ZIMSTAT Director General Mrs Tafadzwa Bandama Elected Vice-Chairperson of StatCom-Africa
The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) Board Chairperson, Mr J. Mafararikwa, Board Members, Management and staff extend their heartfelt congratulations to the Agency’s Director General, Mrs Tafadzwa Bandama. She has been elected Vice-Chairperson of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa) for a two-year term.
Mrs Bandama was elected at the 10th Session of StatCom-Africa, held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 19 to 23 October 2026. The session was convened by the African Centre for Statistics of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). It ran jointly with UN-GGIM: Africa and the Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV), under the theme “Unleashing the Power of Data in Africa: Making Official Statistics a True Mirror of the Continent.”
A vote of confidence in Zimbabwe’s leadership
The election shows continued and growing regional and global confidence in Zimbabwe’s leadership in statistics. It also carries special weight for women in the field. Mrs Bandama is one of only five women heading national statistics offices across Africa’s 54 countries. The others lead the offices in Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Her election reinforces the Government’s commitment to promoting women into influential positions.
In her address to the session, Mrs Bandama called for deliberate inclusion of women at every stage of statistics production. “Women representation is low in the field of statistics, yet we play a central role in the development process,” she said. “The policy process should be deliberate in ensuring women representation at every level of statistics production, up to dissemination.”
Championing youth, innovation and AI
Mrs Bandama also urged African countries to put young statisticians at the centre of official statistics, through the Takwimu Young African Statisticians (Takwimu YAS) programme. The network operates in 31 countries and aims to reach all 54 by 2028. “AI readiness is fundamentally about people, not just infrastructure or software,” she said. She encouraged Africa to develop its own responsible, locally relevant AI solutions.
She showcased Zimbabwe’s Localised Data Collection Tool for Local Authorities, developed by ZIMSTAT with young Zimbabwean statisticians and developers. It collects administrative data for SDG and MSDS indicators directly from local authorities. She described it as an example of “young statisticians and developers contributing directly to digital transformation and local-level SDG monitoring.”
Advancing statistics at home and across Africa
The appointment is strategic for ZIMSTAT’s goal of strengthening national official statistics through innovation in data collection, processing and dissemination. That includes greater use of administrative data, citizen-generated data, and modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).
At continental level, the role puts Zimbabwe at the centre of efforts on several priorities Mrs Bandama set out:
- digital transformation
- inclusive and integrated data systems
- trust and responsible data governance
- skills development with women and youth empowerment
- regional cooperation
- sustainable, domestically funded financing