There is a Big Need for an Assyrian Center for Research and Statistics
By: Ashur Sada. April 11th, 2006


Developed nations and societies rely on data and research as a means of finding what the trends are in everything from the economy to sports and everything else. Based on the results and the data obtained, researchers can go ahead and find some very useful conclusions which seek to benefit many in the future, including the public as well as in a commercial sense. It is time Assyrians did the same thing. It is time Assyrians had their own advanced research centers. Such research will focus on the economy and society at first, and later expand to include other areas including science, sports and even religion. Yes Assyrians don’t have their own country, and a scattered people, it is hard to do this research, but it is not impossible and its advantages will be great in the future.

Two main areas of focus for an Assyrian research center would be the economy and society, and the former is what we will start with here. First question that we ask is: do Assyrians even have an economy? Or even more basic than that, do they even have a country? The answer is clearly NO to both questions, but that doesn’t preclude a need for a research center. Assyrians still buy and sell, work, own companies and engage in many other business and financial transactions, all of which are elements of an economy, albeit a virtual one.

Lately, there have been a lot of effort to establish a virtual Assyrian economy, where Assyrians are encouraged to buy from their own Assyrian, thus keeping the money in an Assyrian market. A research center would come in very handy here. For example, it can help with researching and building a global database of all Assyrian businesses. It can also track the progress of Assyrian-to-Assyrian business and financial interactions. Research would also help in developing trends about what Assyrians are buying, which products and services are most sought for etc. In today’s global economy, it is not just important but essential to know your numbers and data, without which, fall and business failure is inevitable. Assyrian economic data needs to be assembled in one location first, and then start doing all kinds of research on it. Eventually, Assyrian businesses will be more competitive, given all the information available to them.
 

Such a research center can also be used for social purposes, in a way where the Assyrian family and other social organizations and institutions can benefit from a lot. For one, we need data on the increasing cases of divorce, unemployment and the various forms of addictions, amongst the Assyrian community worldwide. Data and subsequent research is also needed on Assyrian student, higher education enrolment and career specialization for most of these subjects. Having this data available can help in many ways. It can pinpoint, for example, why Assyrian teens in a certain city in a certain country, are not able to complete something as basic as their high school education. Once you have such a data and research available, you can go ahead and start looking for a solution and a common factor that will account for such a problem. In fact, even religious institutions can make use of this. The data and stats can help them better understand why certain Sundays generate more church attendance than others, and try to work from there.

The establishment of such a center is not an easy task. For one, picking a central location is not an easy task. Getting access and obtaining the data needed from as many Assyrians as possible, is another hard task. Needless to say, this is a project that will need to be funded on a recurring basis, something which Assyrians from other aid and humanitarian organizations may have an objection to. The argument is that, this money is better used to fund humanitarian projects than to do research and collect data. Only the long term returns of such a project would help eliminate any doubts and skepticism.

The establishment of an Assyrian data and research center is something that Assyrians need to seriously look at. It is a project which can yield great gains for the Assyrian economy and society. Assyrians also need to move past the stage of ignorance and skepticism that may surround any debate concerning such a project. Every nation has more than one of these, one example of which is Canada’s Stats Canada, which has been doing research and bumping data for decades. All of which society, economy and the government have exploited for the best use possible.