United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses

New York, 29 October- 1 November 2013

2010 Round of Censuses - SPC assistance to Pacific Island NSOs

Arthur JORARIDemographerStatistics for Development DivisionSecretariat of the Pacific CommunityNoumea, New Caledonia(ArthurJ@spc.int)

Purpose of presentation

•Historical context: technical assistance to NSO since the 1990 world census round

•Summary of activities in the 2010 round•Preparation for the 2020 round

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacificisland NSOs since the 1990 world census round1990 round of censuses – various TA providersRegional:

• SPC Demography and Population and Development programo 1985 – 1988 (3 Demographers : 1 SPC, 2 UNFPA funded)o 1989 – 1991 (UNFPA Census TA project with SPC: 2 Demographers and Data

processing (IMPS) specialisto 1993 (1 Demographer, SPC funded)o 1994-1995 (3 Demographers, 2 of which AusAID Funded)

International: • ESCAP (1 inter-regional Advisor, moved to UNFPA CST/Suva in 1994/1995• Limited data processing (IMPS) support from 1 ESCAP based DP specialist

Bilateral: • US Census Bureau/IPC (various staff,) US Pacific Territories, FSM, Palau, RMI

• France (French Pacific Territories)• ABS/Statistics NZ supported a number of PICs (subject to funding)

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacificisland NSOs since the 1990 world census round

2000 round of censuses – declining UNFPA census support worldwide (post Cairo ICPD 1994)

Regional: • SPC Demography and Population and Development programo 1996 – 1998 (3 Demographers, 2 AusAID funded)o 1999 – 2005 (2 Demographers, 1 AusAID funded)

International: • UNFPA (no further CST technical census support from around 1996/1997• No ESCAP based TA support

Bilateral: • US Census Bureau/IPC (various staff: US Pacific Territories + FSM, Palau, RMI)• France (French Pacific Territories)• ABS/Statistics NZ supported a number of PICs (subject to funding)

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacificisland NSOs since the 1990 world census round

2010 round of censuses – significant step-up in TA supportVarious catalyst • Perception by countries, development partners, analysts that 2000 census

coverage and data quality noticeably declined compared to 1990 round (Note: this experience not limited to Pacific region – International Census EG, 2004-2007)

• Community conflicts in PNG, Solomon Islands in late 1990s, had serious impacts on coverage (undercounts), on their respective censuses in 2000 and 1999;

• NSOs experiencing decline in TA (main focus from SPC at the time: demographic analysis, projections, population profiling/census reports)

• New and less experienced census managers in place in some countries=> Many of these issues discussed at 2003 HOS in Noumea, requesting SPC to broaden scope of activities

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacificisland NSOs since the 1990 world census round2010 round of censuses – significant step-up in TA support by SPC / UNFPA / PartnersRegional:

• SPC Demography and Population program/Statistics for Development Div.o 2005 – 2008 (4 Demographer, 2 GIS programmers, 1 Data Processing Advisor, 1

Census Planning Advisor – all but 1 AusAID funded)o 2009 – (3 Demographers, 2 GIS programmers, 2 Data Processing Advisers, 1

Household survey specialist)International:

• UNFPA (back in business)o (1 advisor + generous financial support to PICs for specific TA + regional training

support)Bilateral:

• US Census Bureau/IPC (substantial decline in support to FSM, RMI, Palau) • France (French Pacific Territories)• ABS/Statistics NZ supported a number of PICs (subject to funding)

Summary of activities in the 2010 round

Biggest change to 1990 and 2010 round of census activities

• Comprehensive census TA approach: addressing country/NSO requirements, aim to cover all critical components of census process1. Census planning (with ABS on census planning/management)2. Census preparation (Cartography, listing, pilot, scanning, field staff training) 3. Managing census enumeration4. Data processing5. Data analysis and reporting6. Dissemination7. NO PES in the 2010 round of censuses in the Pacific

• Following slides give you an overview of the time dedicated by SPC census team staff in-country (TA, training)

Solomon Isl

ands

Van

Kiribati

Marshall

Islan

dsFSM

Samoa

Cook Isla

ndsNau

ru

Papua N

ew Guinea

Tuval

u To

nga Niue FijiPala

u

Tokel

au0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Total Weeks Technical Assistance

Census Planning Cartography Scanning Data Processsing Field Staff Training Analysis/Report

Solomon Isl

ands

Van

Kiribati

Marshall

Islan

dsFSM Sam

oa

Cook Isla

ndsNau

ru

Papua N

ew Guinea

Tuval

u To

nga Niue FijiPala

u

Tokel

au0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Total Weeks Technical Assistance – 302 weeks, since 2008

Key achievements – 2010 census round• Except for Palau, all PICTS have conducted a

Population and Housing Census at least once in the 2010 round, with some countries (Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga) having conducted two censuses. oPalau very recently (December 2012)

conducted a mini census

11

Key achievements – 2010 census round• Only Samoa had successfully engaged with data

users (parliamentarians and key sectors) during the 2010 round;

• While several countries (Samoa, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands) have successfully used the scanning technology;

• Only two continued to use this technology for processing other statistical collections (Vanuatu, Cook Islands).

12

Key achievements – 2010 census round

• Almost all countries used GPS and related Digitised maps to identify dwelling locations;

• The 2010 round of population and housing census review took place in May 2012 in collaboration with UNFPA and other partners in a regional workshop environment in Noumea;

• The census review workshop was followed by FAO/UNFPA/SPC Workshop on integrating agriculture questions into the 2020 round of population and housing censuses.

13

Key achievements – 2010 census round• PDA was successfully tested for data collection in

Tuvalu November 2012 census.

• Some agriculture questions which were presented by FAO in May 2012 were integrated into the census questionnaire in the Tuvalu census - the results are currently analysed.

14

Preparations for the 2020 round•Planning for the 2020 round census in the Pacific will commence with a regional workshop planned for the first half of 2014

•we propose to discuss solutions to common reoccurring census issues/problems, rather than remain stuck on problems.

•SPC wish all of us in this meeting, a constructive review next few days

Thank you for your attention