ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- A scholar has urged African statisticians to do more to explain and sell their work to ensure their product helps governments make informed policies that can change communities and democracies for the better.
Speaking to the ongoing 6th Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa VI), on Wednesday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, Vincent Hendricks, a professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, called on statisticians to be aware of the threat to evidence-based policymaking in the era of fake news and populist politicians.
The StatCom-Africa VI is being held on Oct. 1-4 under the theme: Enhancing the Capacity of National Statistical Systems to support policies for Africa's economic diversification and industrialization.
"In this world we live in today of fake news you have to realize that you are the experts and not the politicians; take ownership of your data and use it not only to change your communities but also your democracies," he said.
Statistics would lose the battle of ideas if data producers did not go out there to sell it, he said, adding statisticians should not only generate data but use it for the good of their communities.
"Put pressure on politicians and governments by showing them the hard evidence as to why it matters; put things into perspective," said Hendricks, who is the Director of the Center for Information and Bubble Studies.
"You are the ones informing democracy; you are the ones who are making sure that evidence-backed policy is not just a mystery. That is what you do. If you do not go out say it accordingly, you are going to lose that authority in this attention game and when you lose, your states lose and your populations lose." Hendricks said.
Hendricks also underlined that the experts need to do more to push their governments to fund statistical development on the continent.
