DHAKA, Aug 3, 2021 (BSS) - Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in collaboration with Statistics and Informatics Division (SID) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) under the Ministry of Planning held a virtual Knowledge Sharing Webinar on “Strengthening Statistical Capacity of SDG Indicators for Bangladesh” today via Zoom.
 
The event was graced by Young-Ah Doh, Country Director, KOICA Bangladesh Office, Mohammad Tajul Islam, Director General, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Muhammad Mesbahul Alam, Additional Secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division, among others, said a press release.
 
Today, Bangladesh’s standing in big data usage has highly advanced, namely, smart national ID Card database, COVID-19 vaccine registration, population census 2011 database, E-Passport integrated with NID database, national household database, 100 million births registered electronically, etc.

 A number of ongoing initiatives to incorporate big data in official statistics and SDG data disaggregation is also underway. However, challenges such as, production of disaggregated and frequent statistics by age, sex, disability and sub-national level, comparability of data, availability of baseline data, conducting a large number of new surveys, technical support availability for regular monitoring, modern technology, still persists that calls for a more desired restructuring, said the KOICA press release.
 
Against this backdrop, KOICA has supported an 8-day long online fellowship program titled ‘Strengthening the Statistical Capacity of SDGs Indicators and Big Data’ targeting a total 20 officials of SID and BBS conducted by Statistics Training Institute in Korea.

The main goal was application of Big Data capability required for statistics production and analytics that will assist in shaping Korean know-how techniques with objective to cultivate statistics and indicator production capabilities related to SDG3 (health) and SDG4 (education).

A detailed presentation on observations, experiences and findings from the training program was highlighted by officials of SDG cell from SID and BBS along with focus on how concepts are formulated for composing a feasible action plan that can be implemented in country context.
 
Speaking on the occasion, the Director General of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics appreciated KOICA’s support for holding an online training along with the dissemination of knowledge of first-hand Korean know-how techniques to a larger key audience helpful for Bangladesh.

While, KOICA’s Country Director conveyed her gratitude to Mohammad Yamin Chowdhury, Secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division for his cooperation and excellent leadership in making the said training a success.

She further hoped that the training delivered is able to enhance the national strategy for development of Statistics of Bangladesh.