Rising from a Young Statistician to a Leader

Francisca Mujawase is a Rwandan female statistician. Her score as the best student in high school earned her an opportunity to join the National University of Rwanda in the department of Applied Statistics in 2005. During her time in school, admission to the department was quite competitive with only 40 seats which required undertaking a selection test on top of the student's overall score in the first year at the University. Her performance owned her a seat in the department, which was underrepresented by female scholars. Only less than 10 percent in the 2007-2010 cohort were female. These numbers speak to the United Nations women in science report for 2019 which indicates that only 5 percent of global enrolment in mathematics and statistics are females. The Gender gap was not only visible in the student’s enrolment rates but also among lecturers. For all the academic years in the departments, I remember being taught by only 2 female lecturers. 

The newly established department of Applied Statistics in Rwanda intended to advance the Government of Rwanda's vision to build a comprehensive national statistical system and capabilities to drive the national statistical agenda. Although this was a new department, it is said that before the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda hosted one of the regional schools in Statistics Engineering representing the great lakes region. This means that the country prioritized the importance of statistics as a key pillar to building a nation for many years.

While we prepared to become statisticians, specialists and researchers, the strategic vision on the statistics development and delivery by our country and the continent was even bigger. At the university we studied statistical methods, data and metadata management and information technology. The areas of study included social, economic, population, labour and environmental statistics. These courses were complemented by leadership skills gained from the ISIBALO capacity building program.

Young statisticians were given many opportunities to acquire scientific skills, enjoyed the benefits of practicing field activities including participating in national surveys and censuses through the existing partnerships between the University of Rwanda and the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. The same was done in many other African countries. Beyond boarders, the ISIBALO capacity building programme, a continental convener for young statisticians in Africa was established under the Statistics South Africa to empower and facilitate young statisticians to become future leaders.

The ISIBALO programme positioned young scholars to participate in policy discussions and decisions on the Africa's development agenda including at events organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Centre of Statistics and their home statistics bureaus. Generally, African leaders who aspired this agenda were sure that building a pool of capable young statisticians was one of the solutions to tackling development challenges faced by the continent which couldn't at any cost be identified, solved, or measured without promoting quality statistics. 

More to the ISIBALO programe was the research agenda which inspired most of us to become young researchers even before we graduated. Participating in those high-level meetings required us to generate an elaborate research paper on development challenges affecting our countries. This approach aimed at sharpening our minds on creative thinking to come up with innovate, localized and strategic solutions to these issues. The activities also instilled in us confidence to defend our proposed actions. I remember one of our colleagues from Ghana wrote a book on statistics with specifics of macro economics and this book gave him a ticket to work as a public servant in the president’s office in Ghana.

At the high-level meetings, we also shared best practices from our individual countries. I remember a story of young statisticians in Uganda who questioned the government of Uganda through a letter on the postponement of the national census in 2010, indicating the implication of the delay on the country and the citizens.

Another excellent arrangement was the transfer of knowledge and study tours organized by the ISIBALO programme. Many of us had a chance to participate in the national census of South Africa and in our specific countries. Pairing us with senior national and international experts in the field enhanced our learning but also left us with best practices to carry back with us home.

Discussing national statistics curriculum used to be one of the heated debates whenever young statisticians gathered especially when it came to comparing curricula from English and French speaking countries. Finally, it became obvious that we had huge gaps in the content taught across the continent indicating the lack of standardization of statistical curriculums. The gaps were identified and reported to our seniors which informed the response to training standardization across the continent and within countries.

Believing in young people shouldn’t be a choice because the youth hold the future of our nations. The leaders of the organizations mentioned above understood this concept better, trusted, facilitated, and gave us all the necessary support required of us to become the best we can be. It had become a practice in the UN system and in our countries that each organized meeting or event considered representation of at least four young statisticians from Africa.

This journey of empowering young statisticians started way back in early 2000. Among the meetings we attended included the Expert Group Meeting on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics at UNECA offices in Addis Ababa, we participated in the process of assessing progress on Millennium Development Goals and at the Conference of Africa Ministers responsible for civil registration among many. We also had sideline meetings at such big events that allowed us an opportunity to present our research papers but also make a voice in the decisions taken by our leaders. Nurturing young statisticians also meant to position Africa on the global scene when it comes to the statistical agendas including platforms like the International Statistical Institute (ISI).

The first meeting I attended in 2007 under UNECA included members of the executive committee of young statisticians nominated by the Secretary General of Statistics South Africa Mr. Pali Lehlola the then President of the African Symposia on Statistical Development included Muhammed Semakula Rwanda, Habaasa Gilbert from Uganda, Gloria Mathenge from Kenya, Akhona Madlamini Nkenkana from South Africa, Aleghen Worku from Egypt, Kodzov Senu Abalo from Togo and Ahmed Maher, Amir Omar from Egypt. We had several other committees over the years to uplift our young sisters and brothers. With the support from ISIBALO, each country created a platform of young statisticians and registered in a central database to keep track the growth of the sector.

As much as governments and international organization invested a lot on us, we young statisticians understood and believed in the agenda as well. This made it easier to attain the goal set by the ISIBALO capacity building program. All the young male and female statisticians who benefited from these programs became exemplary leaders in their countries carrying on key public positions while others have served in international organizations. Many of them have attained their PHDs, others are lecturers in universities. As a young female statistician with a humble beginning, I rose to become a Director of an African Centre of Excellence, a continental hub that advance the Child Peace and Security Agenda on the continent. Being the first female graduate from my family and participating in STEM has inspired my nieces and one of them choose to do statistics at the University of Makerere. Young statisticiand attribute who they are today to the ISIBALO programme and our role in advancing the statistics agenda on the continent speaks for itself.

However, the journey isn’t over yet, young people need to be positioned better to explore their full potentials. Yes, they have the duty to make the leaders uncomfortable, but the leaders also know better what must be done. We want to see a generation of young statisticians empowered even more than we did because the world has changed a great deal since the last two decades. Yes, empowering young people requires huge investments, but the results are even bigger. Thanks to all our governments, the ISIBALO capacity building program South Africa and to all the leaders including former SG Pali Lehlola and his team, UNECA and the African Centre leadership who supported this great idea of empowering young statisticians on the African continent.