The Amhara Region Planning Commission launched today the web-based Integrated Management Information System (IMIS). UNFPA provided financial and technical support for setting up the system.   

Speaking at the launching event, H.E. Temesgen Tiruneh, President of the Amhara Regional State, said “ the Amhara Region has a huge gap in consistency of data, where different reports come from the same source thereby failing to show the correct picture in the region,” noting that the new system would address this challenge.  

UNFPA has been supporting the Central Statistical Agency in operationalizing IMIS as part of its support to the government of Ethiopia on open data for accountability and inclusiveness. The establishment of the system recognizes the urgent need to fully integrate statistics into decision making. IMIS synchronizes national data obtained from surveys and censuses, as well as data sets generated by Ministries and by different regional sector bureaus.
The IMIS established in the Amhara Region is one of its kind in Ethiopia along with the ones set up in Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples and Tigray Regions. Preparations are well underway to put in place the system in the Oromia Region in the near future.

It was strongly recommended during the launch that institutions of higher learning and the Regional Science and Technology Bureau should be closely engaged in ensuring the sustainability of the newly established system. It was also recommended that there is a need to cascade the system in to zonal and district levels.