Statistics provides the basis (basic material) for policy design and implementation and early warnings of the need for adjustment and fine tuning of policies and plans. It also helps to track Programmes/ project Implementation, is needed to evaluate results of different interventions on different population groups and helps in the measurement of progress towards achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) & other quality of life indicators. This need is stressed in a number of GoSS official documents, including the CPA, the interim constitution, the SSCCSE Act, sector plans for various Ministries, like health, education and agriculture, in the various clusters of the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) especially cluster 8 on the Proposal for Strengthening Statistical Information Systems.
Reliable national economic and financial data are prerequisites for Southern Sudan to receive the support of the Breton Woods organizations (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) and other donors, and to interact with the international community. Basic information on the economy, the land and its people are needed to define and design all manner of development strategies, most particularly the Poverty reduction strategies. Similarly, indicators are needed to monitor the implementation of such programs as well as the monitoring of progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).
However, obtaining such reliable data and building a National Statistical System (NSS) takes time as information is compiled from various censuses, surveys, and administrative records. Consistent with this reality, the SSCCSE is currently in the process of carrying out the 5th Sudan Population and Housing Census (SPHC) and various surveys all designed to provide information necessary for policy making and planning at various levels of Government. The SSCCSE is also involving other statistics producers in the NSS in the development of official records as a source of data. In this particular respect, the SSCCSE is working with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Bank of Southern Sudan (BoSS) to develop Government Finance statistics and Financial Statistics respectively. These particular statistics are necessary for the management of the Southern Sudan economy. The commission is working with all Ministries and other agencies of Government to build a reliable NSS and will continue to do so as a means of ensuring that Government and donor interventions are informed to better serve the needs of the people of Southern Sudan.
This Annual Report details the core work of the Commission, in pursuance of its overall objectives, for the Fiscal Year ended 31st December 2006.