Republic of Malawi

National Statistical System

Strategic Plan

2008-2012

“Statistics at the finger tips of users”

National Statistical System Secretariat

National Statistical Office
P.O. Box 333
Zomba
MALAWI
[Link]

June 2008
Preface

The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS)

was launched in July 2007. The MGDS is the overarching
development strategy for the country. The strategy clearly
recognizes the important role that official statistics play in
informing policy choices and monitoring and evaluating
progress towards realizing development goals.

The Government is fully cognizant of the need for quality

statistics in policy formulation and in the monitoring and
evaluation of development programs. This Strategic Plan
sets out how the National Statistical System (NSS) will
coordinate, harmonize and standardize production of official statistics among
data producers, suppliers and users in a coherent manner in both the public and
private sectors during the period 2008-2012.

The need to have the NSS cannot be overemphasized as it will foster

coordination, standardization and harmonization thereby avoiding duplication
and overlapping of activities amongst data producers. It is, therefore, my
intention to ensure that the NSS is well positioned to meet the requirements of
users and producers of statistics.

On behalf of Government I would like to take this opportunity to thank our

cooperating partners who over the years have assisted in the development of
statistics in the country. In particular, I would like to thank the Department for
International Development (DFID) of the British Government and the African
Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) for funding the design and development
of this Strategic Plan; and the Norwegian Government through Statistics
Norway, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for contributing to the
implementation of most of the activities set out in the Plan.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who played a
role in putting together this Strategic Plan.

Dr. Ken Lipenga, MP

Minister of Economic Planning and Development

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Foreword and Acknowledgement

The demand for good statistics is increasing because

development initiatives, such as Vision 2020 and the Malawi
Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) at the local
level, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the
international level, require high-quality statistics for
monitoring and evaluating progress.

The launching of the National Statistical System (NSS) in

November 2006 was therefore, an important milestone
towards the development of a comprehensive and well-
coordinated NSS for producing, processing and
disseminating official statistics. The NSS is the beginning of
the process of enhancing the profile of statistics and professionalism of the statistical
common service.

This Strategic Plan presents the vision, mission, core values and objectives that are going
to guide the NSS for the period 2008 to 2012. The objective is to enable the country meet
the ever growing demand for high quality, timely and accessible statistical information
for evidence-based decision making and quantitative measurements of development
progress. This Strategic Plan, therefore, advocates for a well coordinated, standardized
and harmonized statistical system, which produces and supplies high-quality,
responsive, reliable and timely statistical information.

The challenge is to maintain the vision “statistics at the finger tips of every user”. This
means that beyond collecting, analyzing, compiling and storing statistics there is need to
disseminate it in a timely manner to users. Furthermore, the statistics must respond to
the needs of users. In this regard, the obligation is to train users so that they will be able
to use and interpret official statistics accordingly.

I would like to thank the team that was involved in drafting this Strategic Plan for their
time and commitment. The team was led by Shelton Kanyanda and included: Kelvin
Saukila; Chris Matemba; Benjamin Banda; Medson Makwemba; Marjorie Chipofya;
Raphael Mahimanya; Enock Matale; Christopher Manyamba and Isaac Chirwa. I am
grateful to the ministries of Education; Labour; Industry and Trade; Agriculture and
Food Security; Health; Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Management and
Organizational Development Associates (MODA) for the release of their members of
staff and also their valuable contributions in guiding the drafting process of this
Strategic Plan. I am also grateful to our cooperating partners for providing both
technical and financial assistance to strengthen the NSS.

Charles Machinjili
Commissioner of Statistics

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List of Abbreviations

ACBF - Africa Capacity Building Foundation

DEMIS - District Education Management Information System
DFID - Department for International Development
DHRMD - Department of Human Resources Management and
Development
DQAF - Data Quality Assessment Framework
EMIS - Education Management Information Systems
EU - European Union
GDDS - General Data Dissemination System
GPS - Geographical Positioning System
ICT - Information Communication Technology
IEC - Information, Education, Communication
ILO - International Labor Organization
IMF - International Monitory Fund
IPU - Implementation Planning Unit
IT - Information Technology
M&E - Monitoring and Evaluation
MAPS - Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics
MDGs - Millennium Development Goals
MGDS - Malawi Growth and Development Strategy
NGOs - Non Governmental Organizations
NSDS - National Strategy for the Development of Statistics
NSO - National Statistical Office
NSS - National Statistical System
OPC - Office of the President and Cabinet
PARIS21 - Partnership in Statistics for development in the 21st Century
RRSF - Reference Regional Strategic Framework
SAM - Statistical Association of Malawi
SCS - Statistics Common Service
STATCAP - World Bank’s Statistical Capacity Building Facility
SWOT - Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

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Executive Summary

The National Statistical System (NSS) was launched in November 2006 in order
to oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive and well-
coordinated system of producing, processing and disseminating official statistics.
The NSS is there to support development initiatives which require good statistics
to monitor and evaluate progress of implementation. Some of the development
initiatives include the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) at the
local level, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the international
level.

This Strategic Plan presents the vision, mission, core values and objectives that
are going to guide the NSS for the next five years, from 2008 to 2012. The
objective is to enable the country meet the ever growing demand for high
quality, timely, accessible statistical information needed for evidence-based
decision and policy making.

The Strategic Plan has eight strategies for the NSS and seven sectoral plans. The
seven sectoral plans include National Statistical Office (NSO); Education; Labour;
Industry and Trade; Agriculture and Food Security; Health; and Justice and
Constitutional Affairs. The NSS strategies and sector strategies have two
categories. Firstly are the core statistics and secondly we have crosscutting
themes. Cross cutting issues include human resource related strategies; strategies
dealing with compatibility of technology and coordination of data collection,
analysis and dissemination. Most cross cutting issues are pre-conditions for the
success of the core statistics strategies.

This Strategic Plan aims to coordinate sourcing of funds and implementation of

activities. It contains budgets and activity plans prepared by NSO, and the six
ministries.

Monitoring and evaluation will be part of NSS implementation and there will be
an common M & E framework. The NSS will be providing data sets to Ministry
of Economic Planning and Development (MEPD) which is implementing the M
& E Master Plan. Data sets will also be provided to all users at different levels to
achieve its vision of “statistics at the finger tips of users”.

The Strategic Plan has been developed with technical and financial assistance
from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the African
Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the Norwegian Government.

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 Table of Contents
Preface................................................................................................................................. i
Foreword and Acknowledgement................................................................................. ii
List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................iii
Executive Summary........................................................................................................ iv
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. v
Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background and Rationale ................................................................................. 1
1.2 International Statistical Initiatives ..................................................................... 2
1.3 The Malawi Initiatives......................................................................................... 3
1.4 The SWOT Analysis............................................................................................. 3
1.5 Stakeholders Consultations ................................................................................ 5
1.6 The Objectives of the Strategic Plan .................................................................. 5
1.7 Outline of the Strategic Plan............................................................................... 6
Chapter 2: Vision, Mission and Values......................................................................... 7
2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Vision ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Mission .................................................................................................................. 8
2.4 Critical Issues........................................................................................................ 8
2.5 Core Values ........................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 3: National Statistical System (NSS) Strategies............................................. 9
3.1 Strategies ............................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 4: Sectoral Strategies ....................................................................................... 19
4.1 National Statistical Office (NSO) ..................................................................... 19
4.2 Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.................................................... 22
4.3 Ministry of Education, Science and Technology ........................................... 24
4.4 Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs............................................... 26
4.5 Ministry of Labour............................................................................................. 28

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4.6 Ministry of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development.................... 31
4.7 Ministry of Health.............................................................................................. 33
Chapter 5: Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements of NSS . 35
5.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 35
5.1 The NSS Implementation.................................................................................. 35
5.2 Launching the NSS Strategic Plan ................................................................... 35
5.3 Preparation of Annual Implementation Plans and sourcing of funds....... 35
5.4 Capacity Building Initiatives............................................................................ 35
5.5 Monitoring and evaluation system for the NSS Strategic Plan ................... 36
5.6 Link with the National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Master Plan.. 36
Chapter 6: Budgets and Activity Plans ....................................................................... 37
References ....................................................................................................................... 38
Annex A: Budget of the National Statistical System by Sector ............................... 39
Annex B: Activity Plan - Proposed Activities and Expected Outputs ................... 41
Annex C: Drafting Team ............................................................................................... 51

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background and Rationale
The paradigm within which development programs and projects are planned,
implemented, monitored and evaluated is shifting. The current norm in both
developed and developing countries is to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate
national development programs such as the Vision 2020, the Malawi Growth
and Development Strategy (MGDS), and international development frameworks
such as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) using evidence based
information obtained from reliable statistics. This paradigm shift has resulted in
higher demand for quality statistics that are timely and responsive for planning
and decision making. It has, therefore, become imperative for many governments
including the Government of Malawi to re-engineer the institutions and
mechanisms which collect, compile and disseminate statistics so that they are
able to meet the ever increasing demand for quality statistics.

One strategy which most countries are adopting is to consolidate all the agencies
that are involved in collecting, analyzing, disseminating key statistics on the one
hand and those that use the statistics on the other in what is called a National
Statistical System (NSS). For example, in Malawi, the National Statistical Office
(NSO) was established by the Statistics Act, Chap 27.01 of 1967 as the central
office charged with the primary responsibility of collecting, compiling, analyzing
and disseminating official statistics. The Act created the office of the
Commissioner of Statistics and provided for his powers under the general
direction of the responsible Minister. However, due to the diversity of statistics
needed for development plans and decision making processes, there are other
ministries and departments that produce official statistics for internal and
external use. These ministries include: Agriculture, Education, Science and
Technology, Labour, Health, Justice, and Industry and Commerce, the Reserve
Bank of Malawi and others.

