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African Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies
19-21 April 2012
Rabat, Morocco

In preparation of the 4th OECD World Forum, to be held in New Delhi, India on 16-19 October 2012, a series of regional conferences are being organised with the aim to identify concrete deliverables and initiatives that each region could contribute to the agenda of measuring well-being and progress.

The African Conference which took place on the 19-21 April 2012 was jointly organised by the OECD Development Centre and the Moroccan High Planning Commission (HCP) in collaboration with the OECD, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The Conference gathered around 350 regional policy makers, statisticians, academics, and other stakeholders with a specific interest in the field.

The purpose of the Conference was to deepen on-going reflection on how to measure well-being and the progress of societies, enhance the relevance of measures and analysis for addressing key policy issues, and lead to concrete outputs, such as establishing frameworks for future work. It is the primary mechanism for shaping the African contribution to the 4th OECD World Forum through open and frank exchanges of view, sharing of experiences, deepening of knowledge and understanding, and regional agenda setting.

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Main Conclusions of the African Conference 19-21 April 2012

The text below represents the summary of the discussions held during the African Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies. The final text will be the African contribution to the 4th OECD World Forum and will be reported by the Moroccan High Commissioner for Planning, Mr. Ahmed Lahlimi Alami, and the Director of the OECD Development Centre, Mr. Mario Pezzini.

Putting a strong emphasis on operational conclusions, institutional commitments and concrete follow-up actions, the proposed text is posted on the Conference website for comments until 10 June 2012.

In the run-up to the 4th OECD World Forum to be held from 16 to 19 October 2012 in New Delhi, the Development Centre and the Statistics Directorate of the OECD, in partnership with the High Commission for Planning of Morocco, the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (CEA), jointly organised the African Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies on 19-21 April 2012 in Rabat. The participants to the conference discussed various issues, including: material conditions, quality of life and sustainability, and future challenges in Africa.

This conference brought together around 350 participants (ministers, senior representatives from the public and private sectors, representatives of international and regional organisations, national statistical leaders, academics and civil societies) to discuss challenges and new developments on the African continent in terms of measure of well-being and progress of societies, as well as ways to improve the analysis, implementation and evaluation of public policies, and finally to establish frameworks for future work in this area. In addition, the conference created the opportunity to discuss the challenges faced by the African continent in terms of statistical production and measurement.

Indeed, several high-level roundtables composed of ministers, heads of international organisations and national statistical agencies in Africa allowed to frankly debate on important issues encountered on the continent, including: the Millennium Development Goals and the development agenda after 2015, the challenges of statistical production in Africa, and decision making based on evidence.

Overall, the conference emphasized the importance of well-being for every society in the world including those in Africa. It also allowed to hear the voices and concerns of Africa about reflection and dialogue on new ways of thinking about the measurement of well-being and progress.

Finally, the conference also helped to point out the need to strengthen the capacity of statistical systems in Africa for a better production of independent and credible official statistics. Thus, better coordination at various levels, including regional, national and intra-national, and with other partners, has been advocated..