Over 30 statisticians and gender officers in Western and Southern provinces are taking part in a five-day training workshop in gender statistics and data collection as part of efforts to promote gender equality and women empowerment.

The course aims at equipping district officials with skills to institutionalise the mainstreaming of gender into the national statistical system, development of a common list of indicators as well as strengthening of sub-national data production.

"We had statistics at the national level but with this countrywide programme, we will have statistics at district level, which makes it easy to plan and budget,” said Patrick Mico, an official at the Gender Monitoring Office.

The workshop is organised by the National Institute of Statistics (NISR) and Gender Monitoring Office with technical and financial support provided by UN Women.

The key dimensions of the support provided by the latter include the establishment of a robust and sustainable gender statistics framework and the development of skills in gender statistics collection, processing and analysis.

"The main objective of the training is to enhance technical capacity for gender statistics management and to promote consistent use of reliable gender data in key development sectors,” said Dominique Kanobana, an official in charge of social statistics at NISR.

Although 30 percent of women are involved in the decision making process in the country, they are often marginalised in the agricultural sector.

Mico added that while the country has achieved a lot in gender equality, more should be done. The major challenge in gender equality, he said, is people’s mindset that inhibits women from having the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

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