The NSO together with these sector ministries and departments, data suppliers
and users form the NSS. These institutions have the responsibility of providing
the Government and other external stakeholders with quality statistics.

The challenge is that not many NSSs in developing countries including Malawi
are able to collect, compile and disseminate quality statistics on demand. The
situation is compounded by other factors such as: the absence of proper
coordinating mechanisms, inadequate supporting infrastructure such as
computers, under qualified professional and supporting staff, weak legal
framework, absence of policy on statistics, un - harmonized data collection,
analysis and dissemination leading to wastage and many more other factors.

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These factors have reduced the capacity of the NSS to provide statistics timely
and on demand.

With the ever increasing demand for statistics, it is important for Government to
enhance the capacity of the NSS so that it becomes more responsive. Therefore,
the capacity of the NSS has to be enhanced in order to:

• Make more efficient use of resources by creating coordination mechanisms,

agreeing on common legal and institutional frameworks, developing NSS-
wide financing strategies and human resource policies, and sharing physical,
information technology, and communication infrastructures.

• Improve the productivity of data management by streamlining management

processes, e.g., creating a data warehouse.

• Increase the availability of quality responsive data by developing a common

data dictionary and standards of data quality, and agreeing on well
coordinated comprehensive data production and dissemination policies.

• Raise the public profile for statistics by developing a coherent NSS-wide

information, education and communication (IEC) strategy comprising
advocacy and lobbying strategies.

1.2 International Statistical Initiatives

Concerned with the current state of statistics in Africa, the 2004 Marrakech
Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS) of which Malawi is signatory resolved to
“mainstream the strategic planning processes of statistical systems, by
implementing National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDSs)”
with national statistical offices as the lead agencies. Apart from MAPS, there are
other regional and international initiatives both general and specialized aimed at
enhancing the quality and use of statistics. These include Africa’s Reference
Regional Strategic Framework (RRSF), PARIS 21’s guidance and support to
countries designing and implementing their NSDSs, UN’s “Some guiding
principles for good practices in Technical Cooperation for Statistics”, IMF’s
“General Data Dissemination Standards (GDDS)” and the “Data Quality
Assessment Framework (DQAF)” and the World Bank’s STATCAP. All these
and others are working towards improving the quality of official statistics and
are at the disposal of developing countries that want to enhance the quality of
their statistics.

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1.3 The Malawi Initiatives
Concerned with the state of the NSS in Malawi, Government with financial
assistance from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the
African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) embarked on a process to develop
its own national statistics development strategy, the NSS Strategic Plan. The
process started with the official launch of the NSS on 18th November 2006 during
the commemoration of the African Statistics Day. Following the launch, it was
important to understand the status of the NSS. Government commissioned a
consultancy to conduct a situation analysis of the NSS in November 2006. The
objective of the situation analysis was to “collect a consistent set of information
about the capacity of the NSS to produce and use statistics and the enabling
environment which could be collated with information about the National
Statistical Office (NSO) in order to produce a summary of the current status of
the NSS.”

1.4 The SWOT Analysis

The situation analysis was conducted in the form of a SWOT resulting in the
determination of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the
NSS. According to the situation appraisal, the strengths and opportunities of the
NSS include: a high demand for quality statistics, already established
institutional structures, ability to collect, compile and disseminate statistics, the
presence of some qualified people and basic supporting infrastructure and
technologies. The key weaknesses and threats that were identified in the
situation analysis and need to be addressed are presented in table 1 below.

Table 1: weaknesses and threats of NSS

Weaknesses Threats
• Low profile of statistics within sector • Absence of coordination mechanisms
ministries, • Weak Human Resource Management
• Inadequate capacity to collect, compile, • Old and outdated legal act
store, disseminate and use statistics. • Un-harmonized terms, concepts
• Old and outdated legal and policy • Placement of Statistics units under planning
framework department
• Inadequate human resource • Too many lower ranking officers in the SCS
• Under-trained staff • Frustrated and de-motivated Officers
• Low investment in infrastructures and • Irregular promotions
equipment • Inferior professional image of statisticians
• Uncoordinated and un-harmonized • Limited value of statistics
statistical management

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In addition to the weaknesses and threats provided in Table 1 above, there are
other concerns that worry stakeholders calling for quick action. These concerns
are presented below.

1.4.1 Data sources, gaps and overlaps

Some ministries such as Ministry of Industry and Trade do not have the
capacity or resources to collect the data that they are mandated to. In some
instances institutions collect the same type of data because there are no
proper coordination mechanisms. There is need to resolve the concerns in the
interest of a better functioning NSS.

1.4.2 Structure, Personnel and resources for the NSS

The other set of problems and concerns center on how the NSS is organized,
the number of staff members it has and where they are located, the location of
statistical units in various ministries and departments, as well as the role and
status of the NSO in relation to sector ministries that collect statistics, the
quality of statistical outputs, and the budgets allocated to statistical work. The
concerns and problems touch on both the NSO and sector ministries and
departments that provide statistics.

1.4.3 Resources of NSS

In order to provide quality statistics on demand, Government must invest
heavily because the operational costs of collecting, compiling and
disseminating statistics are very high. Equally high is the investment in
facilitates and statistical infrastructure used and/or required. This is one
reason why an elaborate IEC strategy must be implemented in order to raise
the importance and profile of statistics so that it may be given high priority
on the national agenda.

1.4.4 Need better coordination

There is need to improve coordination within the NSS. The main problem has
been that members of the Statistics Common Service who were posted to
other Government ministries and departments do not have a strong affinity
to NSS and each institution acts independently of the other.

There is no mechanism to coordinate activities and allocation of resources to

statistics related activities. If the vision as defined in this strategic plan is to be
realized, there is need to coordinate both all statistical activities and allocation
of resources to respective activities. Hence there is need for a national plan of
action to reflect national priorities on statistics.

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 1.4.5 The user demands
The other major concern which was highlighted in the situation analysis is the
fact that currently, many statistics are supply-driven as opposed to being
demand-driven. In other words, the specific needs of users are not always
well known while data providers continue to provide the statistics that they
can produce. The NSS should be responsive and provide relevant statistics on
demand. This is the reason why this strategic plan is advocating for a
“statistics needs analysis as the basis for supplying statistics”

1.5 Stakeholders Consultations

The findings as outlined above were presented at a Stakeholders Workshop
which was held on 3rd January 2007 in Mangochi. Key stakeholders confirmed
the need for a Strategic Plan aimed at enhancing capacity of the NSS. At a follow
up meeting of Directors of Planning from various ministries that collect statistics
which was held on 24th August 2007, two important decisions were made. First,
the meeting agreed that the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Health,
Industry, Justice and finally Labour would take part in the initial development of
the strategic plan and second that officers from the statistics common service in
these ministries would form the drafting team.

The drafting team convened six times to draft the Strategic Plan. In order to
create wider acceptance of the Strategic Plan, Directors from the key ministries
and other stakeholders were invited to review the document and the more
detailed sectoral plans produced by the six ministries at a Workshop which was
held on 7th November 2007 at Liwonde. After that Workshop comments were
incorporated and this NSS Strategic Plan was finalized.

1.6 The Objectives of the Strategic Plan

The main thrust of this strategic plan is to build the capacity of the NSS so that it
becomes responsive, robust and better coordinated, producing timely and
reliable statistics. It also aims at enhancing the quality and quantity of human
resources on the one hand and on the other hand the quality and compatibility of
supporting technologies.

In the end the strategic plan aims at putting statistics at the “finger tips” of
every planner and decision maker in Malawi so that all national development
plans are evidence based.

For this to happen, it is important that NSO seriously takes up its leadership and
coordination roles so that the current situation whereby statistical units in
ministries and departments operate in an uncoordinated manner and

5
independently is reversed. It is a strong well coordinated NSS that will be able to
provide statistics at the finger tips of users.

1.7 Outline of the Strategic Plan

This strategic plan is divided in six chapters with three annexes and the contents
of these chapters and annexes are as follows:

Chapter 1: Contains an introduction with background and rationale for

developing the Strategic Plan.

Chapter 2: Contains the vision, mandate and values of the Strategic Plan.

Chapter 3: Covers the eight strategies defining goals, objectives and activities.
The strategies have been listed according to their importance.

Chapter 4: Summarizes the sector strategies which include NSO and six
sectors’ strategic plans for the statistics units in the ministries of
Agriculture, Education, Health, Industry and Trade, Justice and
Labour. The strategies aim at improving statistics and building the
capacity of statistics units in NSO and the six Ministries.

Chapter 5: Covers on implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the

National Statistical System. It also discusses how the NSS is linked
up to the Monitoring and Evaluation Master Plan being
implemented by Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.

Chapter 6: Contains an elaboration on the budgeting process of NSS activities

and sectoral plans of NSO and the six ministries which include
Agriculture, Education, Health, Industry, Justice and Labour. It also
covers on the activity plan and expected outputs.

Annex A: Provides summarized tables on budgets of the sectors.

Annex B: Contains activity plan with proposed activities and expected

outputs.

Annex C: Contains names and pictures of the drafting team from NSO,
Agriculture, Education, Health, Industry and Trade, Justice, and
Labour.

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Chapter 2: Vision, Mission and Values

2.1 Introduction
Part two contains the Vision, Mission and Values. It also contains nine strategies
focusing on consolidating the NSS. The Vision defines the desired future for the
NSS in Malawi. It is the wish of the NSO to see that statistics are provided to all
users and that they will actually be used for decision making and development
planning, management, monitoring and evaluation.

The mandate defines the main tasks that the NSS will perform. The tasks include
the following: promoting good statistics practices, coordinating statistical
activities, standardizing concepts and definitions, harmonizing methodologies
and recruiting, developing and retaining well qualified and competent statistical
staff at every level of NSS. It is hoped that by concentrating on achieving these
roles and responsibilities, the NSS will be able to provide statistics at the finger
tips of every user. This shows that by executing its mandate, the NSS will
contribute towards the attainment of the vision.

