Board of Directors, Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi, reviews the operational plan for the current year

The Board of Directors of the Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi held its first quarterly meeting for 2011 in its headquarters Tuesday the 22^nd of March, under the chairmanship of H.E. Nasser Ahmed Al Suwaidi, Chairman of the Board and in the presence of the members of the other members of the Board, and H.E. Butti Ahmed Mohammed Bin Butti Al Qubaisi-Director General of the Centre.

During the meeting, the Board members examined the achievements of the Centre during 2010, reviewing and evaluating both the performance indicators and the strategic initiatives. The operational plan for 2011 was also thoroughly discussed. They have outlined the objectives and the strategic axes for the coming year 2012, in addition to considering the Centre's Information Security policy and the tasks entrusted to the new Advisory Committee.

10 MOU's and 806 Indicators

The review of the achievements of the year 2010, SCAD indicates, confirmed that having passed through the planning and launching processes, the Center, now, certainly has the balance and quality to carry out the operational plan for 2011 successfully. The signing of ten memoranda of understanding with leading information providers in the UAE, the carrying out several field surveys, and the increasing the number of periodic statistical releases and reports issued by the centre are factors that would contribute to achievement SCAD's objectives for 2011.  The Centre also announced that 2011 would witness the issuing of 806 key statistical indicators.

Abu Dhabi Census 2011

The Board also reviewed Abu Dhabi Census 2011, as one of the most important projects to be carried out by the Centre this year. The census would be responsible for securing currently unavailable data regarding employment, education, fertility, immigration and special needs. The data collected through the census would be used to follow up the progress of "Abu Dhabi Vision 2030" and to help government authorities plan for schools, hospitals, local public transport employment and other services, bearing the population changes in the emirate in mind. The census would also provide data and statistics of crucial interest to decision makers, businessmen and policy makers in government and private departments and institutions, as well as to researchers, academics, media professionals, and all institutions concerned with figures and statistical indicators that help them learn more about the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and its surrounding areas.

As a cornerstone of the statistical system in Abu Dhabi, SCAD maintained, the Abu Dhabi Census 2011 will provide a framework for the integration of social and demographic statistical data, as well as securing benchmarking data that are used for other indicators.  Since Abu Dhabi Censes 2011 will include all the inhabitants of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, it will have a vital role in promoting statistical awareness all over the emirate. Censuses are major statistical projects that are internationally acknowledged for providing recent, accurate, comprehensive and quality data to build up databases and frameworks. Continuously updated by administrative sources, these databases and frameworks can be used for drawing samples for economic and household surveys in the coming years. The Abu Dhabi Census 2011 will secure data that serve the strategy of the emirate of Abu Dhabi aiming to achieve sustainable development in all areas.

A Call for Co-operation with Researches

The Board took this opportunity to invite all families and individuals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to cooperate with the researchers of the Centre and to provide them with accurate information in order to carry out comprehensive development plans in the emirate, while confirming the full confidentiality of information.

The Centre commended its strategic partners, especially the members of the Advisory Committee, for their support for the census which is considered the basic foundation of Abu Dhabi's statistical system, pointing out that a large group of researchers will be collecting data from all over the emirate, and this process will require the provision of many services such as transportation and logistics services especially in remote areas.

SCAD's Board of Directors asserted that the objective of the operational plan is to reshape the strategic plan of the Centre into statistical outputs, stressing that the annual operating plan is a key factor in the implementation of Performance monitoring techniques in project management in SCAD.

The Board stressed that the operational plan for 2011 includes seven types of projects along with two main groups of activities that cover the values of Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi. SCAD's activities cover: periodical surveys, administrative records, statistics, publications, summary reports, metadata records, and special interest projects.

The Board referred to the projects for the economic surveys mentioned in the operational plan, noting that these surveys will include the seven sectors that constitute the basis for the economic activities in the emirate: industry, construction, transportation, telecommunications, real estate, education, health services, commercial services, and finance.

Strategic map for 2012

The Board of Directors also discussed the new strategic map of the Centre during 2012 and its proposed initiatives which represent an essential tool to achieve the future aspirations of SCAD, especially that the new strategy has increased the annual number of initiatives from eight to about twenty initiatives and strategic objectives.

Information Security

SCAD added that the Board of Directors went through the initiatives for the information security policy that were carried out as a result of SCAD's decision to acquire Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) certification and accreditation for the Data Construction Service at the Centre. The Centre has also decided that the Data Collection and Data Dissemination Services should be certified in order to protect the information assets of SCAD against external and internal threats and to prepare to obtain the certification ISO 27001 for Critical Services.

The Advisory Committee

At its meeting, the Board of Directors also reviewed the reformation of the Advisory Committee. Modelled on similar committees in the most notable international statistics centers, the new committee has become smaller and more efficient through raising the level of representation in the membership of the Committee and reducing the number of members from 27 o 12 members representing the major data producers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Board has also considered the specialized technical committees that have been developed in the various areas of statistical work to assist the Advisory Committee to fully perform its role through adopting a clear methodology and to build a an advanced statistical system in the emirate.

H. E. Butti Al Qubaisi- Director General of the Centre- praised the results of the meeting, stressing the desire of the Board of Director to achieve the vision and mission of the Centre that are in line with "Abu Dhabi's Vision 2030," under the supervision and with full support of the UAE wise leadership. SCAD's vision and mission are consistent with the emirate’s orientation towards achieving sustainable development in economic, social and environmental filed as well as developing the infrastructure in the emirate by securing the most updated and accurate databases based on the highest international statistical standards to serve the decision-makers, the business sector, researchers and all segments of the society. The Board of Directors desires SCAD to analyze and improve data collection mechanisms, as well as to record the proper metadata related to any type of information that can be helpful for the research, interpretation or processing the same data. He pointed out that the Centre is the official body authorized and responsible for the collection, compilation, storing, analysis and dissemination of official statistics and the announcement of the results of questionnaires and social, demographic, economic, environmental and cultural researches in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

He also asserted that Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi seeks to be among the top five international statistics centers by 2015, with regard to the number of statistical indicators and the services provided, as well as the quality of statistics and their relevance to the requirements of its users, and their accuracy and timeliness