Johannesburg, 06 Nov 2009
The main objective of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is to collaborate in ensuring that information collected in the area of ICTs, particularly on the progress made towards attainment of universal service and universal access, meets the standard criteria set by Statistician-General as set out in terms of Statistics Act, 1999 (Act No 6 of 1996) in order to qualify as official statistics.
In his speech during the signing of this critical MOU, Winile Lamani, Acting CEO of USAASA, said: “The agency has drawn lessons from an extensive process of consultation with the public and information and communications technology sector on definition and evolution of universal service and universal access, hence the review of the definition of universal service and universal access, of which as per the requirements of the ECA would be reviewed bi-annually. For the agency to be able to make a proper assessment on the review of universal service and universal access definitions, it needs a high quality statistical data from a credible institution, and Statistics South Africa is the ideal partner for a project of such magnitude. I am pleased to announce the conclusion of the partnership with Statistics South Africa, which will not only be beneficial to the Agency, but the country as well.”
The generation of such high quality statistics will increase the country's body of official statistics to meet the mandated measurements required of USAASA and the broader ICT sector, and also contribute to communications development performance objectives of the country. The development of ICT indicators in key areas of universal service and universal access in tandem with ICT impact indicators will contribute to the main body of official statistics that would be used to populate indicators in the Compendium of Developmental Indicators, and subsequently, inform the Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System.
“Based on the fact that as a country we have made various commitments to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the agency views this partnership as a tool based on its capability to enhance South Africa's reporting capabilities to the two institutions. The statistics will assist us immensely to monitor the country's progress in meeting some of these key goals,” added Lamani.
The Statistician-General, Mr Pali Lehohla, indicated: “The key to this partnership is that as Stats SA we will be able to provide training and impart our knowledge on statistics collation and development of indicators to the USAASA research personnel. This process will ensure that USAASA has resources internally that can collate data from various sources and assist the agency in its advisory role to the country regarding the progress made towards the attainment of universal service and access by all citizens within the Republic of South Africa.”
The partnership will not only enhance performance reporting capabilities of the agency in terms of its mandate as contained from the law, but will also assess the impact and output of programmes, policies and regulations adopted towards attainment of the goal of universal service and universal access within the country. This would enable the agency to be strongly positioned as assessors and arbiters of universal service and access, as they will be using national and credible accepted norms and standards on data collection.
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