The values that are presented reflect the conscious or the moving spirit of the
NSS. They are the bed rock upon which decisions will be made in pursuit of the
vision. Confidentiality, integrity and independence, transparency and
accountability as well as professionalism are important values that should be
upheld at all times in the NSS. These values should cascade down to all echelons
of the NSS.

The rest of Part Two contains goals, objectives and activities. They are clustered
according to strategic areas that the plan concentrates on. The strategic areas
were identified during the situation analysis. Out of the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats that were identified, possible solutions in the form of
goals were formulated. For each goal a number of objectives were defined as well
as the activities that will support the realization of the objectives. Each cluster
forms a strategy which if implemented, will contribute to the realization of the
vision. The strategies can be put in two broad categories: crosscutting such as
those dealing with human resources, institutional arrangements, coordination as
well as the definition of roles and responsibilities; and sector specific dealing
with systems and procedures for collecting, analyzing, compiling and
disseminating data, as well as issues of relevance and timeliness of statistics. The
cross cutting strategies define important preconditions that must be met before
the NSS can be transformed into a robust undertaking.

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2.2 Vision
The vision of the NSS is to have “statistics at the fingertips of users”.

2.3 Mission
The mission of the NSS is to provide coordinated, standardized and harmonized
official statistics and promote their use.

2.4 Critical Issues

In order to realize the vision, the following needs to be achieved:

• Good statistical practices developed.

• Statistical activities coordinated across all Government ministries,
departments and agencies.
• Concepts and definitions standardized.
• Methodologies harmonized.
• Professional statistical services provided.
• Well qualified and competent statistical staff at every level of NSS recruited,
developed and retained.
• Use of modern and compatible technology in statistical operations at every
level of NSS.
• Statistics disseminated in a user friendly manner.

2.5 Core Values

Internationally acceptable methods shall be used when collecting, analyzing,
compiling, storing and disseminating statistics. In discharging these roles and
responsibilities a number of values shall provide guidance as listed below:
• Confidentiality: Keep confidential all data provided by respondents in
accordance with the prevailing Statistics Act.
• Integrity and Independence: Produce and disseminate statistics in an
objective and independent manner.
• Transparency and Accountability: Be transparent and accountable in all
operations at all levels.
• Professionalism: Discharge duties competently, diligently, efficiently and
effectively.
• Effective Team working: Achieve coordination, standardization, and
harmonization of concepts and definitions across the NSS.
• Customer satisfaction: Consult with and be guided by users in order to
produce demand-driven statistics.

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Chapter 3: National Statistical System (NSS) Strategies

3.1 Strategies
The National Statistical System (NSS) Strategic Plan has eight strategies and
these are linked to the sector strategic plan for NSO and the six ministries
included in the first phase of the NSS. The strategic plans form a holistic picture
of the NSS and provide possible pooled funding for all statistical activities.

The NSS strategies and sector strategies presented in Chapter four have two
categories. First are the core statistics issues and second are cross-cutting themes.
Cross cutting issues include human resources related strategies, strategies
dealing with compatibility of technology and issues to do with coordination of
data collection, analysis and dissemination. Most cross cutting issues are pre-
conditions for the success of the core statistics strategies. For example, recruiting,
developing and nurturing well qualified personnel will enhance the capacity of
the NSS. As a result, the NSS will be able to deliver quality statistics on demand.

There are strategies focusing on personnel related issues. However, there is need
to conduct a functional review of the Statistics Common Service to identify staff
in positions according to grade and determine the number of staff required in the
system. There will also be need to conduct a training needs identification and
analysis exercise as the basis for developing a master training plan for the
Statistics Common Service. It is also proposed to conduct an audit of all
technologies being used within the Statistics Common Service as the basis for
developing a strategy for harmonizing and standardizing these technologies.

The eight strategies for NSS are as follows:

1. Improve awareness and utilization of statistics.
2. Improve management of the statistical common service.
3. Enhance human resource capacity for the production, compilation and use of
statistics.
4. Improve the coordination and harmonization of data collection, analysis and
dissemination.
5. Improve compatibility of supporting technologies.
6. Improve storage, accessibility and dissemination of statistics.
7. Minimize risks associated with data collection and associated activities.
8. Develop NSS work plan and financing strategy.

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Strategy 1: Improve Awareness and Utilization of Statistics

Problem Statement
Generally, statistics have a low profile in Malawi. The result is that most
development agenda are either not evidence-based or based on old evidence. It
is, therefore, important to raise the profile of statistics in development planning
so that planners and decision makers may begin to fully appreciate the
importance of statistics.

Goal
To raise the profile and utilization of statistics so that development planners,
policy makers, managers and implementers adopt evidence based approaches to
development.

Objective 1: An Information, education and communication (IEC) strategy

designed, developed and implemented by September 2008.
• Design and develop an IEC Strategy.
• Implement IEC strategy.

Objective 2: An advocacy campaign targeting those who can deliver change,

implemented as an on-going activity by December 2008.
• Promote debates among producers and users of statistics on radio, television
and other mass media.
• Promote official statistics as an important subject in the education sector.
• Promote partnerships and networking around specific sector statistics e.g.
health, education and labour.
• Write and publish articles about the importance of statistics in the print
media.

Objective 3: Launch a quarterly bulletin for NSS activities.

• Establish an editorial committee.
• Solicit articles and other information from members of the NSS.
• Compile, edit and publish the bulletin.
• Compile a list of people and institutions to receive the newsletter.

Objective 4: Introduce mass media programs.

• Design and develop TV and radio statistics programs.
• Negotiate with TV and radio stations for program broadcasting.
• Introduce weekly statistics columns in the main local news papers.
• Publicize the National Statistical System Strategic Plan.

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Objective 5: Develop a culture of evidence based decision-making and
development planning.
• Promote collection and use of statistics in all management and development
activities.
• Design an orientation program.
• Implement the orientation program for Government workers.
• Train managers on how to use statistics in their own areas of work.

Strategy 2: Improve Management and Coordination of the Statistical

Common Service.

Problem Statement
The abolition of Statistics Common Services (SCS) negatively affected the
management of statisticians. The Human Resource Management Unit was
neglected allowing it to operate with a few, low level and under qualified
officers. Senior officers were regularly transferred within a very short period of
time causing a loss of corporate and institutional memory. Consequently, NSO
lost control over the SCS: with the re-introduction of the SCS, NSO does not
know the total establishments in the SCS, location of officers posted to various
ministries and departments, their years of service and other related factors. It is
important, therefore, that the HRM Unit in NSO is revitalized and rationalized as
one way of consolidating the NSS.

Goal
To re-organize and revitalize the SCS HRM&D function to suit the demands of
the National Statistical System (NSS).

Objective 1: Review the NSO HRM&D Unit by December 2008.

• Review functions of the HRM&D Unit at NSO.
• Discuss the findings with Department of Human Resources Management and
Development (DHMRD), Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Ministry
of Finance and other authorities.
• Implement recommendations.

Objective 2: Revamp and revitalize the HRM&D Unit by June 2009.

• Provide internal management courses for all NSS managers and supervisors.
• Provide computers and other office equipment for the unit.
• Undertake a needs assessment survey.
• Design and develop a computerized HRM system for the SCS.
• Train the HRM&D Officers how to use the computerized HRM system.
• Capture and input information details about officers in the SCS on regular
basis.

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Strategy 3: Enhance Human Resource Capacity for the Production,
Compilation and Use of Statistics

Problem Statement
Human resources are the single most important inventory or resource for a well
developed, effective and efficient functioning NSS. It is important, therefore, that
both the quantity and quality of officers in the SCS are well trained and exposed
to new developments and issues.

Goal
To have a well developed professional and technical staff with a good career well
motivated and committed to the cause of statistics.

Objective 1: Undertake a functional review of the SCS by December 2008.

• Develop terms of reference and costs for sector wide functional review.
• Examine the current posts on the SCS establishment.
• Conduct a demand survey for SCS Officers in Ministries and Departments.
• Rationalize the establishment in light of the results of the demand survey.
• Discuss and seek establishment approvals from DHRM&D, OPC and
Ministry of Finance.
• Implement functional review findings.

Objective 2: Establish a national statistical training system in Malawi by

December 2008.
• Establish a national committee to oversee training and staff development
needs.
• Define a national qualification accreditation framework for statisticians in
Malawi at different technical levels.
• Link the accreditation system to regional and international systems.
• Establish a twinning arrangement with a specialized institution within and
outside the region.
• Lobby universities and other training institutions in Malawi to introduce
Statistics as a major subject.

Objective 3: Enhance staff training as an on-going activity.

• Identify potential providers of training at professional, technical and basic
levels.
• Assess their potential to provide such training.
• Negotiate the possibility of offering training to NSS officers.
• Provide support for statistics training programs.

12
Objective 4: A training unit to provide in-service training established by
December 2008.
• Establish a training unit.
• Provide resources for training.
• Conduct training of trainers.
• Design and implement on-going in-service training programs.
• Outsource in-service training to Chancellor College and other academic and
training institutions.

Objective 5: Train key statistics users on how to effectively analyze, interpret

and use statistics as an on-going activity from October 2008.
• Identify key users of statistics by subject area, including the media.
• Conduct a statistics user training needs assessment.
• Design and Implement a user training program.

Strategy 4: Improve Coordination and Harmonization of Data Collection,

Analysis and Dissemination.

Problem Statement
The Malawi Government established and mandated the NSO conduct large scale
surveys and censuses, to compile and disseminate official statistics in Malawi.
However, there are other Government ministries/departments and other
agencies that collect, analyze and disseminate official statistics.

