Ghana is among three African countries selected to benefit from funds from the newly launched Statistics for Results Facility (SRF), which aims to accelerate the strengthening of statistical capacities in developing countries through implementation of National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS). Rwanda and Mozambique are the two other African countries, which will participate in the pilot phase of the project to which the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are committing 50 million pounds and 27 million euros respectively. The move is to promote sustained improvement in the availability of and access to reliable statistics in order to better measure and manage development results. Stakeholders believe that availability of quality data and robust evidence will enable countries to establish the continuing relevance and effectiveness of the Paris Declaration, as an instrument for improving the quality of aid and its impact on development. The SRF aims to promote better partnership arrangements between development partners and statistical agencies, including helping countries to produce agreed NSDS implementation plans, raise resources and develop a sector-wide approach to statistical capacity building. The facility would also administer central funds to assist countries in the process, provide a catalyst to promote new way of working and provide grant funds to help countries meet clearly identified financing gaps. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after participating in a panel discussion on the development of national statistical systems and the role of statistics in the aid effectiveness agenda, Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, said measurement of any development outcome was crucial hence the need to enhance the capacity of statistical services to generate important data. It is in this direction that the country has drawn up a strategic plan to enable it to deal with the fragmentation that exists in the generation of statistical data in the country. Dr Bediako said the funds to be accessed under the project would complement government's support to the implementation of the plan, especially in building Information Technology and statistical infrastructure for the service as well as support data production to various constituencies on timely basis. She said a key issue to be tackled as part of the deal was to promote a unified centralised system for generating data and information sharing among the various agencies that produced data to allow for a centralised point of generating data. Besides, the new initiative will emphasise dissemination of statistical results to various constituencies to enhance understanding and effective use of data in planning. Source: GNA