REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA CENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE

1. REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIACENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE Strategies for Data Collection and Data Capture • A paper presented at the High Level Workshop on • “Leadership in Modern Statistical Systems” • By • John Kalumbi • Acting Director • 15 March, 2011

2. 1. Background • Zambia’s Department of Census and Statistics, generally known as Central Statistical Office (CSO), was established by an Act of Parliament, Cap.127, of the Laws of Zambia in 1964 to collect and provide statistical data and information mainly to meet planning needs of Government. The CSO is the National Statistical Office (NSO) of Zambia and currently is a Department in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning. • The Act provides for an elaborate system of data collection and dissemination of official statistics in Zambia. The CSO is the statistical agency for the whole Government and centrally collects, analyse, publish and disseminate statistics of either social or economic nature. Statistical production however, is organised in independent production lines (units, sections, etc) whereby each section or unit control its own process from collection through data editing and estimation.

3. 2. Legal Framework • The CSO is still operating under the Census and Statistics Act of 1964. The Act obviously is outdated and no longer able to provide for policy, administrative and economic changes that have taken place in the country since 1964. The Act in particular does not provide for: • An elaborate ethical code of conduct for staff • Provision of data for non-centralized planning • Many areas of comprehensive social and economic statistics • An institutional arrangement for a National Statistical System (NSS) which facilitates a statistical policy formulation and implementation and • Elaborate sections and sub-sections which are commensurate with the current institutional arrangements with regard to data collection, penalties, fines, etc.

4. 3. STRUCTURE OF THE CSO The CSO is headed by a Director and is functionally divided into four subject matter divisions, namely:- • Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Statistics; • Economic and Financial Statistics; • Population and Social Statistics • Information, Research and Dissemination Each Division is headed by a Deputy Director who is responsible for respective sectoral statistical production. Divisions are sub-divided into branches which are headed by Principal or Senior Statisticians. The branches are further divided into sections headed by either Senior Statisticians or Statisticians.

5. In addition to the subject-matter Divisions and Branches, there are specialised units which service the day-to-day operations of subject matter divisions. These include; Administration; Transport; Accounts; Internal Audit; Field Surveys and Security. CSO also has a permanent field organization (Regional Statistical Offices) in each of the nine (9) Provincial Centres of Zambia, with logistical support from headquarters to support field data collection. These regional offices are headed by Regional Statisticians at Principal Statistician level. The Provincial Statistical Offices essentially act as focal points for field data collection and supervision of all statistical activities undertaken in the provinces. Besides data collection and supervision, Regional Statisticians perform other tasks such as providing statistical backstopping to other line ministries and departments in provinces.

6. 4. Establishment • The CSO has a total approved workforce of 656 employees broken down as: • Headquarters = 208 • Provinces = 448

7. 5. Strategies for data collection and data capture The main sources of CSO data are field surveys and censuses. The statistical work programme includes the following as the different data sources: • Censuses, • Sample surveys, • Routine data collection and • Secondary data compilation from administrative sources (records).

8. Other statistical activities include the following: • Statistical advocacy to create greater awareness about the role and importance of statistics to society • Coordination of statistical activities • Integrating IT in statistical operations • Research in statistical methods and publications • Carrying out specialised surveys on request

9. (i) Censuses: These are the main source of benchmark data needed for planning for socio-economic development. The table below gives the main censuses undertaken in the country.

10. ii) Areas covered under Surveys, Routine Data Collection, Secondary Data Compilation and Other Statistical ActivitiesTwo types of surveys are carried out, i.e., household based surveys and establishment based surveys. The table below gives various data sources derived from surveys, routine data collection and secondary data compilation by type of subject area.

14. 6. Strategies for Data Capture and Data Analysis The CSO has a modern IT infrastructure in terms of hardware and equipment as well as software, statistics databases and connectivity. (a) IT hardware and equipment IT hardware and equipment ranges from computers, printers, faxes and scanners, etc. The office also has three operational servers, one used solely for managing the intranet or Local Area Network (LAN). The second is a file server in which all the statistical data files are stored. The third is the mail exchange saver with back up and antivirus storage.

15. (b) Networks and Connectivity The CSO has a well functioning Local Area Network (LAN) which has made it possible to improve on the internal communication. It has also improved on operational efficiency of the institution and an increase in information sharing and dissemination. Internet connectivity is also available at CSO thereby making it possible for staff to access this shared global resource of information and means of collaboration with various data providers, data users, other data producers and indeed as a means of collaboration and cooperation among diverse communities worldwide. The CSO also has a website (www.zamstats.gov.zm), which is increasingly being used to disseminate statistical data and information.

16. (c) IT Software The CSO has in place most of the software found in a modern national statistical office, these range from those used for data capture, data analysis and data dissemination. For most of our surveys and censuses data capture is done mainly using the CSPro software. For our most recent the Censuses of Population and Housing (2000 & 2010), data capture, character inspection and key correction was/will be done using mainly the scanning technology. However, census forms rejected by the scanners are separately captured using the CSPro software. Data cleaning software used include CSPro, SPSS and SAS. For data tabulation and analysis, the software mainly used are SPSS and SAS. Other software used by the CSO include SQL Server (for large scale volumes of data, i.e., censuses), dream weaver (for website designing, etc), coral-drawl (for desktop publishing), Eurotrace (for external trade data), adobe acrobat and Microsoft Office.

17. (d) Statistical databases As stated earlier, there are stand alone databases in the divisions of the CSO. However, there are plans to have these databases consolidated into one central database warehouse (data warehouse).

18. 7. Data Dissemination The CSO has a dissemination branch though which the public can access the various publications and reports as well as any statistical information on request. Other dissemination channels include the regular Monthly Release Bulletin, Website, Internet Online Subscription, National Data Archive (NADA), CD ROMs, brochures, flyers, etc.

19. 8. Statistical Library The CSO has a modest library managed by a qualified librarian and stocks mainly CSO’s and some other government institutions’ reports. The library is open to the public but only CSO staff are allowed to borrow library materials. The major users include the CSO staff, researchers and university as well as college students.

20. End of Presentation And thank you for your Attention