The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will organize a five-day regional CountrySTAT training for SADC member states. The event will take place from 23-27 September 2013 in the premises of the Safari Hotels Conference Centre in Windhoek, Namibia.

CountrySTAT is web-based information system on food and agriculture which provides easy access to statistical data of good quality that can aid decision-makers in better, evidence-based policy-making and greater efficiency in development politics. Nationally owned and maintained, it serves as a one stop centre that enables the collection and harmonization of timely and reliable official data from different sources and their integration in a common location. Data provided through CountrySTAT serves researchers, policymakers, development organizations, and the private sector to design and implement better policy and investments in agriculture.

The purpose of the training is to provide national delegates from the SADC member states with skills and experience on how to use CountrySTAT platform for the dissemination of official statistics on food and agriculture and the comprehensive process to upload data. It will also provide an excellent opportunity for members of SADC to work together under the direction of the FAO Headquarters based CountrySTAT Team with support from the SADC Secretariatto further promote the use of CountySTAT at regional and national levels. Mr. Mr Babagana Ahmadu, FAO Representative in Namibia will open the meeting, followed by key note presentations from Dr John Steytler, Statistician General at Namibia Statistics Agency and Mr. Ackim Jere, Senior Officer at SADC Headquarters. 

Presentations will focus on the four “pillars” of CountrySTAT, namely:

• IT module and the data-uploading process;
• Statistics module and data harmonization process;
• Communications strategy;
• Country coordination activities.

At the end of the workshop the participants will be able to apply the acquired knowledge, methodologies, and best practices related to the collection, harmonization and dissemination of official data related to food and agriculture using the CountrySTAT system.