The document outlines the development and implementation of the Countrystat system in Ethiopia, launched in March 2011 with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and operationalized by the Central Statistics Agency (CSA) and other stakeholders. It details the roles of the Countrystat Secretariat and Technical Working Group (TWG) in data validation, harmonization, and sustainability, while also addressing major challenges like data collection and validation. Successful sustainability efforts hinge on institutional collaboration, commitment from high-level authorities, and integration of Countrystat activities into annual work plans.

1. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
CountrySTAT Ethiopia
Data Harmonization & Publication
Experience
November, 2012
MoA

2. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Outline
 Development & Implementation of CountrySTAT in Ethiopia
 The role of the CountrySTAT Secretariat & TWG
 Data validation and harmonization
 Sustainability of CountrySTAT
 Major challenges encountered
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3. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
• CountrySTAT Ethiopia is developed through the financial and
technical support obtained from FAO.
• It was launched on 15 March, 2011
• The system is being implemented by the Central Statistics
Agency (CSA), in close collaboration with the Ministry of
Agriculture (MoA).
• Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) is another
important partner in implementing CountrySTAT Ethiopia
• CSA is the CountrySTAT focal institution in Ethiopia
Development & Implementation of
CountrySTAT in Ethiopia
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4. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
• CountrySTAT Ethiopia resides on the CSA Server locally
• This has been achieved through technical assistance obtained
from FAO CountrySTAT IT technical staff
• CountrySTAT is currently operational & can be accessed at:
www.csa.gov.et/Repositories/CountrySTAT
• The website can generally be accessed easily but sometimes
the local internet accessibility is not as strong as expected and
that affects the accessibility of data
• On the other hand, CountrySTAT Ethiopia website can also be
accessed through the universal FAO CountrySTAT website:
www.countrystat.org/Ethiopia
•
Development & Implementation . . .
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5. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
• Comprises of 7 members drawn from the CSA & MoA
• Its major roles, among others, include:
o Coordinating the activities of the TWG
o Updating the CountrySTAT website
o Resolution of inconsistencies in data
o Update of the Correspondence Table & Key Indicators
o Preparation of work plans
o Preparation of budgets for various activities
o Organization of the TWG meetings
o Participation in the telephone conferences organized
by the FAO CountrySTAT Team
The CountrySTAT Secretariat
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6. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
• Consists of 16 members drawn from the 4 major
stakeholder Govt. agencies engaged in implementing
CountrySTAT: CSA, MoA, ERCA, and NMA
• CountrySTAT TWG has the responsibility of identifying,
collecting, and validating datasets from different sources in
the country
• The TWG has carried out 3 workshops so far to collect,
validate and harmonize datasets published on CountrySTAT
Ethiopia website
• Datasets validated and uploaded to CountrySTAT so far
include: production, area harvested, land use, seed, fertilizer
livestock, price, food supply, population, labor and trade
CountrySTAT Technical Working Group
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7. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
• Data validation & harmonization is carried out during the
TWG meetings
• The TWG meetings include plenary sessions and group
discussions
• To facilitate easier group work, about 4 subgroups are
formed each time/meeting
• Each subgroup works on a set of different datasets
• Members are assigned to the subgroup that works on the
datasets they are better familiar with
• During the plenary sessions presentations are made by
members of each subgroup & discussions were carried
out
Data Validation & Harmonization Process
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8. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
• The discussions mainly focus on the problems encountered
during the validation of different datasets
• Most of the irregularities encountered are resolved during
the meetings
Data Harmonization Process . . .
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9. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Sustainability of CountrySTAT
• Currently there is a strong collaboration b/n the national
institutions engaged in implementing CountrySTAT
• High level management bodies of the institutions have shown
willingness to support CountrySTAT activities
• There is also strong commitment on the part of the CountrySTAT
Secretariat & TWG members
• Nevertheless, the sustainability of CountrySTAT, in the long run,
requires:
o Inclusion of the CountrySTAT activities in the annual work
plans of stakeholder institutions
o Assigning a contact person responsible for the collection
& validation of datasets at each org.
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10. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Sustainability of CountrySTAT . . .
• Sustainability of CountrySTAT in the long run requires . . . .
o Commitment of the CountrySTAT Secretariat & TWG
members to continue coming together to update datasets
published on CountrySTAT
o Commitment of high level authorities to promote and
support CountrySTAT
o More sensitization work for various data users &
producers
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11. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Major Challenges
• Organization of the TWG members meetings takes long time
 tight assignments of the TWG members
 Budget constraints from the government side
• Lack of willingness on the part of some institutions to provide
required datasets
• Problems in data validation
 e.g. Trade data
 Inconsistencies in
o Units of measurement
o Value of commodities per unit
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12. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
THANK YOU !
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