April 6, 2021
By Francis F.M.Harding
Sir David Attenborough, a naturalist and broadcaster, Population Matters Patron once said:“The human population can no longer be allowed to grow in the same old uncontrolled way. If we do not take charge of our population size, then nature will do it for us.”
A population census is the total process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing, publishing and disseminating demographic, economic and social data for all persons in a country at a specified time.
The purpose of this article is to reflect on the past Population and Housing Census in December 2015 and to proffer solution for the Mid-Term Population and Housing Census. It should be noted that on the 21st July, 2020, a proclamation for the conduct of a Mid-Term Population and Housing Census was made by His Excellency the President and slated for December 4th 2020. In his proclamation, the following reasons were advanced for the conduct of the ever Mid-Term Census in Sierra Leone: “…in order to help us plan properly, ensure equitable distribution of resources, and foster economic and social development, government has decided to conduct a Mid-Term Population and Housing Census across the country this year”.
The cancellation of the Canadian census long-form questionnaire in 2010 and its subsequent reinstatement in 2015 resulted in a vigorous international debate on the future of the mandatory census. Questions concerning state invasions of personal privacy, party political interference and public trust and cooperation in state data-gathering were raised. As a result, alternative forms of demographic data collection were explored and the experiences of other countries examined. National population registers and non-mandatory surveys offered alternatives, but each had their own distinct disadvantages.
Let us not discourage our funding partners like the World Bank, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNECA, MRU, and the Chinese Embassy. We should not forget Kenya National Bureau of Statistics which supports Stats and Ghana providing technical support. Sierra Leone has benefited from 20,000 android tablets for the census data collection.
The World Bank and UNFPA, on the 10th March 2021 confirmed Statistics Sierra Leone novel electronic cartographic exercise and a pilot was done in Kailahun, Freetown and Kambia. Stats. Sierra Leone has deployed a team of 1200 mapping officers and assistants across the country.
This is the first time Sierra Leone will be using the novel electronic cartographic exercise that is done using android tablets which are loaded with satellite imagery to capture the coordinates and attributes of surface structures.
The indicators derived from the Mid-Term Population and Housing Census will show progress made and challenges to be addressed in the overall development of the 2015 census. I believe that the mid-term census will generate credible population and housing data midway between the 2015 census and the census of 2025 to address any identified challenges of the census in 2015 and rehearse for the census in 2025. And this exercise will also help the country to update base maps and delineate enumeration areas. The advantages of the Mid-Term Census will include the acquisition of credible population and data of housing in Sierra Leone covering all locality and Enumeration. This will help to update base maps of Sierra Leone by providing a credible sampling frame for intra-censual activities.
I believe that Statistic Sierra Leone has the human resources to attract funding partners, i can say this even if AK47 on my head. As the Statistician-General and his team has been able to convince the World Bank and other partners to support the process. I want to give the Statistician-General, Professor Osman Sankoh and his team three cheers for the rolling innovation.
It is of essence to read into the president’s proclamation that “data from this Mid-Term Population and Housing Census will undoubtedly inform and guide the implementation of various development programmes including the 2019-2023 Medium Term National Development Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals”.
This thought is essential for the country; the president wants to see the credibility of the census. Citizens are behooved therefore to cooperate with this process by coming out on 19th April, 2021 to register for the Mid-Term Population and Housing Census.
It must be remembered that on the 20th October 2020, the following reasons were proffered for the postponement of the Mid-Term Population and Housing Census in press statement.
“However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the planned support from external institutions, the following areas of our preparations have been affected: The movement of high level technical personnel like International Consultants; and procurement of digital materials required for the census”.
For me it is an accepted truth that there is a global COVID 19 pandemic that is affecting the country. But at the same time I believed that the 1991 constitution states that sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has continued to conduct mandatory detailed censuses since 1901 with similar censuses conducted in 1911, 1921, 1931, and 1948.
The Mid-Term Population and Housing Census will be niche making in assuring credibility. It is a strong foundation building process for policy redirection
It is like history has repeated itself. I remember when civil society organizations were shouting about the 2015 census. Many say that they like to talk. With the process set in motion national development planning is bound to be better than previous time.
I want to focus on the emerging perspectives in sociology of official statistics and the flaws of our past Population and Housing Census. The 2015 Population and Housing Census (PHC) is the fifth modern census taken in Sierra Leone. It is very important for every citizen to be included but it was not the case for us that were not counted in Sierra Leone.
There were gaps in the past census. For instance I was not counted in the past population and housing census between 5th through 18th December 2015; 4th December being census night at that time. Data collection was completed on 18 December 2015 and data processing ended in October 2016. I believe that the main objective of the census was to provide quality and timely statistical information for development planning, policy formulation and service delivery. Within the same process I came to Freetown so that they can capture me but to no avail.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the president of the Sierra Leone for such initiative to do the Mid -Term Population and Housing Census this year for those who have not been captured to be capture. The Sierra Leone’s Medium-Term National Development Plan 2019-2023 and Sustainable Development Goals will help the statistical indicators derived, to illustrate will show progress made and challenges that will be addressed in the development of the country. For example the gaps within the census, unemployment, inflation, growth, poverty, fertility and so forth: these objective phenomena, and the statistics that measure them, support description of social and economic situations, denunciations of social injustices and justifications for political actions.
As references, these objects must be perceived as indisputable, above the fray. I will call the census as based on the assumption of independence, between measured reality and a measurement process.
Statistics was considered to be able to‘objectively’embrace the analyzed phenomenon. So, the problem concerning the relationship between‘reality’and‘its measurement’ seems to be methodological: the discussion hinges on the way the measurement is made, on the reliability of the statistical process, according to models provided by physical sciences or by the industry.
Though I am not statistician, mathematician but I will use the sociological perspectives on official statistics. Another example will be Gender. Gender statistics play a crucial role in social research and in the creation of gender sensitive policies. Gender statistics document the situation of women and men around in Sierra Leone, making it easier to raise awareness about inequalities between them, to monitor gender equality and promote actionable change.
There is thus a need to encourage awareness about gender statistics and their usefulness in gender mainstreaming. Changes in technology, society and individual behaviors are having impressive effects on data production and use. Social networks, sensors and data infrastructure are generating a massive amount of new data (big data, big corpora, linked data, open data, etc.) that are readily available for the analysis of societies. Official statistics too is starting to pay attention to these unofficial data sources, to the aim of using them within the production processes. Despite the potentials of new data for statistical production, so far we can depict two main effects on official statistics, and especially on population censuses. First of all, there is the digitalization of data construction through both new instruments (e.g. web questionnaires) and new means of collection (e.g. tablets). Furthermore, the integration and the scaling-up of data archives are ongoing.
This transition from the traditional ‘door-to-door’ census to new census methods, which make an higher use of technology, is not only a technical result, but it reflects the extent to which digital data are changing the routines of production of statistics and their use to gain social knowledge. The challenges to be dealt with are: storage of census materials, storages of census materials, abandonment of work site by deployment of field staff, recruitments and training and management of census.
I hope that the newly statistician General is going to protect the process and guarantee the integrity of the comprehensive data. The benefit of it is for all and sundry at the end of the painstaking exercise. Statistics on the distribution of the population among political or administrative areas are useful.
Information on the distribution of the population by age and sex is of immense importance in making critical decisions in public administration, such as, apportionment of representation in legislative bodies, identification and registration of voters, provision of social services such as education, health services, food and shelter, and for making population forecasts. For me, civil societies group have the right to observe the process, and to contribute in awareness raising for public buy-in; considering the attendant wide ranging benefits.