Abstract

Africa’s statistical systems face rising demands from the 2030 Agenda, Agenda 2063 and the data revolution, yet many national statistical offices (NSOs) struggle to attract, retain and fully use young talent. The continent’s demographic profile makes this a strategic question: the people who will run Africa’s statistical systems over the coming decades are already in training or in early-career posts. This presentation argues that young statisticians should be treated not only as beneficiaries of capacity development but as agents of change within the statistical system itself. It draws on the experience of the Takwimu Young African Statisticians (YAS) Programme, created in 2022 by the Statistical Commission for Africa with the African Centre for Statistics of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) as its secretariat.
The talk first presents Takwimu’s model, built around three strategic objectives in its 2023–2025 plan: advocacy for youth involvement in statistical affairs, institutionalisation of the programme at country level, and capacity building and mentoring. Takwimu’s membership grew from 393 young statisticians in 33 countries in mid-2023 to more than 600 across some 40 countries. Online webinars on research writing, mentoring, project proposal design and applied statistics for the SDGs each drew between 100 and 250 participants, including a joint webinar with the ISI Young Statisticians Committee. In-person learning included a 2025 workshop with STATAFRIC in Libreville on data innovation and statistical transformation. Thanks to ECA, STATAFRIC, and the World Bank the programme also opened doors to professional exposure: funding for more than 45 young statisticians across African countries to present their work at the ISI–IAOS international conference in Zambia, support for a winning African team at the 2023 UN hackathon, work placements for 19 young statisticians through UN Resident Coordinator Offices, and contributions to ECA’s Data Science Initiative on big data for SDG monitoring.
On the challenges, limited funding, difficulty mobilising focal points within NSOs, and a small size executive team have slowed implementation at country level. National chapters exist in only a few countries so far. These lessons shaped Takwimu’s 2027-2029 strategic plan, which moves from mobilisation to embedding. It aims to integrate young statisticians into National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS), to secure an appointed Takwimu focal point and a dedicated budget line in each NSO, to establish national committees of young statisticians, to set up research and innovation hubs, and to build a continental network across all African Union member states in partnership with the ISI, STATAFRIC and universities.
The talk closes with practical lessons for the session’s central questions: how online and in-person learning can complement each other in low-resource settings, why peer networks and mentoring sustain skills better than one-off training, and how partnerships between youth networks, NSOs and international organisations can be designed to be both equitable and lasting. The main message is that young statisticians gain lasting influence when their role is written into the institutions, plans and budgets of national statistical systems, not left to goodwill.