Stats SL Temporary Headquarters, 1B King Street, Kona Lodge, Freetown
15/4/25
The World Bank Country Manager, Dr. Abdu Muwonge in a courtesy visit to Stats SL, has lauded the institution’s tremendous progress in providing credible data over the years to Sierra Leone.
The visit was geared towards getting updates on the implementation and management status of the Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (HISWA) Project. The HISWA project is an initiative funded by the World Bank Group to help harmonize, strengthen and improve the national statistical systems of seven West African Countries (Sierra Leone, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, and Cote d’Ivoire), to produce, disseminate and enhance the use of core economic, social and administrative statistics.
In his opening remarks, the Statistician-General of Stats SL, Andrew Bob Johnny, expressed gratitude to the World Bank for supporting the institution’s programs and activities through the HISWA Project. He emphasized the numerous impact of the project, mentioning that the initiative has helped to support household-based surveys at the national level, improve the collection of core set of socio-economic and administrative data source, support the modernization of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), improve data accessibility and dissemination, and enhance institutional reforms and staff capacity.
He concluded by thanking the Project Fiduciary Management Unit of the Ministry of Finance (PFMU), for efficiently managing the day-to-day fiduciary activities of the project.
The Chairman of Stats SL Council, Moses Williams, further thanked the World Bank and the HISWA Project team for enabling and giving life to the institution throughout the project’s life-span to successfully undertake its programs and activities. He pleaded with the Bank to always consider the institution in its funding plans and programs even after the current project expiration date of Dec 2025.
In his capacity as the World Bank Country Manager, Dr. Abdu Muwonge, commended Stats SL for its critical contribution to national development. He mentioned that the work of Stats SL, is very crucial for planning, informing policy formulation, even distribution of resources, and implementation of development initiatives. He stressed the need for more enabling environment and space for the institution to function well and achieve its mandate.
He summed up by registering World Bank’s commitment to providing further funding support to cover the run-over cost in the implementation of the HISWA Project.
The engagement climaxed with a comprehensive update on the status of the Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa project by the Project Coordinator, Dr. Albert Kenneth Bangura-Will.
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