A role model for numerous young Somalis, senior citizen Nur Weheliye, continues to exhibit his zest for learning and for using technology to make advances in the development of Somalia.

In August, Weheliye, participated in a three-week training of trainers workshop on data management and processing conducted by UNFPA Somalia in Uganda, where he learnt on how to use software packages used for statistical analysis; SPSS, Excel, CSPro a statistical software. He also managed to independently analyse the vast amount of data generated from Population Estimation Survey for Somalia (PESS) within an incredibly short span of time.

Weheliye is a shining example that age is not a barrier for him to pursue technological expertise in working on data for development.

Another Somali who participated in the training is Hassan Abdilahi Jama. He commended UNFPA for organising the training of trainers saying it was important as the team had learnt a lot in data cleaning, generation of statistical data and validation of statistical data. 

"My team and I came with an expectation to understand the data cleaning, processing and validation process in an in-depth manner. We were particularly keen to study the data cleaning and processing methodology. However, we learnt substantially more than that and attained knowledge on how to use statistical tools in more a practical sense," said Jama.

He said prior to the workshop, the team merely knew some aspects of the technology but not proficiently. He said the exercise was enriched with relentless practicals guided by experts with over twenty years of experience in the field of data collection and analysis.

UNFPA Somalia has been supporting the country in generating and analysing data for development with financial and technical support from the Swedish government, the UK Department For International Development, African Development Bank, DANIDA, the European Union, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the United States government, the Government of Norway and the African Union.

Population trends and dynamics play a powerful role in development, and must therefore be factored into planning and policy decisions. Population size and structure impact a country’s economy as well as its ability to provide social protections and access to health care, education, housing, sanitation, water, food and energy.

Story by Marian Alwi(P&D specialist)