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A former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has called for more investment in data infrastructure and capacity-building to improve decision-making for accelerated development on the African continent.
For instance, she said, there was the need to build technical and appropriate human capacity to collect, manage and analyse data effectively.
She was speaking at the opening of a five-day Afrobarometer Round 10 planning meeting at the Aqua Safari Resort at Ada, in the Greater Accra Region yesterday.
Madam Sirleaf is a member of the International Advisory Council at Afrobarometer, a pan-African, nonpartisan survey research network that amplifies citizens’ voices.
The meeting was attended by some core partners of Afrobarometer, national partners and supporting units from 40 African countries to design the upcoming round of surveys.
It will also include a series of plenary and working-group sessions to discuss and design survey instruments and methodologies, data quality assurance measures and results dissemination strategies.
Madam Sirleaf said in many cases across the continent, the lack of timely data had led to the implementation of ineffective policies, misallocation of resources and perpetuation of inequalities.
"In Africa, the need for timely data has become increasingly important in recent years.
With the continent experiencing significant economic growth and development, data has become an essential tool for policymakers and development practitioners," she said.
According to her, many African policymakers and practitioners still relied on intuition, anecdotal evidence and personal experience to make decisions, saying, "the misalignment between policies and actual needs has resulted in suboptimal outcomes".
She commended Afrobarometer for focusing on issues such as access to education, health care and other basic services for minority groups and marginalised communities.
"We all understand how such data can help promote social justice and reduce inequality, thereby contributing to a more inclusive and equitable society," Madam Sirleaf added.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said Afrobarometer, together with other research groups, continued to play meaningful roles in the political discourse by making people's voices significant in policy initiatives and decision-making at the continental and global levels.
As a resourceful research organisation, she said Afrobarometer could complement efforts of policymakers, opinion leaders and academia to sensitise the public to topical issues such as climate change, the transition to the green economy, energy and food security and capacity-building for media personnel and the youth.
The Chief Executive Officer of Afrobarometer, Joseph Asunka, said if democracy was indeed a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, then the people's voice and life experiences must count in policy and development decisions that affected their lives.
"We are here today in pursuit of a noble vision: a world in which Africa’s development is anchored in the realities and aspirations of its people," he said.
For his part, Afrobarometer co-founder and Board Chairman, Prof. Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, said collaborations and insights gathered at the meeting would be instrumental in guiding future research endeavours of the organisation.
