Microdata Management Toolkit training and production workshop held in Banjul, Gambia, 9-20 May 2011

A “Microdata Management Toolkit training and production workshop” was held in Banjul, Gambia from 9th to the 20th of May. The objective of the workshop was to train 15 participants from the Planning Services Unit (PSU), Ministry of Agriculture and the Gambia Bureau of statistics (GBOS) on the documentation of census and surveys.
The training familiarized participants on the use of the tools and the associated standards (DDI, DCMI), with a special emphasis on the use of the IHSN and FAO customized template for agriculture the “Agriculture 1.6 nestar template”.
Presentations were made by the Director General, Department of Agriculture Sait Drammeh and the Planning Services unit Director, Aba Sankareh. They highlighted the challenges that the Ministry of Agriculture has faced with survey documentation and dissemination.
They also emphasized the importance of using data for enhancing planning and development and therefore the urgent need to ensure that it is easily accessible to users. Further discussions were held on the plans the Ministry is putting in place to institutionalize documentation and dissemination.
The IHSN and the Planning Services Unit also worked together to assess the quality of survey documentation of the 6 surveys and finalized them for dissemination to users. Both the Planning Services Unit the Bureau of statistics are keen on promoting the tools within their organizations and also to other Government agencies who are involved in microdata management.
The expected outputs from the workshop are institutionalization of documentation, improved dissemination of surveys using the internet, and improved microdata management at the Ministry of Agriculture and Bureau of Statistics.