Fanuel Hangula, Namibia’s National Statistician, and Simon R. Nhongo, the UN Resident Coordinator officially opened the Second Annual DevInfo Regional Administrator’s workshop in Windhoek today.
DevInfo is a database system designed to organise and present data on socio-economic development indicators in a structured fashion. DevInfo can also be used to foster the targeting of resources to the most deprived areas of the country and sectors, thereby addressing equity disparities.

Fanuel Hangula, the National Statistician, and Simon Nhongo, the UN Resident Coordinator, at the second DevInfo Regional Administrator’s workshop last week.

Participants from over 20 countries across Southern, Western and Eastern Africa gathered to strengthen their national statistical capacity as well as sharing their best practices and ideas. “[The sheer number of participants is] in itself, a measure of the commitment of both Governments and the UN families in the respective host countries to the use of reliable development data and monitoring systems,” said Nhongo.
As 2007 marks the half way point in the race to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the introduction of DevInfo will provide governments across the region with a key tool to ensure they are making the best use of their resources, and are on track to meet the MDGs.
“The implementation of DevInfo in Namibia is considered critical for data monitoring and evaluation,” said Fanual.
Nhongo elaborated: “its relevance and reliability ensure that its alignment with other national development priorities, plans and procedures maximises the utility of DevInfo for decision-making purposes.”