Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Burundi
On September 26, 2023, at the King’s Conference Center hotel in the economic capital of Bujumbura, the Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation Mr. Ferdinand BASHIKAKO opened the retreat for verification the consistency of the methodology and framework for collecting the statistical data for the production of the statistical directory, Edition 2022 and training in quality assurance of the statistical data for certain Ministry executives. That retreat was facilitated by the executives from the Institute of the Statistics and Economic Studies of Burundi (ISTEEBU).
In his speech, the Permanent Secretary Mr. Ferdinand BASHIKAKO extended a warm welcome to all participants on the occasion of the opening of the retreat for the verification of the consistency of the methodology and framework for collecting the statistical data for the production of the statistical directory, 2022 Edition and training in quality assurance of the statistical data.
He indicated that that retreat constitutes the culmination of the considerable collective work which allowed the development and the updating of the methodology and framework for collecting the statistical data for the production of the statistical yearbook, 2022 Edition.
On behalf of His Excellency Mr. Albert SHINGIRO, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, the Permanent Secretary Mr. Ferdinand BASHIKAKO expressed his feeling of satisfaction for the organization of that activity because it is a duty finally accomplished for success of the implementation of the Ministry’s Work Plan and Annual Budget for the 2023-2024 financial year.
Mr. Ferdinand Bashikako indicated that to strengthen the inclusion of the structures of the Statistical System and access to reliable and useful data, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, through its statistical system, is in the process of Developing the methodology and framework for collecting the statistical data for the production of the statistical yearbook, 2022 Edition, an essential reference for making the consequential decisions.
He said that the document on the methodological framework and tools for collecting the statistical data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation aims to supporting the Government’s increased effort in promoting the statistical culture in order to enable the decision-makers and users of the statistics in order to guide their decisions based on reliable and quality data. That document completes and updates the already existing one. That document also constitutes an important step forward in the collecting the statistical data, especially since the statistics on the Promotion of the Employment of Migrants and the Diaspora will also be the subject of the information to be collected.
Mr. Ferdinand Bashikako informed that that retreat was preceded by a training on the National Statistical Data Quality Assurance Framework (CNAQD) of Burundi with the modern methods aligned for the strengthening of the promotion of the statistical culture.
The Permanent Secretary clarified that the quality control responds more to an internal objective of improving the statistical products, and increasing the productivity and profitability while the quality assurance refers to the adaptation of data to their use. To this end, he stressed that that training will be focused on the statistics in the field of cooperation.
Mr. Ferdinand Bashikako ended his remarks by inviting all the beneficiaries of that retreat to take the full part in that important activity and asked them to follow with interest the themes which will be taught. . He reminded them that they were not chosen for nothing to follow the statistics training during the retreat and advised them to first be aware of the objective of their presence in the retreat because they have been chosen to represent the others. He called on them to respond positively when they are appointed to do the statistics work of the Ministry.
After the opening speech of the activities delivered by the Permanent Secretary, the Executives of the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of Burundi (ISTEEBU) spoke on the verification of the consistency of the methodology and framework for collecting the statistical data for the production of the statistical yearbook, Edition 2022. This activity with ISTEEBU Executives took place from September 26 to 28, 2023. The participants appreciated their sharing of knowledge and understood that the retreat was necessary because they learned everything necessary for the development of the statistical directory of an institution. The activities with the ISTEEBU Executives were closed on September 28, 2023.
The last day of September 29, 2023 focused on the quality, scope and the overall review of the Framework of the statistical directory for the 2022 financial year of the Ministry, with the Principal Inspector in charge of the Statistics and Planning at the Ministry, Mr. Thérence Ndamuhawenimana as a facilitator executive.
Mr. Thérence Ndamuhawenimana returned to the quality dimension, one of the dimensions of a statistical directory. That is a methodological framework document and tools for the collecting statistical data which aims to supporting the Government’s increased effort in promoting the statistical culture in order to enable the decision-makers and users of the statistics in order to guide their decisions on the basis of the reliable and quality data.
For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, the data is collected from the Central Administration, External Service and bilateral and multilateral partners.
The activities ended with the entire review of the Framework of the Ministry’s statistical directory. The Ministry’s executives, guided by the Principal Inspector in charge of Statistics and Planning, Mr. Thérence Ndamuhawenimana, carried out a study of the outline of the Ministry’s statistical directory for the 2022 financial year, department by department by applying what they had just learned from the retreat facilitators.