The main challenge is that there are no coordination mechanisms that are put in
place to standardize and harmonize, for instance, terms and concepts used for
collecting and analyzing statistics. In most instances indicators and other
statistics cannot be compared between sources, over time or different geographic
areas. As a result, the value of statistical data is minimized and quality is
compromised.

Goal
To standardize, harmonize and coordinate the terms and concepts used for
collection, analysis and dissemination of statistics.

Objective 1: Review the Statistics Act of 1967 by December 2008.

• Review the Statistics Act of 1967 to include recent developments and changes.
• Hold consultation meetings with Ministry of Justice and Constitutional
Affairs.
• Consult stakeholders.
• Submit the draft Statistics Act to Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
for legal review.

13
• Lobby the legislature to pass the bill.

Objective 2: Harmonize and standardize terms, concepts and nomenclature of

statistics by December 2009.
• NSO to propose work program to the NSS Steering Committee.
• Establish subject matter Technical Working Groups on harmonization and
standardization of concepts.
• Produce a compendium of concepts and definitions.
• Endorse the compendium and this will be done by NSO in collaboration with
line ministries, departments and agencies.
• Disseminate the compendium to all stakeholders.

Objective 3: Establish coordinating mechanisms for the National Statistical

System.
• Ensure that National Steering Committee meets regularly.
• Establish and revamp sectoral and subject matter committees for statistics,
including technical working committees for data collection, compilation,
analysis, storage and dissemination as well as for supporting technologies.

Objective 4: Empower the NSO so that it takes on the leadership

responsibilities for the NSS.
• Examine the current responsibilities of NSO in relation to the NSS.
• Rationalize the responsibilities to include the NSS.
• Create a unit within NSO to manage and coordinate the NSS.
• Define the roles and responsibilities of the coordinating unit.

Strategy 5: Improve Compatibility of Supporting Technologies.

Problem Statement
The primary tools that statisticians use are computers and other information
technology related equipment. In most cases there are challenges associated
with the equipment and software being used. For instance, hardware and
software are not compatible and maintenance is poor and sporadic. There are no
central data banks and back-ups leading to dangers of easily losing out data and
other important information.

Goal
To have compatible, regularly maintained and up to date hardware and software
with safety measures put in place.

14
Objective 1: Standardize and make hardware and software compatible for
National Statistical System by December 2010.
• Identify hardware and software needs of the National Statistical System.
• Identify financial resources to procure the required IT equipment and
software.
• Purchase and supply compatible computers to major stakeholder.
• Liaise with DISTMIS on improving maintenance of IT equipment and
software.
• Create a data bank of companies and individuals specialized in hardware
and software.

Objective 2: Improve the skills of computer users as an on-going activity by

January 2009.
• Conduct computer use skills needs assessment.
• Develop a computer skills development program for staff.
• Implement skill development programs including statistical software across
the National Statistical System.

Objective 3: Improve on the safety of all equipment as an on-going activity

beginning June 2008.
• Put bugler bars in all rooms where there are NSS machines.
• Restrict access to rooms with NSS machines.
• Put fire detectors in all rooms with NSS machines.
• Provide fire extinguishers.
• Provide power surge-protectors and UPSs.
• Provide air conditioners particularly in rooms with servers.

Strategy 6: Improve Storage, Accessibility and Dissemination of Statistics

Problem Statement
Statistics are collected, compiled, and disseminated by the NSO and different
sectoral agencies. The challenge is that data are stored individually by these
agencies thereby limiting accessibility of statistics to various users. This is
compounded by the absence of central data storage facilities and linkages among
various producers and users.

Goal
To make the storage of national data safer and more easily accessible to users
and to disseminate statistics in the most effective way for evidence based
decision making, planning and public knowledge.

Objective 1: Create a national data storage facility within the NSS by 2010.

15
• Create a calendar of statistical surveys and other events.
• Design, develop and implement an appropriate storage facility for national
data.
• Link the storage facility to sector storage facilities.
• Establish an archive within the system.
• Develop data storage back up mechanisms.
• Develop procedures for statistical data protection.

Objective 2: Improve mechanisms for users to easily access national data.

• Design and develop criteria for the public to access data from the national
data bank.
• Develop national data access protocols.
• Design and develop data accessing centers at the district level.
• Make national libraries data accessing centers.
• Supply statistical publications in all national libraries.
• Publicize data accessing centers as much as possible.

Objective 3: Improve systems for disseminating data.

• Re-design in some areas the NSO web to reflect the NSS.
• Link sector web pages to the national web page.
• Produce compact discs (CDs) with specific data and put them on the market.
• Design and develop mass storage facilities (USBs) with specific data sets.
• Design and develop user friendly booklets with topical statistics.
• Design and develop brochures with topical statistics and place them in
strategic places.
• Institutionalize a statistics column in local daily papers, television and radio.

Strategy 7: Minimize Risks Associated with Data Collection and Associated

Activities

Problem Statement
Data collection and associated activities require that people should go away from
their homes and travel long distances. The risks associated with being away from
home are several and some of them include: contracting HIV and AIDS; car
accidents and personal security. Currently people are not insured from being
away from their home.

Goal
To minimize the risks associated with field work related to Statistics Common
Service.

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Objective 1: Minimize chances of contracting HIV and AIDS as an on-going
activity.
• Develop and implement an HIV and AIDS Workplace policy for the NSS.
• Develop and implement an HIV and AIDS IEC Strategy for the NSS.
• Organize regular HIV and AIDS clubs for the NSS.
• Develop and maintain a pre-field HIV and AIDS package containing
brochures and condoms.
• Encourage and institutionalize pre-field trip HIV and AIDS voluntary
counseling.
• Train field supervisor in HIV and AIDS counseling.

Objective 2: Minimize chances of car accidents involving officers as an on-

going activity.
• Develop a field trip travel policy of a maximum number of personnel in
vehicles.
• Train drivers in defensive driving.
• Always check the roadworthiness of a vehicle before it goes to the field.
• Enforce daily routine vehicle checks by drivers.

Objective 3: Minimize personal risks associated with fieldwork.

• Train field workers in personal security.
• Train field workers on how to report incidents.
• Train field workers in first aid.
• Provide first aid tool kits to field workers.
• Define safe accommodation standards for field workers.

Strategy 8: Develop National Statistical System (NSS) Work Plan and

Financing Strategy.

Problem Statement
Implementing censuses and surveys require substantial amount of financial
resources. NSO and sectoral statistics units revealed that they depend on donor
funds to conduct these activities. The challenge is that the sourcing of funds from
donors is not coordinated and as a result the funds are not used in priority areas.
Therefore, there is need to engage and sell National Statistical Strategic Plan to
the Malawi Government, donors and other stakeholders so that there is a
common basis in supporting statistics programs in Malawi.

Goal
To harmonize the sourcing of funds for data gathering, compilation, storage,
analysis and dissemination so that the activities are carried as planned.

17
Objective 1: Develop an annual work plan for the National Statistical System.
• Consult and carry out statistics needs analysis as the basis for supplying
statistics.
• Call for submissions of annual activities from all data producing institutions.
• Consolidate the activities into an annual work plan for the NSS.
• Cost the sector activities and consolidate a single budget.
• Solicit Government funding in recurrent budget.
• Identify the funding gap.
• Solicit donors to fund development budget.

Objective 2: Develop a strategy for enhancing donors’ coordination.

• Assess and identify donors’ needs in statistics.
• Circulate the Strategic Plan to donors for technical and financial support.
• Organize donor coordination meetings.
• Obtain donor commitments for funding.

Objective 3: Link national statistics programs to regional and international

initiatives.
• Identify international institutions interested in statistics.
• Arrange exchange programs with statistical organizations from the region.
• Solicit technical and financial assistance from international organizations.
• Identify support of Statistical Association of Malawi (SAM), NGOs and
private sector in statistics.

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Chapter 4: Sectoral Strategies

This chapter contains summarized statistical sectoral strategies for National

Statistical Office (NSO) and six key ministries. However, each sector has a
detailed statistical strategy for their Ministry. The sectoral strategies have been
aligned with on-going initiatives such as providing data sets for monitoring
progress of Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), monitoring of
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and sector wide approaches (SWAPs).
The seven sectoral plans are:
• National Statistical Office (NSO);
• Health;
• Education, Science and Technology;
• Agriculture and Food Security;
• Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development;
• Justice and Constitutional Affairs; and
• Labour.

4.1 National Statistical Office (NSO)

Problem Statement
The National Statistical Office is a fully-fledged government department with a
mandate to collect official statistics, publish and disseminate them to policy
makers, researchers and the general public for informed decision making and
general public awareness. However, the NSO experiences inadequate funding,
staff shortages, lack of further training, especially post-graduate level, and office
equipment to successfully implement its planned activities.

Mission
To provide high quality, timely and independent statistical information and
promote its use for policy formulation, decision-making, research, transparency,
and general public awareness.

Vision
To set-up a National Statistical System with a good public image, coordinating
and setting standards for Official Statistics and serving as a “one-stop” statistics
resource centre.

Goal 1: Promote, coordinate and manage the National Statistical System.

• Develop a strategic plan for the NSS, incorporating the NSO and sectoral
plans.

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• Establish the post of Director of Change and Communication at P3 level.
• Establish an NSS Project Implementation Unit within the NSO headed by a
Coordinator.
• Review and revise the 1967 Statistics Act so as to clearly define the mandate
of NSO in collecting statistical data, setting standards, and coordinating
National Statistics.
• Develop coordinated and harmonized statistical standards, including
standard classifications and definitions, and promote their use within the
NSS.
• Enhance statistical advocacy through sensitization workshops, at national,
regional, district and local level.
• Enhance the roles of NSS Steering Committee and provide room for frequent
meetings to discuss progress of the NSS.
• Prepare an inventory of National Statistics.
• Develop a statistical training programme for statistical officers within the
NSO and those in the statistical common service.
• Develop and publish a framework for National Statistics.
• Promote use of up-to-date Information Technology including relevant
software that is standardized and harmonized within the NSS.

