2010 to provide information for the next major review of the UN Millennium Declaration; and the Labour Force Survey. The Behavioral Surveillance Survey, a new priority during the last plan period, is planned as an annual activity.
To collate the economic series, including the national accounts and balance of payments, annual surveys will be held of the economic and financial activities of businesses and institutions. There will be further improvements to economic statistics, while outputs will include the headline Consumer Price Index and a Producer Price Index which are are compiled monthly. An index of industrial production and external trade statistics, the latter compiled from customs returns, are produced on a quarterly basis. Publications and electronic dissemination will be further developed, including the Malawi Socio-Economic Database (MASEDA) which will be extended to include other indicators from across the National Statistical System.
The Activity Plan includes activities to lead the development and implementation of a coordinated National Statistical System. These include reviewing and revising the 1967 Statistics Act; human resource development and a Functional Review to consider the proposed new structure of the NSO; user needs assessments and workshops; NSS coordination arrangements; developing standards and harmonisation across the NSS; and advocacy including developing a strategy, and marketing and promotion.
Administrative programmes relate to human, financial and physical resource capacity building and management, including issues such as relocation of the NSO, and upgrading the NSO’s IT network and connectivity.
Annex B costs the Statistical Activity Plan over the five-year period, 2007-2011. The proposed budget covers the activities that have been identified under each strategic area and are grouped according to the responsible Division within NSO. The budget needs to be flexible in order to respond to new priorities, as it did in the previous Plan period, for instance to accommodate new demands for Behavioural Surveillance Surveys. The costs include Malawi Government funding as well as funding sought from donors and partners, which has only been partly committed. Staff salaries and other recurrent costs have been included in the administrative component of Annex B.
The total cost of implementing the 2007-2008 NSO Strategic Plan is MK6, 444 million (around US$ 46 million) the bulk of which is sought from donors. The biggest cost elements are the 2008 Population and Housing Census, including the pilot Census in 2007, costing MK 2,344.4 million (36% of the total) and relocation of the NSO to Lilongwe at MK 1,100 million (17% of the total) and HIS at 8%. The other most sizeable programmes are the National Census of Agriculture and Livestock (NACAL) at MK 460 million (7%); the DHS at 6%, activities to strengthen the NSS at MK 212 million (3%) and the five-yearly Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey at MK 205 million (3%).
Sizeable donor funding has already been committed for the Population and Housing Census, NACAL and activities to strengthen the NSS. Further contributions will be sought from donors and other partners to supplement Malawi Government funding. Key to this will be advocacy, demonstrated efficiency and effectiveness of the NSO and relevance of the programmes to policy decision-making, management, monitoring and evaluation.
Successful implementation of this Plan will require full support from the following key players:
· The Ministry of Economic Planning and Development who will be requested to provide support and official guidance.
· Ministry of Finance who will be requested to provide adequate financial resources.
· Department of Human Resources and Management who will be requested to assist in staffing and staff development issues.
· The Law Commission, who will be requested to provide legal assistance in the review and amendment of the Statistics Act.
· The Statistical Association of Malawi, to guide on some technical aspects and enhance advocacy.
· Other Producers of National Statistics who will be asked to provide additional data for NSO publications and databases.
· Data Users who are requested to give constructive feedback to help us improve our services.
· The General Public who are key users and play an important role as survey respondents.
· Development Partners who will be requested to provide technical assistance and additional funds to carry out some activities.
The process of monitoring and evaluating the Strategic Plan is crucial if the Plan is to be implemented efficiently and effectively. Divisional work plans and budgets are the main mechanism for delivering NSO outputs, and they will need to be implemented in a manner consistent with the Plan (See Activities and Time Frame in Annexes A and B).
The achievement of objectives and goals set out in this plan will be monitored quarterly by Divisions, reporting directly to the Commissioner of Statistics. The Commissioner will in turn report to the responsible Minister.
Annually:
The CS reports to Minister
On Progress of Strategic Plan
Implementation [January]
Quarterly
Strategic Plan Committee
review meetings by heads Users and producers
of divisions/sections/ of National Statistics
regional officers to be briefed on the progress
[Every last month of a quarter] of the implementation of the Plan
[March]
Monthly
Divisions/sections work
progress review meetings
Monthly meetings will be held to review progress on each division/sections’ work program. The Strategic Plan Committee will meet quarterly. Some benchmarks are:
· July each year: Meeting of the Commissioner of Statistics (CS), Deputy Commissioner of Statistics (DCS), heads of divisions and regional officers to review progress on the implementation of the divisional and regional work plans.
