The main risks underlying the implementation of ASPA and successful outcome include:

• frailty of NSO and lack of ownership of NSS and consolidation of benefits derived from AFRISTAT interventions;
• high NSS staff mobility is detrimental to capitalizing the benefits of interventions;
• lack of strong commitment of national political authorities to support NSS and NSO in their capcity building effort;
• lack of programming of statistical activities in Member States;
• AFRISTAT’s readiness to embark on projects in unfamiliar areas and/or relying solely on its capacities;
• transformation in beneficiary countries of support missions to back-up interventions during which AFRISTAT experts will be doing the work of national statisticians;
• inadequate coordination of activities at the levels of NSS and sub-regional integration institutions;
• inadequate funding of activities of AFRISTAT and NSS of Member States;
• the absence of or non-compliance with basic instruments to organize statistical activities in Member States.

To eliminate or mitigate these risks, AFRISTAT and its Member States should take the following measures:

• strengthen NSS capacities and improve collaboration between NSS and AFRISTAT ;
• rethink the NSS human resource policy as well as the wage system of national senior staff, especially in programmes and projects funded by technical and financial partners;
• put in place or update institutional frameworks to govern statistical activities in States with a view to defining the role of each NSS component;
• institute the formulation of national statistical development strategies;
• carry out advocacy campaigns for quality statistical data production.