Goal 2: Produce better quality statistics.

• Actively seek views from data users on the quality of statistics continually
throughout the plan period.
• Ensure that quality control mechanisms are in place during all stages of
survey and other data collection exercises.
• Apply consistent publication standards when releasing all statistical data.
• Systematically review the quality of published statistics and the way they are
compiled throughout the plan period.
• Adopt international standards for official statistics.
• Promote and co-ordinate statistical standards with other producers of official
statistics through the NSS.
• Ensure that staff are equipped to produce quality statistics through
specialized training within and outside the country.

Goal 3: Enhance the service provided to users.

• Raise public awareness about the importance and role of NSO products and
services by exploiting marketing and promotion opportunities such as the
media, the Internet, trade fairs, national statistical days and the regional
office structure.
• Publish statistics in a user-friendly way (market disaggregated) so that users
can easily understand them, without compromising technical soundness, and
produce methodological guides in all areas.

20
• Formally assess the needs of users in each major area of statistics.
• Establish technical working groups of statistics users and producers in some
specific areas.
• Produce and maintain a directory of official statistical sources and a
catalogue of data users and frequently requested data sets.
• Establish enquiry points to deal with specific data requests within the NSO
and line ministries.
• Enhance and maintain an electronic databank of statistics.
• Continue to develop methods for electronic dissemination, including the
Internet, CD-ROM, and other methods.
• Enhance and implement a record management system.
• Be proactive in marketing the products and image of the NSO.
• Relocation of NSO Headquarters to Lilongwe and strengthening regional
offices in Blantyre, Mzuzu and Zomba.
• Encourage and promote district assemblies to have statistical units.

Goal 4: Realize staff potential

• Ensure that all staff agree personal development plans with their managers
each year, which are consistent with the goals and work plans of the office.
• Formulate a staff training programme that meets the career development
needs of all cadres and grades.
• Introduce a policy of job rotation.
• Improve the management capabilities of staff by developing and
implementing a programme of management training.
• Design and implement an induction programme for all staff members who
need it.
• Divisional annual plans shall include skill auditing to identify gaps in key
skills and human capacity that will be required for a division to implement
its annual work plan effectively and efficiently and incorporate these gaps
into the training plan.
• Establish and publicize a personnel policy, including an internal code of
conduct.

Goal 5: Improve financial planning and control

• Allocate and monitor funds through an internal Expenditure Management
Committee that shall meet every month.
• Implement a system of quarterly work and financial planning for all
divisions.
• Decentralize financial management, as far as possible, by allocating funds to
divisions to carry out agreed priority activities in their work plans.
• Improve accounting procedures, including the computerization of accounts.

21
• Establish the Internal Procurement Committee to improve transparency and
accountability and to promote the efficient utilization of funds when
procuring goods and services, managing fieldwork and publishing statistical
data.
• Review accounting systems in each regional office with a view to
decentralization.
• Improve the transparency and efficiency of budgeting and expenditure
management processes, through involvement of heads of divisions.

Goal 6: Improve organization and management.

• Publish an annual work programme together with a review of achievements
and progress made during the previous year.
• Strengthen the regional statistical offices so that they are able to perform
some data collection and dissemination activities in certain areas and liaise
with users.
• Introduce a system of performance management and open appraisal, where
all divisions and sections operate according to annual work plans.
• Ensure that all staff with management responsibilities are trained to improve
their management skills.
• Delegate more management responsibilities to divisional and regional
managers who will also delegate more responsibilities to their staff.

4.2 Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

Problem Statement
The statistics section is unable to collect, compile and store accurate, reliable and
timely agricultural statistics for policy formulation, decision-making and
planning process. This is mainly as a result of the following challenges:
inadequate infrastructure; lack of trainings and capacity building and low or lack
of resources to carry out important functions of the section.

Goal
To ensure that accurate, reliable and timely agricultural statistics are collected,
compiled and stored for policy formulation, decision-making and planning
process in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Objective 1: To provide reliable, accurate and timely agricultural statistics

annually.
• Conduct agricultural production estimates survey.
• Conduct Market information surveys.
• Conduct food security surveillance survey.

22
• Establish agricultural statistics data bank.
• Conduct post harvest losses survey.

Objective 2: To have a strengthened statistical unit through raising of its

profile and visibility.
• Fill the P7 vacant post.
• Create a P5 (Chief Statistician establishment).
• Promote members of staff.
• Hold regular workshops with management on the need to use and provide
accurate and timely agricultural statistics.
• Hold regular user-producer workshops.

Objective 3: To provide long term and short-term training programmes for

officers in the statistics unit as informed by skills audit and training needs
assessment.
• Conduct training at Diploma level for statistical clerks.
• Conduct trainings in survey design, implementation, data entry and analysis.
• Conduct training in survey implementation.
• Conduct training in data entry and analysis.
• Conduct training in modeling.
• Conduct training in ICT.

Objective 4: To have a statistical unit that is well equipped with resources,

computers and vehicles in order, to improve efficiency.
• Purchase 8 computers, laptops and UPSs. Only 7 computers out of 15 needed
are available and in good condition.
• Purchase vehicles. The two vehicles that are available are too old and need
boarding off.
• Purchase GPSs. Currently the ministry does not have any GPS. A total of 400
GPSs are needed.
• Purchase 1,000 scales. Currently 1,000 scales are available out of a
requirement of 2,000.
• Maintain equipment.

Objective 5: Improve dissemination of agricultural statistics.

• Develop a web-page for agriculture statistics.
• Maintain the web-page for agriculture statistics.
• Purchase equipment for webpage.
• Train people responsible for maintaining the web-page.
• Burn agricultural statistics in CDs.
• Publish agricultural statistical bulletins.

23
4.3 Ministry of Education, Science and Technology

Problem Statement
The education sector, development partners and other stakeholders use
Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) data for evidence-based
policy formulation and result-based decision making. However, EMIS is
currently being faced with a lot of challenges some of which include: poor record
keeping in schools; inflated and exaggerated figures by some schools; poor
response to Annual School Census questionnaires from private institutions and
higher learning institutions; donor dependence in funding most of the activities;
understaffing and unskilled workforce coupled with stagnant career path;
inadequate office equipment e.g. computers and other supporting technologies;
and duplication and contradicting results with other institution collecting similar
type of information.

Hence, there is need to address the above mentioned problems so as to enhance

collection of accurate, reliable and timely statistics thereby making the
independent and professional integrity of EMIS accepted by all stakeholders.

Goal
EMIS to become an authority of education statistics in the education sector
ensuring collection of accurate, reliable and timely statistics whose independent
and professional integrity is accepted by all stakeholders.

Objective 1: To provide reliable, accurate and timely education statistics

annually.
• Conduct Annual School Census for Primary and Secondary schools.
• Conduct Annual School Census for tertiary education.
• Districts to collect and capture monthly statistical returns.
• Create database for tertiary education.
• Conduct school mapping survey.

Objective 2: To strengthen the link between EMIS and NSO and statistical
units of other line ministries.
• Hold two bilateral meetings with NSO every year.
• Hold at least one multilateral meeting with other statistical units in line
ministries.
• Share EMIS publications with NSO and other line ministries.

Objective 3: To improve record keeping in schools.

24
• Lobby for provision of class attendance registers and other record keeping
materials in schools.
• Train all primary and secondary school head teachers on proper school
record keeping.
• Lobby for implementation of birth registration system to become an accurate
source of pupil ages.

Objective 4: To enhance education data utilization.

• Hold annual district dissemination workshops to key stakeholders and users.
• Train data users on how to access information from EMIS Data
Dissemination Module.
• Publish and distribute annual Basic Statistics Report.
• Produce and distribute electronic education statistics through CDs.
• Produce and distribute EMIS newsletter alerting the public on the need for
education data.
• Develop EMIS website.
• Link EMIS website to NSO’s website.

Objective 5: To strengthen the statistical unit by raising its profile and

visibility.
• Creation of P5 grade to head the unit.
• Creation of P7 grade.
• Lobby for creation of EO grade (Assistant Statistician) in all the six
educational divisions.
• Lobby for creation of CO grade (Statistical Clerk) in all the 34 educational
districts.
• Fill the existing vacant posts at the ministry headquarters.

Objective 6: To improve data accuracy, consistency and quality.

• Hold sensitization workshops with school head teachers on the need to
provide accurate and consistent information reflecting the actual situation on
the ground.
• Come up with punitive measures to school heads who provide inflated
figures.
• Empower districts to collect and manage school data for their schools
through devolution of EMIS activities (DEMIS).
• Come up with legal framework compelling all schools more especially
private institutions to provide any information requested by MoEST through
EMIS.

25
• Lobby the monitoring and evaluation unit within the planning directorate of
MoEST to do further analysis of data compiled by EMIS.

Objective 7: To improve efficiency and effectiveness of EMIS staff.

• Undertake needs assessment.
• Short & long term training for officers involved in statistical work.
• Training up degree level for Assistant Statistician.
• Recruit a local database administrator to manage EMIS database.
• Identity and train two EMIS officers on computerized records and data-
based management.
• Train all DEMIS officers on computer skills and basic statistical concepts.

Objective 8: To improve Institutional Infrastructure.

• Purchase desktop and laptop computers for EMIS headquarters.
• Purchase 22 computers for the non-DEMIS districts.
• Purchase 2 vehicles.
• Purchase a digital camera.
• Purchase an over head projector.
• Purchase GPSs.
• Maintain equipment.
• Finance EMIS activities from local funding.

