By Iipumbu Sackaria
THE Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) recently handed over its 2013/14 Annual Report to the Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC).
This year the report took on a different format and demonstrates the impact the NSA has on our society.
The report highlights some salient features and activities of the agency during the year 2013/14. It also entails audited annual financial statements for which the agency got an unqualified audit opinion as a highlight of accounting for funds apportioned to the NSA by the government.
Every set of data tells a story and every census reveals a trend or a direction that the nation is going in. Whether we uncover data through the Labour Force Survey and report on the increase in women being employed or we finally can give accurate agricultural data as a result of the Census of Agriculture carried out. It all tells us something, statistics are wonderful in this way.
Our agency’s mandate is an ambitious one and we are beholden to the nation to providing relevant stakeholders with timely, accurate and relevant statistics in all fields. To be able to achieve this, it is essential to always perform to the best of our abilities. Not just in one area, but right throughout the organization and expecting and demanding, as well as delivering nothing less than our best.
One example of the things we have done to pursue excellence according to best practices, is rebasing our Consumer Price Index and our National Accounts. Rebasing – both a real challenge which requires the cooperation of our economic stakeholders. The rebasing of the national accounts aimed to present an up-to-date structure of the economy, improve compilation methods, increase the scope of coverage of industries and reclassify companies into their respective industries according to international recommendations.
With regard to organizational development, the NSA has developed and implemented a great number of policies that guide internal procedures and the production, as well as the use and dissemination of data. The NSA has entered into performance contracts with its staff, which requires quarterly assessments including the identification of training needs. Staff development is at the heart of the NSA and a key strategic goal. This drives individual performance as well as organizational performance.
Fuelling the need for performance is the desire and goal to become a high performing organisation.
This annual report is filled with examples of how we are continuously improving our performance and developing our surveys and data collecting practices, and in the process using the best technology to secure and acquire data. For example, the NSA has with assistance from our development partners, been able to set up a state-of-the-art Data Processing Centre that is leading in the Southern African region.
We have an overall aim to create a Team NSA of all the individuals with their different professional, social and cultural backgrounds. We have developed NSA’s Strategic Plan that covers the period 2012/13 to 2016/17 and coincides with the period of the current Fourth National Development Plan. It is hence clear that the Namibia Statistics Agency is intricately and intrinsically interwoven in the very fabric of Namibia, its economic development and social evolution.
Performance and excellence is in our DNA as an organization and the activities undertaken over the last year are testament to this. We are proud of what we have achieved over the last two years and, blessed with the positive cooperation we receive from all stakeholders, aim to perform even better in the future.
Get your own soft copy and more statistics at www.nsa.org.na.
• Iipumbu Sakaria is the Deputy Director for Strategic Communications at the NSA.