Stats SL has on Wednesday 3rd February 2021 commenced training of Cartographic Mapping Officers simultaneously in all 16 districts nationwide for the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing Census.
Welcoming participants for the training, the Chairman of the event who also doubles as the Director of Communication and Public Relations at Stats SL , Samuel Ansumana, said that this is a landmark event that kick starts the actual census process.
Making a statement on the importance of the cartographic mapping, the Deputy Statistician General ,Andrew Bob Johnny, emphasized the importance of the event by saying that successful candidates are very lucky to be part of the process to be trained from among the 7 million population of the country so they should take advantage of the training as it is purposely organized to capacitate them. He furthered on the importance of the census by indicating that it is the first time that an Electronic Census is happening in the country , but at the end, it will help to generate credible population and housing data Mid-way between the census in 2015 and 2025. He underscored that the main reasons for the Mid-Term census were to address challenges of the Census in 2015; rehearse for the primary census in 2025; acquire a credible population and housing data covering all enumeration areas, locality types and update base maps of Sierra Leone that will provide a credible sample frame for intra-censual activities. He concluded by categorically saying that the process will be done technologically with the use of Android Tablets and phones through an improved methodology which is the Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI).
Perusing the time line of events for the 2021 Mid-Term Census, the National Census Coordinator ,Abdulai Brima said that, the training is scheduled to last for a period of one week and immediately after that the actual mapping will commence. He concluded by appealing to all participants to take the work seriously as the institution and the nation is totally dependent on them to do their work accurately in order to produce good results.
Climaxing and formally declaring the training open, the Statistician General and Chief Census officer, Professor Osman Sankoh, thanked the President, H.E Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio and the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr Francis Kai-Kai for their trust in the institution to conduct the 2021 Mid-Term Census. He also thanked Stats SL council members for their tremendous support. He then encouraged participants of the training to take it very seriously and also take advantage of experts’ knowledge in the institution stating that they are well trained and qualified personnel whom the trainees can learn so much from. He admonished all participants to go out and “Bongolise” the process by doing the right thing as Sierra Leone is only the third African country to conduct an Electronic Census. He concluded by emphasizing that there will be absolutely no risk to staff and respondents during the cartographic mapping and actual census taking as all Covid-19 guidelines will be adhered being that only the head of households will be interviewed to account for their dependents.
Elbow-to-elbow, The Statistician General and His deputy declared the training formally open whilst also taking a walk around all the other training halls set up for the training in Freetown.
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