By Politico staff writer
Consultants from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia have joined two others already in the country to support Statistics Sierra Leone in enhancing a more efficient system for the electronic census that will for the first time be implemented in Sierra Leone later this year.
According to officials of Statistics Sierra Leone, the Geographic Information System (GIS) resources such as shape files are being loaded onto the tablets in order for census enumerators to easily use the tablets in the specified Enumeration Areas (EAs) and do their work efficiently with record speed.
Speaking during a brief engagement, Census Technical Adviser Andrew Mukulu said he advises African countries on certain critical issues with regards to Censuses as a way to ensure international benchmarks are met.
Other specialists are already in the country to help facilitate the process and give their expertise in diverse areas. ECA/World Bank/UNICEF Census Mapping Consultant Adebayo Olatubosun, leads work on the digital Cartographic Mapping of Sierra Leone, whilst the UNFPA Population Census Coordination Specialist Dr Baris Ucar, is supporting Statistics Sierra Leone on several issues on the 2021 Mid-Term Census.
The consultants have started meeting with various Stats. SL teams working on the mid-term census, after a brief engagement with Chief Census Officer Prof. Osman Sankoh and the Executive Management. Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Malawi are countries that have tried and tested these technologies. Sierra Leone is now benefiting from an effective South-South collaboration among national statistical offices. Since the proclamation of the Mid-Term census by President Julius Maada Bio a lot of groups and individuals including the elections observation body, the National Elections Watch (NEW) have queried its relevance considering the current state of the global COVID -19 pandemic in the country and the resources involved in the conduct of such exercise. It was earlier slated for 2020, but was later postponed to 2021.
Copyright © 2021 Politico (10/09/21)
