South Sudan is battling a gap in policymaking and resultant poor service delivery accruing from the weak data management and processes.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)—a government’s custodian of such crucial information—does not have the capacity to collect and manage data due to financial constraint.
The last time it collected data on the social and demographic landscape was in 2020 when they were requested by the United Nations department of statistics to do so, a senior official told the City Review in an interview.
“We don’t receive data regularly – for example annually, the UN Statistics Division sends us questionnaire which they send to countries all over the world to gather statistics on health, various aspects of life, economic, etc. – it is when we receive it, we go now to the ministry of health and ask them about the variables that are needed” said Mark Otwari, NBS’ director of social and demographic.
The City Review contacted the NBS and authorities of Juba Teaching Hospital for birth rate during the period of one year of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown as from May 2020-May 2021, but both could not avail such crucial data.
Mr. Otwari said, “We are supposed to have it (data) regularly, but we are handicapped by financial constraint”.
Though it recorded 5,090 life birth, with the highest number exceeding 500 in May, June and October 2020; the country’s main referral hospital was not able to capture at least two month’s data on birth record during the one-year coronavirus lockdown.
“Receiving data from the Ministry of Health is not yet being made regular. But one thing we need is to make an arrangement in such a manner that instead of us going to ask from them when we are in need of it, they should be sending to us regularly,” he hinted.
According to the UN, the primary function of the population register is to provide reliable information for the administrative proposes of government, particularly for programme planning and budgeting.
Regular data collection is also useful in other administrative areas, including the establishment of personal identifications and for voting, education, social insurance and welfare, police and court references.
Plans mooted
Mr. Otwari said plans were underway to that ensure all government institutions channel data to NBS regularly to be used for proper planning and effective service delivery to people of South Sudan.
“The council of ministers has given an okay that every ministry should have a planning unit that deals with statistics and should coordinate with the National Bureau of Statistics,” he said.
When the arrangement happens, Mr. Otwari said, the collection and data procession would be done periodically.
“Things will work very smoothly, it becomes automatic, that periodically the Ministry of Health will send us their data, the ministry of education will send us their data and the Ministry of Interior will send us their data regarding immigration.”
South Sudan has never conducted its national household and population census, but has been relying on result of 2008 Sudan’s general census that placed Southern population at 12 million.
Since independence in 2011, the country has no accurate demographic data, but the government and humanitarian partners have variant estimates.
According to the government, South Sudanese population is at 13 million while humanitarian organizations put it at 11, making it difficult for the youngest African nations to have effective planning and delivery of equitable basic and social services to the citizens.
However, the NBS with support from partners has initiated population estimate survey expected to conclude this month to come up with relatively accurate population data.
South Sudan is fresh from civil wars that killed thousands and displaced over four million to neighbouring Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo.