Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Mat South Bureau Chief
THE Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) requires more than 50 000 enumerators and other personnel to conduct the national population census slated for April.
ZimStat has concluded the field mapping and household listing exercise, which involves partitioning the country into unique enumeration areas in all provinces ahead of the census.
According to ZimStat officials, completion of the field mapping exercise will pave way for the recruitment of enumerators.
ZimStat public relations manager Ms Mercy Chidemo said recruited enumerators will immediately undergo training pending deployment.
“After the mapping exercise is concluded, the next crucial stage is recruitment and training of census personnel. These trainings comprise training of trainers, enumeration areas supervisor training and census enumerator training. Enumerator training is a massive exercise and a crucial element for the collection of high-quality data,” said Ms Chidemo.
Enumerators will be trained in the correct reading and use of enumeration area maps, data entry and interviewing skills.
“Training of enumerators will be followed by data collection, analysis, dissemination of census results and conducting the post-enumeration survey to evaluate the census,” she said.
ZimStat will also deploy a high-tech data collection system (the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing CAPI), which transmits data collected by enumerators over the internet to a central mainframe in real-time.
This will enable the census exercise to be completed within six months. Previously, it took up to two years to collect and process data before producing the final census report.
Ms Chidemo said the CAPI system was successfully deployed during a pilot census conducted last year.
“ZimStat conducted a Population and Housing Pilot Census from November 18-28, 2021. The pilot census was conducted to pre-test the census instruments, processes and all other logistical arrangements in preparation for the actual census scheduled for April 2022.
Some key findings from the pilot census were that the CAPI method was effective as enumerators managed to complete their assignments within the stipulated 10 days,” she said.
“The CAPI system proved to not only be effective, but very efficient as it eliminates rigorous processes such as data entry and data cleaning in the Paper Assisted Personal Interviewing method.”
This year’s population census will be the fifth since Independence. The first was held in 1982 and thereafter at 10-year intervals.
Matabeleland South provincial statistician Mr Munyaradzi Bote said preparations were being made to ensure no one is left behind.
“Resources are being put in place to ensure that everyone is counted, even in the hard-to-reach areas of the province. We’ll soon be having level trainings so that all people spearheading the census are trained,” said Mr Bote. – @Yolisswa
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