4.4 Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs

Problem Statement
The Ministry of Justice produces information on criminal, civil, homicide,
deceased estates (Administrator General) and registered companies and
trademarks (Registrar General). However all this information is recorded
manually except for the Registrar General’s Department where there is an
electronic database on companies and trademarks registered, though there is a
backlog. As a result of the manual system it is difficult to trace civil and criminal
case files, or generate some statistics and indicators for the governance sector.

This has resulted in lack of data for planning purposes, e.g. criminal case
tracking, case disposition, prosecution rates, companies or NGOs registered, and
deceased estates per specific time.

There is also inadequate hardware and software specifically the statistics section
which is coupled with human capital not being motivated. There is generally

26
lack of training in statistical methods and data management for the staff.
Financial resources are also inadequate to sustain the activities throughout the
year. This may be attributed to general lack of recognition of the unit’s role, since
the unit does not perform core functions of the ministry.

Goal
To establish an electronic Justice Information Management System.

Objective 1: To automate justice information systems.

• Design and develop an electronic database.
• Conduct training for the users on how to use the database.
• Clear the backlog of data within the various departments.
• Connect officers to wireless internet.

Objective 2: To improve data entry, and storage.

• Provide and maintain hardware and software.
• Procure statistical packages(SPSS, STATA,) as well as database
software(Visual Basic, Mysql).
• Upload all criminal, homicide, and civil case files.
• Upload deceased estates files.

Objective 3: To provided statistical staff with long term and short term
training.
• Provide statistical staff both long term and short term training.
• Conduct a study visit for staff.
• Attend short courses (ESAMI, SMIFA).
• Attend a short course in Database Management.
• Conduct in house training for the statistical clerks on SPSS/STATA.

Objective 4: To motivate staff.

• Raise profile of planning department.
• Create new position at P7 to head the Statistical Unit.
• Provide adequate office space.
• Procure vehicle for the statistical unit.

Objective 5: To improve dissemination of criminal justice statistics.

• Develop website and put into operation.
• Develop a Local Area network.
• Produce Statistical bulletins on Criminal, Civil, deceased estates and
companies registered.

27
• Conduct training workshop on how to use the website.

4.5 Ministry of Labour

Problem Statement
The Statistics Unit within the Ministry of Labour is faced with many problems,
some them are: lack of training in statistical skills in data collection, compilation,
analysis and report writing; unfilled vacant positions; acute transportation
problem; inadequate office equipment and stationery; inadequate funding
allocation for operational work; and there is lack of management willingness to
support statistical related activities.

Goal
To become a leading producer of labour market statistics in close collaboration
with National Statistical Office, key stakeholders and users.

Objective 1: To produce, reliable, accurate and timely labour market statistics.

• Conduct labour force surveys.
• Conduct child labour surveys.
• Conduct employment enquiry on minimum wages and salaries.
• Conduct household commodities survey.
• Conduct skills survey on temporary employment holders.
• Conduct vacancies and job placement registration.
• Conduct industrial accidents and compensation survey.
• Conduct Occupational Safety and Health surveys.
• Conduct informal sector survey.
• Conduct Tracer surveys on graduates at various levels of educational
achievement.
• Conduct employment and earnings surveys.
• Conduct Trade Testing Surveys (Quality assurance).
• Follow standard classifications and definitions, and promote their use as
proposed by National Statistical Office and NSS.

Objective 2: To enhance provision of labour market statistics to users.

• Conduct dissemination workshops on labour market statistics with key
stakeholders and users of labour market statistics.
• Develop labour market statistics databank for users to access information on
labour market statistics.
• Produce employment newsletter or briefs.
• Assess the needs of users in each labour market statistics.

28
• Prepare an inventory of labour market statistics.
• Develop Labour Information Data Bank.
• Develop Corporate Data Bank.

Objective 3: To realize Staff Potential within the Statistical Unit.

• Ensure that staff are equipped to produce quality statistics through
specialized training in official statistics within and outside the country.
• Offer training courses in data collection, analysis and report writing.
• Training courses in computer applications (SPSS, CsPro, Databases etc).
• Attend national or international workshops, meetings or seminars in labour
statistics issues.
• Work hand in hand with NSS and NSO in survey design and field operation
to gain experience.

Objective 4: To raise the profile of the Statistical Unit.

• Upgraded statistical unit and highest grade in the unit to be upgraded from
P7 to P5.
• Filling in vacant post of P7 with support from NSO.
• Consider promotion to various grades.
• Improve the management capabilities of staff by developing and
implementing a program of management training.
• Design and implement an induction program for all staff members who need
it.
• Ensure that all staff with management responsibilities receives training to
improve management skills.
• Define detailed career Path within the Statistical Unit.

Objective 5: To improve process, storage and accessibility of labour Market

Statistics.
• Procure hardware (desktops and laptops).
• Procure software (SPSS, STATA, CsPro etc) for data capturing, compilation,
analysis, storage and dissemination.
• Connect to Local Area Network (LAN), and the Internet.
• Develop a website to upload labour market information.
• Training in use of statistical packages and databases.
• Procure office equipment.

Objective 6: To collaborate with specialized agencies in the production of

labour market information, Training activities, and statistical professionalism.
• Organize specialized seminars/workshops with specialized agencies.

29
• Organize tailor made courses for continuous learning with specialized
agencies.
• Organize linkages with specialized agencies.
• Maintain linkages with specialized agencies for capacity building and
development.

Objective 7: Ensuring availability of modern data analysis equipment with

modern data analysis applications at Ministry headquarters and district
offices.
• Facilitate procurement of computers for Ministry headquarters and district
offices.
• Facilitate procurement of statistical analysis packages that meet the
standards.
• Monitoring and evaluation of equipment for efficiency.

Objective 8: Designing labour statistics databases and backups of statistical

data in the statistics labour market.
• Conduct requirement specifications for project implementation.
• Outlining database table designs.
• Conducting consultation meetings with other stakeholders for effective
project implementation.
• Conducting meetings with concerned departments for consistency of the
design.
• Development of the project development plan in liaison with other
stakeholders.

Objective 9: Development of labour statistics databases and backups of

statistical data in the statistics labour market.
• Liaising with interested bodies for effective project development.
• Conducting meetings with concerned departments on project development
best practices.
• Carryout project development.
• Testing and debugging the database system.
• Development of the project implementation plan in liaison with other
stakeholders.

Objective 10: implementation of labour statistics databases and backups of

statistical data in the statistics labour market.
• Organize trainings/workshops on the system usage.
• Installation of the labour statistics databases and backups.
• Carry out database maintenance.
• Ensure frequent and timely database backup.

30
• Monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Objective 11: Designing labour statistics website.

• Conduct requirement specifications for web project implementation.
• Outlining website designs.
• Conducting consultation meetings with donors and other interested
stakeholders for effective project implementation.
• Conducting meetings with relevant departments for consistency of the
design.
• Development of the project development plan in liaison with other
stakeholders.

Objective 12: Development of labour statistics website.

• Liaising with interested bodies for effective project development.
• Conducting meetings with concerned departments on project development
best practices.
• Carryout project development.
• Presentation of the final website product.
• Development of the project implementation plan in liaison with other
stakeholders.

Objective 13: Implementation of labour statistics databases and backups of

statistical data in the statistics labour market.
• Organize trainings/workshops on the website functionalities.
• Facilitate hosting of the labour statistics website and backups.
• Carry out website updates and maintenance.
• Ensure frequent and timely up-to date database uploads.

Objective 14: To carry out maintenance of PCs and Networks at ministry

headquarters and district offices.
• Troubleshooting computer hardware and software problems.
• Facilitate procurement of up-to-date software and anti viruses.
• Facilitate procurement of networking toolkit.
• Facilitate procurement of networking cables and cable clips.
• Maintaining the Ministry’s ICT inventory.
• Troubleshooting TCP/IP problems.

4.6 Ministry of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development

Problem Statement

31
The Statistics Unit has the mandate to collect, analyze, interpret and disseminate
data for all sections in the Ministry. The posts of the establishment were not
rationalized and this has resulted in more workload than the number of posts
currently in place. The unit is currently understaffed with the highest post of
Principal Statistician, which, since its establishment, has never been filled. This
presents a problem when it comes to sharing of resources as priority is always
given to the Planning Section since all of their senior posts are filled.

Goal
To have a Statistics Unit with motivated, committed, effective and efficient
personnel capable of delivering consistent and reliable statistics on industry,
trade and private sector development in a timely manner.

Objective 1: To reduce workload.

• Fill all vacant positions for the Statistics Section.
• Create post of P5 to head the Statistics Section.
• Increase the number of personnel both for senior staff and the junior staff
categories.
• Promote staff to higher positions.

Objective 2: To share resources equitably between Statistics and Planning.

• Allocate funding for Statistics Unit as opposed to Planning.
• Hold regular sensitization workshops with management on the importance
of statistics.
• Lobby for an increased national budget allocation to the statistics section.
• Write proposals for donor funding.
• Share relevant information with the planners so that they can appreciate the
role the unit plays.

Objective 3: To provide adequate Infrastructure.

• Conduct needs assessment for computers in the section.
• Purchase computers according to the need.
• Provide relevant Computer software for the Statistics Unit.
• Maintain computers.
• Procure a car for the section.

Objective 4: To improve motivation of staff.

• Consider higher level positions through a functional review.
• Conduct long term training in statistics.
• Conduct short training course in statistics.

32
• Conduct training in statistics packages.
• Conduct training in database management.

Objective 5: To improve coordination with other Departments and Sections

• Carry out a data needs assessment for all departments and sections within the
ministry.
• Collect data for Departments and Sections.
• Produce internal reports specific to departmental needs.
• Hold regular data user/ producer workshop.
• Share relevant information with the planners so that they can appreciate the
role of the unit plays.

Objective 6: To improve dissemination of data.

