Individual Consultant (IC) to perform the Consultancy services to develop an Integrated and Digitalized Statistical Information System for STATAFRIC

1.BackgroundThe African Union (AU) is committed to strengthening African statistical systems across the continent to support evidence-based policy-making, regional integration, and sustainable development. African statistical systems encompass national statistical offices (NSOs), regional economic communities (RECs), and continental institutions. However, data management systems across these entities are frequently fragmented, heterogeneous, and insufficiently interoperable. These structural challenges constrain the efficient exchange, consolidation, and dissemination of reliable and timely statistics at the continental level Key challenges include: • Lack of standardized data formats and metadata schemas across NSOs and RECs.• Weak or absent automated data exchange mechanisms between national and continental systems.• Limited data governance frameworks governing quality assurance and access management.• Inadequate tools for real-time data visualization and dissemination to end-users.• Insufficient technical capacity within STATAFRIC to manage and maintain digital platforms. To address these gaps, STATAFRIC intends to develop an integrated and digitalized statistical information system connecting national statistical systems, regional data platforms, and continental-level repositories. The system will support improved data collection, integration, analysis, and dissemination while ensuring interoperability and compliance with international statistical standards.STATAFRIC therefore seeks to recruit a qualified individual consultant to design, develop and implementation of this integrated digital statistical information system at STATAFRIC. 2.Objectives of the assignment The consultancy specifically aims to: 2.1 Conduct a structured diagnostic assessment of existing data management systems and information flows at STATAFRIC and within key partner institutions. 2.2 Design a scalable, modular, and interoperable architecture for the integrated statistical information system. 2.3 Develop and deploy a functional digital platform incorporating data ingestion, integration, governance, visualization, and dissemination capabilities. 2.4 Establish secure and standards-compliant mechanisms for data exchange between NSOs, RECs, and STATAFRIC, developed in alignment and coordination with the parallel consultancy for the Continental Statistical Database (CSD), to ensure technical and data compatibility between the two systems. 2.5 Define and implement data governance policies, metadata management standards, and quality assurance procedures. 2.6 Build institutional capacity through structured training, technical documentation, and knowledge transfer.