A regional meeting on statistical training in Africa was organised on 12-13 March 2007 in Kampala, Uganda within the framework of the PARIS21 Task Team on Statistical Training and Human Resources. The meeting was organised jointly by the PARIS21 Secretariat, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Makerere University’s Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics with the logistical support of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).

This meeting brought together directors from statistical training institutes of the Francophone and Anglophone countries as well as representatives from African Countries of Portuguese Official Language (PALOP). Representatives from 35 subregional, regional and/or international organisations participated in the proceedings. The Centre was represented by Mr. Suleyman İslamoğlu, Senior Researcher.

The meeting’s objectives were to assess the state of statistical training in Africa, highlight difficulties, and propose concrete solutions. To achieve this, it adopted a format that encouraged discussion among participants. Three sessions sorted by language groups (English, French and Portuguese) were held around the following themes:

- Funding and functioning of statistical training institutes in Africa
- Adapting training to the demand: how can we meet the demand?
- Financing scholarships

Participants reported back in plenary sessions on their thoughts and proposed actions. Finallly, a set of recommendations were drafted with general consensus on: adaptation of training to the demand, funding of statistical training, and actions to be taken on establishing an African Forum on Statistical Training.