Grace Afua Bediako is a Ghanaian statistician and the former head of the

Ghana Statistical Service The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is a Ghanaian governing body established to report to the presidency. The GSS conducts Population and Housing Census in the country. History The GSS is a Public Service body established under the Statistical ...

. She is currently a member of the

National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) The National Development Planning Commission is a Ghanaian state agency committed to eradicating poverty and reducing inequalities in deprived areas and rural communities. The commission was established in 1992. History The establishment ...

Education

Bediako had her secondary education at

Achimota School Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school wa ...

, and earned her first degree in Economics and Statistics from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

. She earned a PhD degree in Demography from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Prior to earning her doctorate degree in 1988, she acquired a diploma in Population Studies from the Regional Institute for Population Studies,

Legon Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Accra Metropolis District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. Ghanaia ...

, as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Survey Sampling from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Career

Grace Bediako started her career as a government statistician. She was appointed to be the head of the Ghana Statistical Service, and served from June 2004 to June 2012. Prior to her career with the

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...

, she was Chief of Demographic Statistics Section,

United Nations Statistics Division The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), formerly the United Nations Statistical Office, serves under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) as the central mechanism within the Secretariat of the United Nations t ...

from 2000 to 2004. She is currently the consultant to the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and also a board member for Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and Coastal Development Authority.

Awards

Bediako received the President's award of the

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

for Public Service in 2008. She is also an elected member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

Works and publications

Bediako compiled and published the Annual Economic Survey She is also responsible for the production of three major

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

methodological reports: ''Handbook for Producing a National Statistical Reports on Women and Men'', ''Technical Report on Collecting Economic Characteristics in Population and Housing Censuses'', and ''Trial International Classification for Time-use Activities''. As a government statistician, she led numerous surveys, including the Ghana Living Standards Survey, 2005/06; Crime Victimization Survey, 2009; and National Population and Housing Census, 2010. She also formulated the five-year Ghana Statistics Development Plan, which sought to strengthen the institutional and human resource capacity of the different ministries, departments and agencies with linkages as well as sources of data for the compilation of national statistics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bediako, Grace Ghanaian statisticians Women statisticians Living people Recipients of the Order of the Volta Alumni of Achimota School University of Ghana alumni Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute Year of birth missing (living people) University of Michigan people