By Francis H. Murray
The African Young Voices (AYV) Media Empire and Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the upcoming 2020 Mid-term Population and Housing Census.
The MoU was designed to create a platform through which the activities of Stats SL could be reported to the general public during the course of the census.
Officials say the partnership is to create a platform for informed analyses of the day-to-day activities of the census, so as to put decision makers in a better position to have full knowledge based on the data collected by Statistics Sierra Leone.
Statistician General and CEO of Stats SL, Professor Osman Sankoh, disclosed that a national census advisory committee from every political party has been constituted and duly assigned to by all the parties in the country. He said Stats SL will be responsible for writing and analyzing the data, noting that this brings into play the need for public trust in the work and outcome of the census, which necessitated the partnership with AYV.
“We will be counting everyone who would have slept in the country on the 3rd December, even if you are passing through the country,” he said.
Prof. Sankoh said they will use the opportunity of the partnership with AYV to disseminate the right messages of the mid-term population and housing census in order to have an inclusive process, which will lead to credible data.
In June, President Julius Maada Bio announced that the census will take place on the 4th December, 2020 and that a sum of 14 billion Leones have been committed by the government towards the process.
According to Prof. Sankoh, they identified some lapses in the outcome of the 2015 census, which they are planning to address during this upcoming one. He disclosed that they will be making use of technology in this year’s census as 20,000 electronic tablets will be flown into the country from Kenya to make the process credible.
“In 2018, during our living standard survey and other programs, we used tablets; using tablets to count everyone in this country will be helpful to see what challenges that could bring and what logistics we would have to put in place, it’s best to now do that in the mid-term” he said.
The MoU signed between AYV and STATS SL is for STATS. SL to collect data, coordinate, compile and analyze for informed decision making, while AYV will be using the data produced by STATS SL to ensure that they set agenda for development in the country.
Managing Director of African Young Voices Media Empire, Dr. Ezekiel Duramany Lakkoh, said that they will meet the dreams and aspirations of Statistics Sierra Leone, adding that AYV is not only a broadcasting station but a PR consultant institution that handles credible data for the development of the country.
“We have been doing it for local and international organizations, and we have always met their dreams and aspiration,” he said.
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