The gathering was about the important role that CSO plays in the monitoring and evaluation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). It was stressed during presentation that CSO has already the infrastructure and resources to collect information on various indicators of ANDS.  However, there are still a lot of things to be done in order to comply with the requirements of ANDS.  Among them are: strengthening of official statistical system in the country, closer coordination with the Ministry of Economy, restructuring CSO to better collect information for ANDS, and to support the capacity building efforts of CSO
Events
The large scale statistical capacity building, infrastructure development, arrangement of huge financial and other resources needed, rebuilding of administrative statistical systems in various ministries, and conducting various surveys/ censuses are the challenges ahead of this organization. CSO is developing a National Statistical Strategy in order to facilitate rebuilding of the country’s Statistical System so as to meet all the data requirements of the nation especially the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). . More.....
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Central Statistics Organization (CSO)
Greetings!
The Central Statistics Organization, Afghanistan (CSO) as NSO of any other country, is the driving  force behind rebuilding an effective, robust and reliable Statistical System in the country. The Statistical System is the eyes and ears of the nation and is the backbone of planning, decision-making and monitoring process. It consists of Administrative Data Systems in various ministries/ organizations, collection of data through surveys and censuses, and establishment of standards in concepts, definitions and classifications. CSO is working on all these aspects; however, the challenges ahead are huge and formidable. CSO was rendered almost completely ineffective due to more than two decades of war and conflict in the country and lost most of its capacity in terms of human resources and infrastructure during the war causing the nation face a huge data gap.
Role of CSO in Monitoring and Evaluation of ANDS,  17 June 2009,
Seminar on the Role of the Private Sector in Providing Statistical Data, 5 August 2009,
The seminar was the first of its kind that was held in the country’s statistical community where the discussion was focused on the importance of the participation and contribution of the private sector in the generation of statistical data for economic development of the country.  Ways on how to further improve the system was also discussed.  Apart from the CSO, representatives from the Office of the President, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Chamber of Commerce, Association of Exporters and Producers, and Kabul University discussed the different roles of the private sector in data collection activities in their own organizations.  
Third Donors’ Meeting for Statistical Development,  17 May 2009,
This meeting was a follow-up to the donors meeting held in October and November 2008.  The meeting discussed the commitment of each donor so that the seven-year plan presented in the previous meetings could be undertaken by CSO.  Included in the discussion was possible options to undertake in administering the over-all capacity building program of CSO, both its funding management and other administrative aspect of the program.  The European Commission proposed to initiate a statistical support program and pool funding.
Seminar on Gender Statistics and Violence Against Women, 21 December 2008,
This event was a gathering of representatives from the different agencies concerned with collection and utilization of gender statistics.  The purposes of the gathering were to improve the collection of statistics on gender and the Violence Against Women and to increase their use for monitoring and evaluation of the situation of women to promote gender equality.  
Labor Force and Child Labor Survey Workshop, 25 January 2009,
The unavailability and importance of labor statistics in the reconstruction effort of the Government prompted the Central Statistics Organization to organize a workshop for the different ministries.  The emphasis in the workshop was on the role of each ministry in improving labor statistics including child labor.  It was also mentioned in the workshop that CSO will pursue with the development of the Labor Force Survey in cooperation with the International Labor Organization.  Then, for the Government of Afghanistan through CSO to conduct it on a regular basis.
The purpose of the workshop was to discuss how CSO can work with the different ministries to improve official statistics they produce as well the overall improvement of the statistical system in Afghanistan.  Speakers were from the Academy of Science, Ministry of Woman’s Affairs, and Faculty of Economy from the University of Kabul where they shared their insights about the topic.
Workshop on Official Statistics,  19 July 2009,
Second Donors’ Meeting for Statistical Development, 22 November 2008,
The second round of the Donors’ Meeting was held at the Ministry of Finance.   The donors recognized the importance of data being collected by CSO for the reconstruction efforts of the government.  They also agreed that there should be a common fund arrangement for statistical development.  The Ministry of Finance indicated its full support in statistical system development.
User-Producer Relations Workshop, 23 October 2008,
The workshop highlighted the importance of a good relationship between users and producers of data in producing quality statistics.  In particular, it was emphasized that users could also be involved in the technical development of data gathering and analysis to ensure maximum utilization of information.  Also, producers should know the data needs of different users and should also realize how data are being used in order to properly design the data gathering system
Message of H.E Abdul Rahman Ghafoori President General, CSO