11 September 2007 THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CREATION OF A TRUST FUND TO FINANCE STATISTICAL TRAINING IN AFRICA Paper drafted by Jean-Louis Bodin and Lamine Diop, consultants, for the meeting of the PARIS21 task team on statistical training in Africa (Yaoundé, Cameroon: 18 and 19 1September 2007) One of the recommendations made by the workshop on statistical training in Africa held in Kampala from 12 to 13 March 2007 is that “an opportunity study on the creation of a trust fund for statistical training ” should be carried out. The purpose of this memorandum is to present the key factors with respect to the operation of a trust fund by drawing on the experience of AFRISTAT, by identifying the conditions to be met to ensure the success of such a financing instrument and by examining the problems to be solved as part of an opportunity study on the creation of such a fund with respect to funding statistical training in Africa. This memorandum, in other words, is not the opportunity study that was recommended at Kampala. Its goal is to launch a debate on this issue. 1. Prerequisites in the operation of a trust fund: the experience of AFRISTAT A trust fund is a mechanism in which medium- or long-term funding of an organisation or specific activities is totally or partly ensured by income from capital subscribed and paid up at the beginning of a given period by the various stakeholders. Management of such a fund is usually entrusted to a ...