Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has signed Fresh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Samia Bugwe and Tieng Adhola cultural institutions to strengthen the production, dissemination and use of official statistics for informed decision-making and development.
The agreements were signed in Kampala formalising the collaborations in collecting, managing, validating and using statistical information to guide planning and governance within their communities.
UBOS Executive Director Dr Chris Mukiza said the partnership is expected to strengthen the capacity of the cultural institutions to generate administrative data, particularly on vital statistics such as births and deaths, while ensuring that the information is consistent with national statistical standards.
He commended the two institutions for embracing evidence-based governance saying the initiative builds on UBOS’ collaboration with other cultural institutions, particularly the Buganda Kingdom, with which the bureau started working in 2022.
“Your dedicated interest in this initiative to run your cultural institutions based on evidence—producing and generating high-quality statistics—is commendable,” Mukiza said.
Mukiza said UBOS is going to engage other cultural institutions, including Bunyoro-Kitara, Enzurur, Ujamaa, Lango and Teso, as part of efforts to strengthen statistical systems within cultural institutions and pledged commitment to supporting the two institutions to develop strategic plans for statistical data collection and management.
“Once we formalise our agreement through signing the MOU, the real work begins. Our goal is to generate reliable data that will support your governance and lead your communities toward prosperity,” he said.
Mukiza however urged the cultural institutions to submit the data generated through their administrative systems to UBOS’ central statistical repository to support comprehensive national planning.
Mukiza explained that UBOS’ mandate goes beyond conducting population censuses, noting that the bureau also conducts surveys, collects administrative data and uses modern technologies such as big-data analytics and web scraping.
Tieng Adhola Prime Minister Mr Obbo Richard Josel described the partnership as an important step towards strengthening evidence-based decision-making within cultural institutions and the country.
He said statistics were critical in informing decisions at different levels of governance.
Obbo recalled previous concerns over population census coverage, saying his household had been missed during an earlier census, which raised questions about the accuracy of the resulting statistics.
However, he commended UBOS for improvements in mapping and census coverage during the most recent census.
“I want to thank you and your team that the mapping was better… because if you don’t count some of us, you would have lost probably what you should have added to the statistics of the country,” he said.
Obbo said Tieng Adhola would use the partnership to collect data beyond births and deaths, noting that the cultural institution deals with several issues affecting its people.
He said the institution was also interested in reliable data on its population by clan, given that its leadership structures are closely linked to clans.
He expressed confidence that the partnership would build the institution’s capacity and strengthen its relationship with UBOS.
“We are confident that we will work together to build this relationship in leaps and bounds, but also to work in ensuring that many times we make decisions based on something that we can easily refer to,” Obbo said.
The partnership is expected to contribute to the gradual development of stronger administrative data systems within the two cultural institutions, while feeding reliable information into Uganda’s wider national statistical system
Charles Wabuire Wadenya, Deputy Prime Minister of Bugwe Kingdom, welcomed the partnership, saying it would help address the capacity challenges facing the cultural institution.
He said Bugwe was ready to work with UBOS and benefit from the bureau’s technical support to strengthen its ability to generate and manage statistics.
“For our part, we lack capacity, but you have already offered that,” Wadenya said.
He also called for consideration of the financial challenges facing cultural institutions, saying adequate resources would be important to enable staff to effectively produce the required statistics.
Wadenya said the partnership would contribute not only to the development of Bugwe Kingdom but also to national development.
He said the kingdom had reviewed the MoU several times and was satisfied with its provisions before signing the agreement.
Meanwhile UBOS Head of Department, Outreach and Quality Assurance, Lydia Namono, asked cultural insitutions to ensure timely submission of data generated through their administrative systems, including information on births and deaths stressing that the collboration will support UBOS in publicity, social advocacy, public education programme
“UBOS will provide training and capacity building to enable officials within the cultural institutions to understand, interpret and use statistics effectively.The bureau will also support the organisation and validation of administrative data to ensure that it conforms to national and international statistical concepts and standards,”Namono explained.
According to her collaboration between the cultural institutions and local governments will reduce discrepancies in official statistics and urged the cultural institutions to work closely with the respective districts because existing district development plans already incorporate vital statistics.
“It will not be appropriate for your data to conflict with district data—for example, reporting 50 deaths when the district reports only 30. Such discrepancies are unacceptable,” she said.
