The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) was formerly known as the Statistics Department under the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. UBOS was transformed into a partially independent agency in 1998.
It is governed by a seven-person body and is under the Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
The Bureau can be found at Statistics House, Plot 9 Colville Street, Kampala, with another office facility in Entebbe.
What it does:
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics is a Ugandan government agency in charge of data collection, processing, analysing and supervising the National Statistical System.
Best known for:
Uganda Bureau of Statistics is known by Ugandan citizens as the ‘census body’. It is in charge of carrying out most census or counting activities of the nation such as population, animal census, maintaining health statistics, insurance statistics, agricultural statistics, labour statistics and analysing the gross domestic product of Uganda.
Staff stats:
To encourage and increase employment levels, the Uganda Bureau of statistics hires between 200 to 500 full-time employees per year. In addition, UBOS hires about 150,000 temporary employees who carry out field research during peak seasons like population census years.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics hires graduates from a diverse range of academic disciplines some of which include but not limited to population studies, demographic studies, business statistics, epidemiology, actuarial science, human resources, quantitative economics.
You can start out a career with the Bureau while still an undergraduate student at university, through their internship program that follows the national universities' calendar; that is June – August. Applications can be completed on their website internship portal, in January and February each year. Shortlisted students are notified in April. For students to qualify for an internship, students need to present an application letter and an introductory letter from the university they are currently attending.
Graduates can apply to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, by navigating to the careers section on the official website and click on the job vacancy they are interested in, to view the job requirements and the description. If grads qualify, they are required to follow the application link and enter personal data and upload all required documents including a cover letter, resume, recommendations and education transcripts.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics is a government organisation which is said to reward great performance right from entry-level. Demonstrating extraordinary progress can lead to great recommendations to other major organisations such as the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the Parliament of Uganda, the Public Service Commission, Bank of Uganda among others.
Graduates can be eventually promoted from an assistant statistician, administrative assistant or junior human resources executives to board executives and chief statisticians. This, however, requires maximum discipline, accountability, transparency and hard work because the organisation deals with sensitive information.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics pays fair salaries, such as UGX 1,500,000 per month for an entry-level job. Senior employees such as executive directors can earn UGX 32,0000,000 per month plus benefits such as daily transportation, meals and medical cover.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics currently has no competitors, however, UBOS works hand in hand with The United Nations Statistics Division and smaller independent organisations, the main one being the Uganda Statistical Society, which unites all statisticians, statistics users and those engaged in professions that engage statistics.
UBOS carries out a number of socially responsible activities, many of which are carried out annually during Africa Statistics week. This is normally a move to engage with all the statistics providers and users such as agriculturalists, media, and health workers. UBOS has carried out blood donation drives and engaged in the annual MTN marathon, which is dedicated to raising awareness about cancer and raising funds for cancer patients.
As the Ugandan home for statistics, expect to interact and mingle with some of the smartest individuals in the corporate world. Graduates have a chance to deeply engage in one of the most prestigious government bodies of the country.