Ghana Statistical Service wins UN Datathon 2023

Prof. Samuel K. Annim,Government Stastiscian.

A five-member team of Data Scientists from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), has won the top prize in the UN Datathon 2023 competition for the development of a Story Map for monitoring progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The UN Datathon is to develop innovative data-driven solutions to advance the implementation of the SDGs, and competitors were required to develop their product within a 72-hour period.

The Ghana team from GSS emerged winners out of over 400 participating teams from across the world, representing 110 countries.

A statement from the GSS issued in Accra yesterday, and copied the Ghanaian Times, said the team also won three special prizes out of the five categories that they were eligible for: Best Visualisation, Best Presentation and Best Youth team.

By virtue of being the overall winner, the Ghanaian group was also awarded the best team from Sub-Saharan Africa prize.

The award-winning Story Map from the Ghana Team provides a graphical illustration of how disaggregated data from different sources (such as from censuses and non- traditional data) can be used to produce near real time information for decision-making.

The information can be used to track progress on the SDGs at the national, regional and districts levels.

The team also developed an index to measure differences in access to information across districts in Ghana.

As part of the prize, the team will have an opportunity to showcase its product at the 2024 World Data Forum.

The winning product and presentations from the Ghana team can be viewed on the UN website, YouTube, and Story Map.

The Data Science Unit at the GSS was established in 2022, and since its inception, it has accomplished several innovative milestones.

These include the development of the GSS StatsBank, the Ghana Grided Data Platform, the Digital Census Atlas; the automation of data collection and data quality assurance processes at GSS.

The GSS provides comprehensive, reliable, quality, relevant, accurate and timely statistical information to guide national development as stipulated in Section 3 of the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003).

The GSS’s vision is to be a trusted provider of official statistics for good governance, and its mission being the efficient collection, production, management, and dissemination of quality official statistics based on international standards, using competent and motivated staff for evidence-based decision-making, in support of national development.

The GSS produces monthly and quarterly data on important economic indicators such as inflation, Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index, and Gross Domestic Product.

GSS also regularly generates periodic population, housing, demographic and economic data at the locality, district, and national levels from routine surveys and censuses.

The statistics generated by GSS can be utilised by a wide cross-section of users including public sector, businesses, academia, civil society organisations and development partners. For more information visit www. statsghana.gov.gh.

GSS for the first time has developed an online database for accessing disaggregated census statistics.

The StatsBank (https://statsbank.statsghana.gov.gh) is an innovative and user-friendly results dissemination method that allows users to generate customised tables and maps at the national, and sub-national levels at no cost.

The StatsBank is also a repository for macroeconomic indicators and, in the long term, will provide data on other censuses and surveys.