· September each year: One day meeting of heads of divisions/sections and regional officers to start preparations of the divisions/sections/regions work plans for the following year.
· November each year: Meeting of CS, DCS and heads of divisions/sections to agree divisional/Sectional work plans for the following year.
· December each year: meeting of the heads of divisions and Strategic Plan committee to review the Strategic Plan, assess the implementation of Divisions/Sections work plans for the previous year, and review the progress of the Divisions/Sections work plans for the current year.
In March each year users and producers of National Statistics will meet to review the implementation of the Strategic Plan. In January the Commissioner of Statistics will report to the responsible Minister on progress of the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
The NSO recognizes that successful implementation of the 2007-2011 Strategic Plan is centred on a number of core factors. These include improved Human Resource Capacity; Statistical Common Service; Information Technology; Advocacy and Legislation; User Needs; Financial Resources.
Human Resource Capacity: The availability of qualified and competent; motivated and proactive; results oriented, disciplined and trustworthy staff is one of the critical success factors.
Statistical Common Service: The way the SCS is managed, coordinated and harmonised is crucial to the success of the Plan.
Information Technology: The role of IT in the provision of statistical services is so critical. It is therefore important that the IT facilities are modern, reliable, durable and appropriate.
Advocacy: Although the use of statistics seems to be gaining ground, there is still need to promote its use at all levels. It is therefore important that producers, users and suppliers of statistics are made aware of their role in the entire system. This process can be enhanced through advocacy and market segregation of statistics to improve understanding.
Legislation: The legal framework through which the NSO and other parts of the NSS operate needs to be relevant and apposite but also backed by political will. The general public will have to be well aware of the legal framework through which the NSO and other parts of the NSS operate.
User Needs: This SP becomes useless if the needs of users of statistics are not known and satisfied. Therefore, knowledge of user-needs is critical to satisfying their needs. The success of the SP centres on provision of high quality, client focused, efficient, effective, relevant and timely statistical services, which are then used effectively.
Financial Resources: In order to fully satisfy the needs of users of statistics, availability of financial resources remains significant. The financial resources need to be adequate and available in good time for timely provision of statistics and well managed to ensure efficient use.
Location: The location of the NSO is important, with the aim primarily to provide an accessible service to key data users, while at the same time maintaining contacts with the business community in Blantyre and other data providers, while providing a cost-effective service. Hitherto the cost of relocating the whole of NSO to Lilongwe has been prohibitive. This will be reviewed during the plan period.
While recognizing the critical areas for successful implementation of this SP as highlighted above, there are a number of areas that will need particular attention.
Component Area of Attention
Competent Human Resource: In order to have competent human resource, the NSO will set some minimum levels of education for different positions; provide upgrading courses to staff within and outside the country; provide refresher courses for statisticians; support staff as well as technical officers. The NSO will also engage in exchange programme of officers with different statistical offices. An exchange programme is already in place with Statistics Norway. .
Statistical Common Service: The NSO will advocate for upgrading the existing structures in statistics units in line ministries to allow improved career paths for officers in those ministries. The office will also identify focal points within the NSS and bring about harmonization and standardization of indicators across the NSS. In order to achieve this, there will be quarterly meetings of SCS focal points.
Information Technology: Sharing of data has in recent years depended on IT. The NSO will enhance maintenance and updating of the website www.nso.malawi.net to give users updated information. Even within the NSO, the LAN will be maintained regularly and the Library and Publications division will be reconnected to ease sharing of data and other information. To keep in touch with statistical officers in line ministries and districts, a WAN will also be installed.
Advocacy: An appropriate dissemination strategy will be put in place. This will include use of media, periodic statistical forums, debates on radio, radio jingles, TV programs, press releases e.g. Stats Flash and dramas.
Legislation: Reviewing the Statistics Act will create an environment conducive to the operation of the statistical system in the country. However, there will also be the need to raise awareness of the Act through the media.
User needs: Quarterly user-producer workshops will be conducted to solicit the needs of users and update them on statistical developments within the NSO.
Financial Resources: The NSO will advocate for more funding from the government and development partners to enable it implement activities in the SP. Sound financial management will ensure that the limited financial resources are put to proper use.
Location: The decision on location is not clear cut and the best outcome will be determined based on consideration of effectiveness in terms of accessibility to users and providers of statistics, as well as on efficiency grounds.