Statistics provides the basis (basic material) for policy design and implementation and
early warnings of the need for adjustment and fine tuning of policies and plans. It also
helps to track Programmes/ project Implementation, is needed to evaluate results of
different interventions on different population groups and helps in the measurement of
progress towards achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) & other
quality of life indicators. This need is stressed in a number of GoSS official documents,
including the CPA, the interim constitution, the SSCCSE Act, sector plans for various
Ministries, like health, education and agriculture, in the various clusters of the Joint
Assessment Mission (JAM) especially cluster 8 on the Proposal for Strengthening
Statistical Information Systems.

Reliable national economic and financial data are prerequisites for Southern Sudan to
receive the support of the Breton Woods organizations (World Bank and International
Monetary Fund) and other donors, and to interact with the international community.
Basic information on the economy, the land and its people are needed to define and
design all manner of development strategies, most particularly the Poverty reduction
strategies. Similarly, indicators are needed to monitor the implementation of such
programs as well as the monitoring of progress towards achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).

However, obtaining such reliable data and building a National Statistical System (NSS)
takes time as information is compiled from various censuses, surveys, and administrative
records. Consistent with this reality, the SSCCSE is currently in the process of carrying
out the 5th Sudan Population and Housing Census (SPHC) and various surveys all
designed to provide information necessary for policy making and planning at various
levels of Government. The SSCCSE is also involving other statistics producers in the
NSS in the development of official records as a source of data. In this particular respect,
the SSCCSE is working with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the
Bank of Southern Sudan (BoSS) to develop Government Finance statistics and Financial
Statistics respectively. These particular statistics are necessary for the management of the
Southern Sudan economy. The commission is working with all Ministries and other
agencies of Government to build a reliable NSS and will continue to do so as a means of
ensuring that Government and donor interventions are informed to better serve the needs
of the people of Southern Sudan.