Ivan Zhakata
Herald Correspondent
ZIMBABWE National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) director-general, Mrs Tafadzwa Bandama, has called for greater participation of women and young people in Africa’s statistical systems and said deliberate policies were needed to ensure their inclusion in data production and decision-making.
Mrs Bandama, who has also been elected vice-chairperson of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa) for a two-year term, made the call at the commission’s 10th session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Her election places Zimbabwe in the commission’s leadership as African countries deliberate on strengthening statistical systems to support development planning and decision-making.
Speaking at the meeting, Mrs Bandama said only five of Africa’s 54 national statistical offices were headed by women highlighting the need to address gender disparities in the sector.
She named Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, all from Southern Africa, as the countries whose national statistical agencies are led by women.
“Women representation is low in the field of statistics, yet we play a central role in the development process,” she said.
“The policy process should be deliberate in ensuring women representation at every level of statistics production, up to dissemination.”
Mrs Bandama also called for the inclusion of young people and persons with disabilities in statistical systems and urged African governments to invest in training, mentorship and technological innovation.
She highlighted the Takwimu Young African Statisticians (Takwimu YAS) programme, which operates in 31 African countries and aims to expand to all 54 by 2028.
The initiative focuses on equipping young professionals with skills in artificial intelligence, big data, geospatial methods and data analytics.
Mrs Bandama urged governments to establish national chapters of the network, allocate funding for youth initiatives, strengthen data science training and promote knowledge-sharing among young statisticians.
“AI readiness is fundamentally about people, not just infrastructure or software,” she said, calling on African countries to develop responsible artificial intelligence solutions suited to their needs.
To demonstrate the contribution of young professionals, Mrs Bandama showcased ZIMSTAT’s Localised Data Collection Tool for Local Authorities developed in collaboration with young Zimbabwean statisticians and software developers.
The tool collects administrative data from local authorities to support monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals and other development indicators, helping provide a clearer picture of development progress at the local level.
Meanwhile, ZIMSTAT systems developer Mr Leonard Katova was selected as Leader on Innovation for the Takwimu YAS Subcommittee, giving Zimbabwe a role in advancing technology-driven solutions in official statistics.
The StatCom-Africa session, convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s African Centre for Statistics, is running from October 19 to 23 under the theme “Unleashing the Value of Data in Africa: Making Official Statistics a True Mirror of the Continent”.