• Put Industry and Trade Statistics on the Ministry’s web site.
• Train officers responsible for maintaining the web site.
• Train users on how to use the web site.
• Put Industry and Trade Statistics in CDs.
• Publish Industry and Trade Statistical bulletins.

4.7 Ministry of Health

Problem Statement
The needs for the Central Monitoring Evaluation and Research Division1
(CMERD) to collect, compile, analyze and disseminate accurate, reliable and
timely health statistics for policy formulation, decision-making and planning is a
challenge to both the CMERD and to the Ministry of Health at large. Poor
statistics may result in poor policies, poor decision-making and therefore poor
planning hence the collapse of health delivery services in the Malawi. The
CMERD cannot achieve the required standards in terms of providing quality
statistics if some measures are not put in place to facilitate free flow of statistics.
Some of the challenges the CMERD is facing in the bid to produce health
statistics that are of good quality, reliable, timely and user friendly include:
under-reporting of data by facilities despite adequate supervision of the staff
responsible for data collection; incomplete datasets; late reporting of data which
results in delays in producing required statistics in time; human resource
shortages; inadequate infrastructure; and lack of well-trained staff to collect
statistics at facility level.

1
Previously, it used to be called Health Management Information Unit (HMIU).

33
Goal
The CMERD goal is to ensure that accurate, reliable and timely routine health
statistics are collected, compiled, analyzed and disseminated to the users for
planning, policy formulation, decision making, implementation of health
programs as well as for monitoring and evaluation.

Objective 1: To provide accurate, reliable and timely routine health statistics.

• Conduct quarterly district and zonal reviews.
• Introduce monthly facility level reviews.
• Conduct quarterly HMIS reviews and supervision.
• Establishment of an external quality assurance system to provide a true
picture of how accurate the data are being reported by facilities and districts.

Objective 2: To revamp the CMERD into a fully-fledged Monitoring,

Evaluation and Research Unit.
• Fill all existing vacancies in the CMERD.
• Introduce trained statistical clerks to collect data at facility level.
• Promote use of statistics for decision – making at all levels of data collection.
• Capacity building of staff through long – and short – term training.

Objective 3: To improve dissemination standards of routine health statistics.

• Improve infrastructure standards related to processing of statistical
information.
• Harmonize statistical concepts and terms including indicators.
• Promote good statistics practices.
• Conduct user needs workshops.
• Conduct performance assessment of staff on general data dissemination
standards skills.
• Publish regularly bulletins and health related reports.

34
Chapter 5: Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation
Arrangements of NSS

5.0 Introduction
The development of this strategic plan is a major achievement in trying to
enhance the profile and actual performance of the NSS. The Vision, mission, and
strategic aspiration are well defined. They will, however, remain but a dream if
they are not implemented. Implementation in this context means moving away
from the plan to actions as proposed in the strategic plan.

5.1 The NSS Implementation

The NSO shall play a central role in implementing this strategic plan. As
stipulated in its strategic plan, the NSO shall establish an Implementing Planning
Unit (IPU) for the NSS that will be responsible for organizing regular National
Steering and Technical Committee meetings, workshops, trainings and purchase
of equipment. The implementing unit will be the secretariat for the NSS. The
Implementing Unit will be responsible for raising funds and promoting the
development of the NSS.

5.2 Launching the NSS Strategic Plan

It is important that key stakeholders who have close affinity with the NSS are
briefed in order to amass their support. It is recommended that the
implementation Unit should organize a high profile stakeholders’ conference to
launch and disseminate the strategic plan.

5.3 Preparation of Annual Implementation Plans and sourcing of funds

Following the launch of the strategic plan annual implementation plans will be
developed. One annual plan will focus on the NSS in general while others will be
sectoral specific. All key Ministries and Departments will have to develop their
own budgeted sector implementation plans. Under the leadership of NSO, these
sector plans will be consolidated to form one national annual plan. Sectors will
search for own sources of finances and NSO will do the same. This might open
up possibilities of pooling funds for statistics activities.

5.4 Capacity Building Initiatives

Implementing this strategic plan will highlight some capacity gaps in NSO, the
implementing unit as well as the sector units. It is critical that some quick
capacity building interventions should be implemented in the interest of
facilitating the implementation of the strategic plan. Things such as posting

35
people, including activities in the budget, providing supporting infrastructure
should be considered early.

5.5 Monitoring and evaluation system for the NSS Strategic Plan
Monitoring and evaluation will be part of NSS implementation for all ministries,
departments and agencies involved. The main task for the IPU will be to ensure
that all those involved will be using the same M&E framework. Each and every
objective and activity will be monitored and feedback will be used to check on
progress and where necessary to improve the implementation processes of the
strategic plan. The following steps and tasks will be undertaken and
implemented by all those involved to standardize the process:

• Identify the main areas that need to be monitored and evaluated. This will
cover all the strategic activities and activities under the sectoral plans.
• The sectors will have to define the benchmarks for monitoring and
evaluation
• Each sector will have to develop the M&E system which includes work
programs, the log frame (timeline of activity implementation, measurable
indicators, outputs, assumptions).
• The sectors will be submitting quarterly progress reports to the IPU. The IPU
will be consolidating these sectoral quarterly reports into one and the reports
will be circulated to ministries, donors and other key stakeholders.
• The IPU will be organizing meetings and workshops as and when it wants to
follow up on progress of the implementation. The workshops will involve
the sectors, data users and the civil society.
• The IPU will be responsible for identifying training needs of the statisticians
in developing, using and implementing the NSS M&E system

5.6 Link with the National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Master Plan
The NSS will be providing data sets to Ministry of Economic Planning and
Development (MEPD) which is implementing the M&E Master Plan. The IPU
will link up with the key ministries to provide data to MEPD which is being used
for tracking progress of several initiatives which include progress monitoring of
MGDS, MDGs and others.

36
Chapter 6: Budgets and Activity Plans

The budgets were prepared by costing individual activities of NSS which include
NSO, and the six ministries namely include: Health; Education, Science and
Technology; Agriculture and Food Security; Industry, Trade and Private Sector
Development; Justice and Constitutional Affairs; and Labour. Details of the
activity costing can be found in the ministry/department specific sectoral plans.
The budgets cover the period of the NSS Strategic Plan which is from 2008
through 2012. The prepared budgets for some ministries like Health and
Education has also taken into account some on-going initiatives like the SWAPs.
Annex A contains budgets of NSO2 and the six sectors and also shows the overall
budget for NSS.

The NSS Strategic Plan has also activities and outputs at sector level. Annex B
contains a selected list of major activities at NSO and sectoral level and the
expected outputs. It also shows the frequency of implementation of the activities
and expected challenges. The most common challenges for implementing NSS
activities are lack of financial availability, inadequate human capacity and
unavailability of equipment with up to date technologies.

The sectoral budgets and activity plans have been developed and included in
Strategic Plans to identify and coordinate similar activities for possibilities of
pooling funds from different source. This process will also help to identify where
gaps can be filled up by other Government departments and/or donors.

2The NSO budget was prepared at Division level with a list of activities at that level. Details can
be found in the NSO Strategic Plan 2007 – 2011, Annex B.

37
References

1. Paris 21, National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS)

Documentation, Paris Secretariat, 2004 Version.

2. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Department of Agricultural

Planning Services, Strategic Plan, 2007-2012, December 2006.

3. Government of Malawi, NSO Strategic Plan, 2007-2011, August 2007.

4. Kingdom of Cambodia, Statistical Master Plan for Cambodia, National

Institute of Statistics, September 2005.

5. MODA, A Situation Review of Institutional Framework and Capacity of

National Statistical System in Malawi, November 2006.

6. Mainstreaming Sectoral Statistical Systems in Africa, a guide to planning a

coordinated National Statistical Systems, version 1.0, July 2007.

7. NSO Malawi, in conjunction with the Partnership in Statistics for

Development in the Century (Paris21), Why Malawi needs Good Statistics.

8. Uganda Plan for National Statistical Development (PNSD).

38
 Annex A: Budget of the National Statistical System by Sector

Table 2a: NSO/NSS Budget 3

COST (MK’000)
Type of Statistics GOM Donors/ TOTAL
Partners
Agriculture Statistics 30,000 530,000 560,000

Demography and Social Statistics 194,400 3,016,400 3,210,800

Economics Statistics 137,500 681,800 819,300

Publications and Data Dissemination 49,300 115,100 164,400
Change and Communication (NSS Development) 22,500 189,600 212,100

Administrative Programmes 556,683 920,280 1,476,963

Sub-Total 990,383 5,453,180 6,443,563

3 Details of the NSO Budget are in the NSO Strategic Plan 2007 – 2011, Annex B. The budgets include proposed activities and expected outputs.

