DISTRICT statisticians and officers in charge of planning have been trained in statistical data collection in a bid to coordinate their findings with those of government ministries.

The move is aimed at getting the correct information from the grassroots and connecting it to various ministries for proper planning.

Speaking during the opening of the one-day workshop, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Local Government, Eugene Barikana, said that it would help to get up to date information necessary in economic development programmes.

Barikana explained that data from the national institute of statistics was different from that of the ministries. This, he said caused more problems in the implementation of the planning process.

"We want them to know their responsibilities and how to work closely with the local authorities to ensure that the data collected is genuine and based on facts,” Barikana said.
This, he said, would help speed up government programmes such as the Economic Development for Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS).

He explained that the statistical data would be collected in all sectors of the economy such as agriculture and education to clearly understand what is needed to boost the sectors.

Barikana said it was necessary to better understand what exists and what needs to be done within a particular institution based on the available statistics for equitable development.
Dr.Louise Munyakazi, the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (INSR) said that reliable data collection from all sectors of the economy would ease decision making procedures needed to speed up action.

He said that the evaluation exercise of the statistical findings from all sectors would be conducted every after three months to observe the progress of each sector.

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