Ghana: ADP Workshop on West Africa Regional Data Archive (June 2015)
The ADP/PARIS21 in collaboration with Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) organized a workshop to discuss a collaborative academic documentation initiative from 11 to 12 June 2015. This was done right after the ADP pilot Quality Assessment. The main objectives of the workshop were to (1) bring together senior academicians from universities and Statistics Directors from the West Africa region to present their needs and concerns with regard to the sharing of national microdata collections for promoting advance research and policymaking, (2) explore possibilities to establish a regional data archive and support centre and take advantage of economies of scale for supporting small countries with limited resources and expand the sources of data from other official and non-official agencies.
A total of 21 participants from six universities: University of Ghana (UG), University of Cape Coast of Ghana (UCC), University of Ibadan of Nigeria (UI), Kaduna State University of Nigeria (KASU), École nationale supérieure de statistique et d'économie appliquée of Cote d’Ivoire (ENSEA), and University of Cate Town of South Africa (UCT), and two National Statistical Offices including their Director Generals: Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria (NBS), were participated in the workshop.
The workshop helped to extend the relationship and trust between academics and senior NSO staff in sharing and opening up more survey microdata for academic use. A fruitful discussion was also held on establishing a three-country Inter-University Consortium for universities of Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. DataFirst of Cape Town University from South Africa has proposed its infrastructure and skills to help in establishing such network. Discussions were also held on the pros and cons of establishing a regional data curation support structure. The workshop is a first of its kind with accommodating a wider community of universities. The effort had great support from participating academicians.
The workshop was opened by Dr Philomena Efua Nyarko, Government Statistician of Ghana Statistical Service, who discussed the benefits of sharing official data with researchers to optimise usage of the data and to ensure there is feedback to data producers. Dr Yemi Kale, the Statistician General of National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria also provided remarks and discussed on data sharing at the NBS. Mr Jared Lyle, Director of Curation Services at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at University of Michigan, gave an overview of the ICPSR model and work of the Consortium. The workshop was co-facilitated by Lynn Woolfrey, ADP Consultant and Manager of data services at DataFirst and Mahesh Subedi, Program Officer of PARIS21.
Pictured here from left to right:
1st row: Prof S.O Kwankye (RIPS, UG), Dr Olawale Olayide (UI), Mr Biyi Fafunmi (NBS), Mr Mahesh Subedi (PARIS21), Ms Lynn Woolfrey (DataFirst), Dr Yemi Kale (SG, NBS), Dr Philomena Nyarko (GS, GSS), Mr Tayo Oyawale (NBS), and Mr Baah Wadieh (DGS, GSS).
2nd row: Mr Yaw Misefa (GSS), Ms Zelda Arku (UCC), Dr Samuel Annin (UCC), Dr Seth Akutson (KASU), Mr Kwadwo Asante (GSS), Ms Angela Otchi (GSS), Dr Ajala Adebayo (ASURI, UI), Dr Jared Lyle (ICPSR), Mr Hugues Kouadio (ENSEA), and Prof Louis Boakye-Yiadom (DoE, UG).