39
Table 2b:Sector Budgets4

Type of Statistics TOTAL COST

(MK’000)

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Statistics 120,810

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology 372,152

Ministry of Health 395,200

Ministry of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development 71,130
Justice and Constitutional Affairs 104,200

Ministry of Labour 552,000

Sub-Total 1,615,492

Grand Total (NSO/NSS and Sectoral Plans) 8,059,055

4 Detailed breakdown of the sector budgets, proposed activities and expected outputs are in individual sectoral plans.

40
Annex B: Activity Plan - Proposed Activities and Expected Outputs5
3a: National Statistics Office (NSO)
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
National Census of Crop production, Every 10 2008 Retention of staff; MoA Report and
Agriculture and acreage, yield, livestock years adequate funding Data CDs
Livestock – (NACAL) and land tenure
Welfare Monitoring Estimates of Welfare Annual Annually Adequate funding MEPD Report and
Survey (WMS) Data CDs
2008 Population and Total number of people Every 10 June 2008 Adequate funding MoH, University of Report and
Housing Census and and housing; Projected years Malawi, UNFPA, Data CDs
Skilled staff
population projections Population by district MoE, MoLG. UNICEF,
and sex DFID, NORAD
Demographic and Health Fertility/ mortality Every 5 years 2009 Adaptation of the MoH, National AIDS Report and
Survey (DHS) rates, contraceptive analysis to local Council (NAC) Data CDs
prevalence; HIV situation
prevalence; etc
Third Integrated -Poverty status and Every 5 years 2009 Government/Donor Ministry of Economic Report and
Household Survey(IHS3) other social statistics Commitment Planning & Dev. CDs
Annual Economic Survey -Estimates of Annual Annually Low or delayed None Report and
(AES) Production, responses data CDs,
employment, and website
remuneration and
business characteristics
Survey on Consumer -Inflation estimates Monthly Annually Timely funding None Monthly
Price Indices (CPI) Stats

5 This part only contains major activities and associated outputs.

41
Table 3a: National Statistics Office (NSO) – cont’d
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measurement
planned for: Challenges departments of output
involved
External trade statistics, Value and quantity of Quarterly Annually Government funding MRA, Ministry of Annual Report,
compilation from imports and exports by Trade Industry and Quarterly Trade
customs returns commodity and country Private Sector Flash
of origin; trade indices Development
Balance of Payments -Balance on Current and Annual Annually Government funding Reserve Bank, IMF Annual report
Compilation (BOP) Capital Accounts with
Rest of world
Private Capital Flows -Statistics on in-flows as Annual Annually Funding None Report
survey well as out-flows of
capital, and investor
perceptions
National Accounts -Gross Domestic On-Going- Annually Funding updating of Ministry of Report
compilation Product (GDP) figures Annual SUT Finance, Reserve
in current and constant Bank, IMF
prices
Electronic dissemination -Dissemination of Continuous Annually Localisation of CD UNICEF, DFID Website & Data
methods statistical data on the preparation CD-ROMs
NSO web site and CDs
Malawi Socio-Economic -Presentation of Socio- Annual Annually Funding UNICEF Web-site, CD
Database (MASEDA) Economic Indicators ROM
African Statistics Day -Presentation, Annual 2008 Funding DFID Report
Dissemination
Review and Revise Statistics Act Reviewed Ongoing 2008 Lobbying Law Commission Act Passed
Statistics Act (NSS) and Revised stakeholders such as
Law Commission
and Parliament

42
Table 3a: National Statistics Office (NSO) – cont’d
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other Measurement of
planned for: Challenges ministries/ output
departments
involved
Develop NSS -NSS & M&E meetings Ongoing 2007/08 High-level All SCS NSS Steering and
Coordination -Donors meetings commitment departments Coordination
arrangements Committee, donors’
meetings
Develop and Implement -Advocacy Strategy Ongoing 2008 - 2012 Staff time All SCS Advocacy strategy
Advocacy Strategy (NSS) -Materials departments and materials
-Marketing and disseminated
promotion
User needs assessment -Review and quarterly Ongoing 2008 - 2012 Staff time All SCS Review of reports
(NSS) meetings departments and policy
documents; notes
of meetings
Standards and -Technical Working Ongoing 2007 High-level All SCS Quality
Harmonization (NSS) Groups commitment departments assessments and
-Assessments harmonious
-Standardized indicators outputs across NSS

Human Resource -Strategy Ongoing 2008 Staff time All SCS Staff development
Development (NSS) -Training Program departments programmes;
trained staff
Functional Review (NSO) -Revised Organization Once 2008 - Lobbying - DHRMD, New Structure
Chart Stakeholders Cabinet, MoF, implemented
MEPD
Strengthening NSS -NSS Action Plan Ongoing 2008 - 2012 High-level All SCS NSS Action Plan
commitment departments implemented

43
Table 3b: Agriculture and Food Security
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
Conduct agricultural -Crop production, crop 3 times/year April 2008 overstretched NSO 3 reports/
production estimates area and crop yield enumerators; year
survey estimates inadequate funding
- Livestock population
and production
estimates
Conduct Market Every week Poor supervision NSO Weekly and
Commodity retail and 52
information surveys monthly
farmgate prices; input times/year
reports
prices
Conduct food security 12 monthly The survey has just NSO Monthly
Food situation report
surveillance survey times/year been handed over reports
from Action Against
Hunger. The hand
over was not smooth
Establish agricultural Agricultural statistical 1 time/year annually NSO Annual
Some data producers
statistics data bank bulletin Statistical
are unwilling to
Bulletin
provide data
Conduct Post Harvest Estimated of levels of 5 times a May 2008 In adequate funding NSO Annual
Losses Survey production post harvest year report
losses from
Conduct long and short 1 to 2 times Inadequate funding NSO Training
Certificates
term training per year reports
Purchase equipments Computers, Scales, On-going On-going Inadequate funding NSO Reports
vehicles, GPSs, UPSs

44
45
Table 3c: Education, Science and Technology
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
Conduct School Census Census conducted annually 2008 Donor dependent Census
for primary and report
secondary school
Conduct School Census Census conducted Annually 2008 Donor dependent Tertiary
for tertiary education census report
Capture monthly Data returns Monthly 2008 Donor dependent
statistical returns
Create database for Database created Monthly 2008 Donor dependent Database
tertiary education updated report
Conduct School mapping Survey conducted Donor dependent
survey
Publish EMIS 1 report/ Institution/ annually 2008 Donor dependent NSO and line EMIS
year Ministries publications
Develop EMIS website Website developed annually 2008 Donor dependent report

Improve record keeping registers provided; monthly 2008 Donor dependent Report and
in schools birth registration system CDs
implemented
Publish and distribute publications Annually 2008 Donor dependent Reports ,
annual Basic Statistics CDs
Report
Raise the profile of Higher position of P5 On-going 2008 Inadequate funding NSO, DHRMD report
statistics unit created and filled;
Conduct training both certificates On-going 2008 Inadequate funding NSO, DHRMD Training
long-term and short term reports

46
Table 3d: Justice and Constitutional Affairs
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
Raise the profile of Higher position of head annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO, DHRMD report
planning unit created and filled
Conduct both long term Certificates annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Training
and short term training reports
Develop an electronic database developed once 2008 inadequate funding DISTIMIS Database
database report
Upload all criminal, Database with uploaded Regularly 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Reports and
homicide, civil case, data CDs
deceased estates files.
Procure statistical Software procured annually 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS/NSO Reports
packages(SPSS, STATA,)
Connect officers to Wireless internet annually 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS Reports
wireless internet installed
Encourage companies to Companies registered annually 2008 Low company Ministry of Industry Reports
register trade marks with trade marks response
Procure equipment for Computers, UPSs, annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO, Ministry of Reports
the Unit vehicles, and other Finance, DSTIMIS
equipment

47
Table 3e: Labour
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
Developed OSH database Database produced Every 3 years 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS/NSO Reports and
at headquarters and and lack of CDs
regional offices equipment
Develop Ministry of -Website developed 2 years 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS Reports and
Labour website - Data for website and lack of CDs
collected equipment
- Analysis of data
collected
- Documentation
produced
Collect labour statistics -program coding and Every 3 years 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS/NSO Reports and
testing conducted and lack of CDs
equipment
install labour statistics database installed and Every 3 years 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS/NSO Reports and
database and conducting labour statistics and lack of CDs
database training available equipment
Develop Child labour Feasibility Report Every 3 years 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS Reports and
databases at District and lack of CDs
Systems Analyst Report
offices and Headquarters equipment

48
Table 3f: Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
Conduct both long-term Certificates, packages On-going 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Reports and
and short-term trainings trained in CDs
for staff
Conduct data needs Data Needs Assessment Annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Reports and
assessment for report CDs
departments within the
Ministry and outside
Raise the profile of New positions created Annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Reports
statistics unit and number of staff
promoted
Purchase of equipment Computers, UPSs, and Annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Reports
and software vehicles purchased
Develop and update Website developed and Regularly 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Reports and
website for ministry and user training reports updated CDs, training
train users of the website reports
Publish trade statistical bulletins Annually 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Bulletins and
bulletin CDs
Lobby for an increased Percentage increase in Annually 2008 Inadequate funding Ministry of Finance Annual
national budget to the the amount allocated to budget
statistics section Statistics Unit

49
Table 3g: Health
Activity Outputs Frequency Next Activity Expected Other ministries/ Measureme
planned for: Challenges departments nt of
involved output
Revamp the HMIU into Existing vacancies filled; On-going 2008 Inadequate funding DHRMD Reports
fully – fledged trained statistical clerks
Monitoring, Evaluation at facility level
and Research Unit introduced; assessment
of staff performance
conducted
Conduct both long and Certificates obtained On going 2008 Inadequate funding NSO Training
short term trainings for reports
staff
Publish bulletins and Reports Monthly, 2008 Very few clerks for NSO Bulletins
health related reports Biannual and data collection
quarterly
Promote use of statistics Reports On-going 2008 Inadequate funding NSO/NSS User reports
for decision – making at
all levels of data
collection
Provide accurate, reliable quarterly HMIS reviews Monthly, 2008 Inadequate statistical NSO Data CDs
and timely routine health and supervision; quarterly clerks, funding and reports
statistics quarterly district and
zonal reviews; monthly
facility level reviews;
Purchase office Computers, servers, On-going 2008 Inadequate funding DISTIMIS, NSO, Procurement
equipment UPSs, vehicles Ministry of Finance report

50
Annex C: Drafting Team

Shelton Kanyanda Brian Ng’oma Kelvin Saukila

Team Leader, NSO Min. of Labour Min. of Health

Isaac Chirwa Chris Manyamba Marjorie Chipofya

Min. of Agriculture Min. of Justice Min. of Trade

Enock Matale Benjamin Banda

NSO Chris Matemba
Min. of Education 51 NSO
52