COMMENT: We look forward to a successful national population census

THE fifth national population and household census begins today after two years of intense preparations by the Government and the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat).

The budget for the counting that ends on Saturday next week is US$98 million. About 40  000 enumerators and 7 000 supervisors were trained to do the job.

 

A mapping exercise conducted a few months ago estimated the national population at 16,9million of whom 8,8 million are females while 8,1 million are males.

This is an increase from 13 061 239 — 6 780 700 females and 6 280  539 males according to the 2012 national census.

The agency has also been conducting awareness campaigns through roadshows and various media platforms across the provinces with the aim of educating people about the importance of the census and why they need to be counted in order to increase the response rate.

ZimStat is using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing technique to capture data from the public, a departure from the more laborious hard copy questionnaire.

Now that the Government is using improved technology, census results are expected within six months as opposed to up to two years previously.

A national census is vital in modern society. It gives the Government, businesses and development partners an indication of the number of people in a given jurisdiction.

It also provides accurate information in terms of average family size, gender, mean age, age groups, skills and education levels in the population, among other data.

With such details, the Government and other stakeholders are better able to plan and execute policies, projects and programmes for sustainable national development.

It would be easier for the Government to decide, for example, the number of schools, clinics, or hospitals to build in a given area and the number of workers needed to man them.

It, too, would be easier for non-government organisations and other development agencies to decide the amount of food relief to secure and distribute in a given area in times of disaster.

For politicians, accurate information on population size, average age, and gender of people in a certain area can assist them in their campaigns, policies, projects and programmes.

ZimStat public relations and communications manager, Ms Mercy Chidemo stressed the importance of the national population census, the need for citizens to be counted and for them to answer enumerators’ questions in as accurate a manner as possible.

This will ensure that the Government gets the clearest picture of the population data in the country.

“Whoever sleeps at a house on April 20 will be counted in that household,” she told us on Tuesday.

“The census night is the reference point for all enumerations, so every question that will be asked will be referring to that night.

Only those who will have slept are counted so as to avoid double counting.

“If one moves from one area to the next after April 20, they are counted where they were during that night regardless of moving permanently. Those who work night shifts and go back home the following morning are counted in their respective households.”

Ms Chidemo said as for those moving into Zimbabwe from other countries, they will be counted separately on the immigration section.

We urge our people to make themselves available for this very important national exercise. They must welcome enumerators into their homes and interact with them civilly.

We are sure that the enumerators will be dressed in a manner that clearly shows that they are on national duty. As we have seen in the past censuses, even the more recent mapping exercise and awareness campaigns, they would be in the usual hats, T-shirts, jackets and carrying bags with the ZimStat logo.

They, too, must have original identification documents, complete with their photographs, on their persons.

This, we emphasise, is critical to the success of the work that starts today because criminals might attempt to trick residents to welcome them into their homes claiming to be census enumerators. So we ask our people that, as they co-operate with authentic Government workers, they must be vigilant at the same time.

We are certain that a civil servant on legitimate business will have no problem showing their interviewee their identity documents when asked to.

We look forward to a successful national population census that will yield accurate information to assist in policy formulation and implementation.