The Statistician General of the Gambia Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Nyakassi Sanyang has revealed that preparation for the 2023 Population and Housing Census is in high gear, two years ahead of the crucial national exercise. He was speaking exclusively to Gambia Daily at his office in Kanifing, where he revealed that they will be using the Computer Assistant Personal Interview (CAPI) system for the first time in the conduct of Population and Housing census in The Gambia.
He explained that preparations were delayed by the outbreak of Covid 19, but that a census project document has now been developed. This, he said, will serve as a guide on how to conduct the census and the budget required.
The UNFPA country office, in collaboration with regional office recruited two experts from Kenya who will be in the country this week to help them finalise the needs assessment: the types of equipment and personnel needed, identifying what they will need for the census. After finalizing the document, it will be handed over to government and development partners.
The SG explained that Census information helps government to know the number of people in a particular settlement, their age, sex, engagement in agricultural activity, employment, education and educational level, disability and the type of disability etc. “This information is very important for development planning, provision of services and facilities by government and development partners,” he noted.
He added that the census information will be used to conduct household surveys, which will be conducted immediately after the census.
He appealed to the public to give accurate information to enumerators, noting that this is a very important and expensive undertaking. “For census data to be useful in future planning it must be factual; if not the purpose for the census will be defeated”.
Mr Sanyang reported that during the data collection for the Social Registry some people tried to fragment their households, and inflate numbers; thinking if they do that they will receive more of any form of assistance, as was during the Covid 19 food distribution. He stressed that the census information is not for any form of aid distribution.
He nonetheless informed that GBOS will embark on massive sensitization to ensure that everyone understands the importance of conducting the census come 2023.
On anticipated challenges for the conduct of the census, the GBOS boss said finance and human resources are always a challenge in conducting any major activity that requires huge capital and critical pool of human resources. He noted that government, UNFPA and other partners are working strategically to ensure that the required resources are available for the successful conduct of the census come 2023.
Elaborating on the difference between previous and coming census, Sanyang said the CAPI system which will help them reduce the errors is major difference because it helps avoid asking unnecessary questions among others. He revealed that this time round, livestock will be included. “It is a very important sector, taking into account the number of people involved in livestock-related business and amount of money used in the importation of livestock into the country”.
He took the opportunity to hail the work of the Department of Information Services during the Social Registry Public Information Campaign, describing it as very impactful, as communities were informed about the data collection and its importance before and during the data collection by GBOS.
The GBoS head said they do advocate for open data and for the public to have easy access to data. That, in order to make this happen, they organise user-producer forum on how people can access information without any difficulty.
