Briefing Paper

Reactivating the African Statistical Association as a Knowledge Sharing Platform for African Statisticians and Statistical Institutions

This issue of Findings and Recommendations presents a synopsis of the results of an in-depth field
study by the Knowledge Management Department of the African Capacity Building Foundation
(ACBF) on the revival of the defunct African Statistical Association (ASA). Led by ACBF Technical
Advisory Panel and Network on National Statistics and Statistical Systems (STATNET), the study
examines factors that led to the demise of ASA, provides guidelines for its resuscitation and
successful operation as a continental knowledge sharing platform and calls on ACBF, the African
Development Bank and UNECA to team up as partners to revive ASA. A resuscitated and an
effectively capacitated ASA has an important role to play in assisting national statistical agencies and
associations to strengthen statistical culture, share best statistical practices and provide technical
support to national statistical agencies.