Improving Literacy and Making Data Meaningful: The Case of Ajman’s Pioneering Experience as a Model for the Mena Countries
Abstract:
The Ajman Statistics Center has been striving since its inception to promote statistical data, enhance statistical maturity quality and raise the level of statistical literacy among the concerned entities. In this regard, it has recently, initiated a project focusing on statistical maturity, to promote and upgrade the level of statistical information and data produced by the government and semi-government bodies in the emirate of Ajman , and to ensure their compliance with the international standards and procedures of quality, in order to provide high quality statistics, as well as to develop and promote the efficiency of the statistical capabilities of the concerned government and semi-government bodies’ staff. To facilitate this project, Ajman Statistics Center conducted a number of training workshops for the employees of the relevant government and semi-government bodies in the Emirate of Ajman, in order to introduce the main and secondary standards of measurement of the statistical maturity index and the requirements thereof, as well as the form of the statistical maturity evaluation and the weights of the main elements of the index, which include three main and nine secondary standards, as well as 32 requirements for applying the index, in accordance with the evaluation of the statistical maturity standards and the auditing mechanism. Ultimately the Center formulated the three phases of the project evaluation, namely, the entities’ self-evaluation, the evaluation to be carried out by the relevant staff of Ajman Statistics Center and the final evaluation to be carried out by a few neutral statistical experts recruited from other establishments and institutions in the UAE.
