The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) have launched its 5-year corporate plan that identifies the strategic pathway which provides an effective tool essential for the democracy and the basis for decision making in the country.

The GSS’ new Corporate Plan sets out how it will lead the efficient collection, production, management and dissemination of quality Official Statistics.

At the launch of the strategic plan, Professor Samuel Annim, the Government Statistician said this is expected to provide the country with the needed data for the achievement of the tenets of “The Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, 2017 – 2024, facilitate the move Beyond Aid agenda and track Ghana’s performance of international development indicators notably, the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

To support national development, the Plan outlines how the GSS will continue to use cutting edge approaches to statistical production and analysis, ensuring that all its outputs are produced to international standards and are compiled by competent and motivated staff.

This is a huge aspiration for Ghana too, and the GSS’ Plan is a call to action for other statistical producers and users of Ghana’s data for timelier, more granular and relevant statistical information that better informs and tracks national progress towards development agendas.

To achieve this, GSS has five strategic goals which include building a responsive, capable and motivated human resource which is based on a revised institutional structure, as well as mobilizing financial resources and control cost to bridge funding gaps.

Other strategies include ensuring full integration of information communication and technology (ICT) solutions in the operations of GSS and to create an inter-operable, capacitated and resourceful National Statistical System (NSS).

The institution intends to improve the production and use of Official Statistics for national development and planning.

The Statistical Service Act 2019, Act 1003 serves as a key mechanism for harnessing the changes in the approaches GSS collect and produce statistical information at a national level, by permitting new ways for the collection and use of non-traditional statistical information and data, such as big data, satellite imagery, administrative data, and commercial data.

Consequently, GSS is looking forward to a renewed focus on engagement with all sectors to ensure that data continues to be used for evidence-based decision making.