GSS Launches Data Science Roadmap

GSS Officials and dignitaries with the Data Science Roadmap

 

A Five-year roadmap on the implementation of a data science strategy at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has been launched at the African Statistics Day celebration in Accra.

The data science roadmap launched by the GSS board and management lays out the strategy for integrating data science into the production and dissemination of both official and experimental statistics, as well as operations of the Service.

Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, said data science has the potential to improve, streamline, and automate the production of currently-released statistics as well as serve as an enabler in the creation of new statistics.

“GSS intends to apply data science for automation; standardisation; and discovery of new data trends and analytical methods through machine learning. The augmenting of statistical operations with data science will support the continued production of relevant and timely data to meet the demands of modern data users,” he said.

Prof. Annim indicated that some of the ways in which GSS will apply data science in the next few years will be integrating online databanks, developing a standardized reporting dashboard for real-time monitoring of census and survey data collection, use of satellite data to generate ecological statistics and automating quality checks of trade data.

“These will be in addition to the Data Science initiatives existing at GSS such as the analysis of call data records and the harnessing of the resourcefulness of Digital Earth Africa,” he added.

Touching on the special GSS interventions planned for 2023, and reflections on making Ghana a statistics-driven society, Prof. Annim stated that in 2022 the GSS has so far produced 25 routine publications (on CPI, PPI, and GDP), and 12 census and survey reports which have presented more than 150 unique indicators.

“Over 10 new or rare indicators such as vulnerable employment, labour transitions, value of corruption and consumer inflation for the six new regions, were all generated so far in 2022,” he said.

He also unveiled the Statistical Service CAN (Change, Automation, and Novelty) Agenda which aims to support the processes needed to transform Ghana into a statistics-driven society.

African Statistics Day

The African Statistics Day is aimed at raising awareness of statistics and promoting the development and usage of statistics in Africa.

The celebration themed, “Strengthening data systems by modernizing the production and use of agricultural statistics: informing policies with a view to improving resilience in agriculture, nutrition, and food security in Africa”, showcased outputs of GSS.

The week-long activities highlighted the publications and novel statistical products from GSS including the novel ways of presenting agricultural and other statistics.

Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Dr. Edward Ebo Onumah presenting the keynote address on behalf of Prof. Irene S. Egyir (Dean of the University of Ghana, School of Agriculture) called for continued dialogue on scientifically rigorous evaluations of agricultural policies to inform decision-making.

Prof. Egyir concluded that “As a nation, we need accurate production statistics to regularly measure the progress of the agricultural sector”.

The event also featured the release of the first 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) Thematic Briefs on Illiteracy in Ghana: Trends, Patterns and Correlates; Childhood Vulnerabilities in Ghana; and the Girl Child: Status and Vulnerabilities.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri