The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a $4.3 million grant to support statistics development in Somalia.

The Board of the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group, approved the grant on 14 February. The Statistics Development Support Project for Somalia will entail providing technical assistance and training staff in the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics and the Statistics Departments of Hirshabelle, Galmudug and Jubaland States of Somalia.

Around 90 staff will receive training in collecting, compiling, analyzing and disseminating statistical data. Other activities of the project include the production of manuals and guidelines that comply with international best practice. It will also establish or improve ICT facilities at the National Bureau of Statistics and the Statistics Department of the beneficiary states.

The project forms part of plans to rebuild institutional capacity that was weakened in Somalia during several years of conflict. The absence of sound economic and social data has hampered planning and constrained investment in the country.

The aim is to make greater use of statistics, especially for policy formulation, planning, decision-making, monitoring and evaluation. This is in line with the Country’s Ninth National Development Plan and the Somalia National Strategy for the Development of Statistics.

The Statistics Development Support Project for Somalia is in line with the African Development Bank’s statistical capacity building efforts in regional member countries, and aligns with the Bank Group’s Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa. It also fulfills one of the Bank’s High 5 strategic priorities, namely “Improving the quality of life of Africans.” The Bank's statistics department will monitor implementation of the project.