The Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD) announced the launch of the "Abu Dhabi Award for Statistical Excellence", sponsored by the Centre, in the context of its recent strategic initiatives to raise awareness about the importance of statistics and emphasize compliance with the best statistical practices in the departments and local bodies of Abu Dhabi Emirate.

The announcement was made during SCAD’s Open Discussion meeting chaired by Butti Ahmed Mohammed Bin Butti Al Qubaisi, SCAD’s Director General, and attended by executive directors, department directors, section heads and all staff members.

Al Qubaisi asserted that the Statistical Excellence Award initiative aims to achieve further excellence in the different areas of statistical work at the organizational and individual levels, and as a leading step to improve government performance according to the highest standards. The award does not mean just something to win or lose in the competition between organizations or individuals; rather it translates a philosophy, sets a strategy and roadmap, and helps to continually generate ideas, experiences and distinct concepts in the endeavor to develop of statistical work.

The award includes four main categories, namely, i- Government departments supporting statistical work in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, ii- Any outstanding statistical undertaking with a tangible impact in the development of statistical work in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi during the past two years, iii- Outstanding statistical users (this category includes, research institutions, universities and institutes that use statistical data on a large scale for decision support or to drive forward development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi), and iv- The creative statistician category, which includes professionals, technical personnel and administrators who are playing a key role in the development of statistical work in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Staff members of Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi are entitled to compete within categories II and IV of the award. A detailed guide will be prepared that will set out all the rules, procedures, conditions and criteria for application and evaluation of nominations in the foreseeable future.

At the outset of the meeting the milestones of SCAD’s operation from 2009 through 2012 were reviewed. Back in 2009, the Centre worked on strategic planning and establishing basic infrastructures. In 2010 SCAD introduced an organizational upgrade and launch detailed operational planning activities. In 2011 the Operational Plan was put in place, Statistical Training Institute was launched. Advanced electronic systems, such as SAS and Oracle were introduced. SCAD managed to implement a handful of statistical mega projects, such as the Abu Dhabi Census 2011 and the Multimode Surveys projects. SCAD’s new strategy, to be adopted in 2012, will revolve around innovation, simplification and ease of implementation.

There has been a quantum leap in the production of statistical indicators and release of numerous new publications that brought the total number of SCAD’s publications in 2011 to 611. A new mechanism for attending to requests for data, with the average response time shortened to one day only.

SCAD’s executive directors reviewed the major projects completed in their respective sectors during the first quarter of 2012, and the projects planned to implemented during the current year. The Strategy and Policy sector plans to update the Strategic Plan 2012 - 2016, conduct a questionnaire on the satisfaction of partners and the signing of a new set of cooperation agreements and MoU’s with a number of entities in the Emirate.

The Statistics Sector plans to launch new projects covering a broad range of themes, including environmental, agricultural, demographic and economic areas of interest, such as the Food Balance Sheet, the Biological Diversity Statistics report, births and mortality statistics, cultural and social services statistics, security, safety and labor force statistics (quarterly releases), in addition to statistics dealing with the topics of marriage and divorce, health, economic growth indicators, e.g. the GDP at constant prices, quarterly GDP estimates and other important statistical projects.

The Data Sector plans to implement several projects including the customer service management system through CRM (email, telephone, backups), enhance SCAD’s internet portal, and develop the statistical metadata system and the census dictionary. The Support Services sector the Centre plans to ensure compliance with the ISO 27001 standard, provide efficient and effective capabilities for office automation, implement ISO 2000, EDRMS (paperless) environment, and business continuity and disaster recovery preparedness. The Statistical Training Institute imparted training to 127 trainees during the fourth quarter of 2011.

During the meeting SCAD also reviewed the career development plans set for its staff members, which includes a multi-stage program, beginning with identifying the competencies required for jobs, measuring current competencies and the implement a plan for their periodical review and development, to be supported with plan for a self-development plan.

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