President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said African countries should essentially develop capacity to collect data, collate and interpret it in a disaggregated manner so that Africans are able to systematically track implementation of programs with the objective to minimizing inequalities within societies and truly leave no segment of the society behind.

“I am encouraged that the African statistics community is aware, engaged and taking initiatives to build capacity and harmonize statistics on the Continent”.

In her speech delivered at the close of the Summit of the High Level Committee (HLC) on the Post 2015 Development Agenda in Johannesburg, South Africa recently, she said “we are challenged to develop indictors that signal the areas of greatest need and population most marginalized.”

“In short, we must equip and capacitate ourselves at the national level to utilize all opportunities that will emanate from the new development paradigm”, said President Sirleaf, who is Chair of the HLC.

She also noted that “we in our countries should begin now the processes of internal coordination and preparations in our countries if we are expected to begin implementation in January 2016”.

She challenged her colleagues to “ensure that the new dispensation brings new impetus to the global campaign for women’s rights; their equality and empowerment should find a place high on the national agendas so that 2030 will mark a truly transformative change in the status of women, including the girl child”.
LINA GDJ/PTK