Michel Mouyelo-Katoula, Statistician and former Global Manager of the International Comparison Programme, died on 12th April 2023 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Born in Congo-Brazzaville in 1951, of Congolese and Luxembourg nationality, Michel had over 42 years of high-level experience in statistics for development, economic development, poverty analysis, planning, statistical capacity development, as well as monitoring and evaluation, at both the national and international levels.
Trained in France between 1971 and 1974, Michel began his career in his home country in the central body for statistics and then at the headquarters of the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC) in Bangui, Central African Republic. He worked as an Expert with the European Commission for 6 years, a Director of a Luxembourg-based statistical institution for 11 years, and the Director of an EU-funded project that prepared the 2nd National Development Plan of Namibia.
Michel contributed significantly to improving statistics for development on the African continent. He joined the African Development Bank in June 2002 as a Project Regional Coordinator, thereafter as Manager of the Statistical Capacity Building Division. From mid-2002 until 2009, he joined the African Development Bank in Tunis to take charge first of the coordination for the Africa region of the 2002-2007 campaign of the International Comparison Programme, then from 2007 he was appointed as Head of Division of Statistical Capacity Building.
In 2009, he was hired by the World Bank in Washington DC, USA, as the Global Manager of the International Comparison Program, covering 199 countries and territories. After retiring from the World Bank, he consulted for major international organizations including OECD, FAO, and ECA. His last assignment was a position of Lead Consultant in the Statistical Capacity Building Division (ECST.2) at the African Development Bank.
At the beginning of 2010 the African Statistical Community awarded him its Statistical Award, recognizing the importance of his contributions to the development of African statistics, especially in the field of pricing.
An elected member of the ISI, Michel was an active member of the international statistical community. He was one of the finest African statisticians who remained active all his life.
The IAOS extends its sympathy to the bereaved family.
