Assessing Capacity Enhancement Needs and Database on Possible Assistance Providers for 2010 Round of Population Censuses

INTRODUCTION

ICOMP, in a project funded by the Asia and Pacific Division, UNFPA, undertook the assignment to assess the capacity enhancement needs of 10 countries that are planning population censuses for 2010 /2011. The 10 countries are Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Areas assessed are data processing; statistical communication and dissemination; civil registry and vital statistics; gender statistics; disability statistics; international migration; specific population; cooperation; advocacy; countries related; and census variables as benchmark for MDG indicators. Also, a list of experts who could provide technical assistance as well as take this forward in South-South modality was compiled.

FINDINGS

Overall Capacity Enhancement Needs

In general, the top 20 main capacity enhancement needs identified by the 10 countries where South-South cooperation needs could be strengthened are as follows (in sequence of importance):

1. Data analysis (Data Processing: Data Editing and Analysis)

2. Methods used in planning and carrying out national censuses during the 2010 census decade (Data Processing: Methodology)

3. GIS-based data analysis and dissemination (Data Processing: Contemporary Technologies)

4. Census data editing and validation (Data Processing: Data Editing and Analysis)

5. Census quality assurance and evaluation – traditional censuses, registered-based censuses, difficult-to-measure topics (Data Processing: Data Editing and Analysis)

6. Communication and dissemination of census results (Statistical Communication and Dissemination)

7. Advocacy strategies for the 2010 round of population and housing censuses (Advocacy)

8. Census cartography and management (Data Processing: Methodology)

9. Principles and practices for census data coding and data editing (Data Processing: Data Editing and Analysis)

10. Improving statistics on disability (Disability Statistics)

11. Identify appropriate variables/indicators to be used (Census Variables as Benchmark for MDG Indicators)

12. Develop appropriate methodology and guidelines (Census Variables as Benchmark for MDG Indicators)

13. Use of contemporary technologies (e.g., Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) and Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), Geographical Information System (GIS) and other geospatial technologies in census mapping activities) for census data capture and data editing (Data Processing: Contemporary Technologies)

14. Concepts related to GIS, geo-coding and census geography and their definitions (Data Processing: Contemporary Technologies)

15. Management and mapping with GIS (Data Processing: Contemporary Technologies)

16. Technical and operational guidance on geographic databases and census mapping (Data Processing: Contemporary Technologies)

17. Examples of statistical packages for data analysis (Data Processing: Data Editing and Analysis)

18. Engendering the 2010 round of censuses (Gender Statistics)

19. Promoting disability data collection (Disability Statistics)

20. Development of disability statistics (Disability Statistics)

Country Specific Capacity Enhancement Needs

Even though some items are ranked low, however, they are rated as “very important” priority for some countries. For example, “Core and non-core questions for 2010 round population and housing censuses” is not in the top 20 list, however, it is a very important priority for Bangladesh and India. The tables below show the priority capacity enhancement needs by country specific.

Data Processing

No.	Topics	Countries
	Methodology
1	Design of a Common Questionnaire for the 2010 Round of Population and Housing Census	Indonesia Nepal
2	Core and non-core questions for 2010 round population and housing censuses	Bangladesh India
3	International standards (e.g., United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2) for processing data from population and housing censuses	Nepal
4	Ways of improving the management and planning of the census, including outsourcing issue	Indonesia Sri Lanka
5	Development of census methodological guidelines	Bangladesh Mongolia Sri Lanka
6	Census cartography and management	Bangladesh India Nepal Philippines
7	Issues in census management and planning	Bangladesh
	Contemporary Technologies
8	How to use the GIS software	Bangladesh India Malaysia Sri Lanka
9	Management and mapping with GIS	Bangladesh India Malaysia Nepal
10	Contemporary practices in census mapping	Bangladesh Malaysia Sri Lanka
11	Data collection and conversion to digital format	Bangladesh India Sri Lanka
12	Technical and operational guidance on geographic databases and census mapping	Bangladesh India Malaysia Sri Lanka
	Data Editing and Analysis
13	Examples of statistical packages for data analysis	Bangladesh Philippines Sri Lanka Thailand

Statistical Communication and Dissemination

No.	Topics	Countries
14	Developing data dissemination systems and tools – to specific users, on the Web	Malaysia Sri Lanka
15	Statistical output for dissemination to information media	Philippines Sri Lanka
16	Dynamic systems on the Web	Malaysia Sri Lanka Thailand
17	Communication quality and skills	Bangladesh Malaysia Thailand
18	Documentation and archiving	Bangladesh Malaysia Nepal

Gender Statistics

No.	Topics	Countries
19	New challenges in gender statistics	Mongolia Nepal Sri Lanka
20	Measuring violence against women	Mongolia
21	Engendering household surveys: measuring poverty and access to resources	Mongolia
22	Engendering household surveys: measuring work	Mongolia
23	Development of national statistical databases on women and development	Malaysia Mongolia Sri Lanka
24	User producer dialogue on gender statistics	Malaysia Sri Lanka

Disability Statistics

No.	Topics	Countries
25	Promoting disability data collection	Bangladesh Malaysia Nepal Sri Lanka
26	Development of disability statistics	Bangladesh Malaysia Nepal Sri Lanka
27	Demonstrate disability data collection in one or two villages	Malaysia Sri Lanka
28	Practical session on discussing census disability questionnaire	Malaysia Nepal Sri Lanka
29	Specific training in disability statistics and introduce the Training Manual on Disability Statistics	Malaysia Nepal Sri Lanka
30	Learning by doing”: targeted training on census disability data collection methods and advocating for better data on disability	Malaysia Nepal Sri Lanka
31	Specific cases: detail information of implementation of ICF in several countries	Sri Lanka

International Migration

No.	Topics	Countries
32	International standard (e.g., UN Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration, Revision 1) for the compilation of migration flows from available national data sources	Bangladesh Malaysia Mongolia Sri Lanka
33	Sources of data for the collection of international migration statistics	Bangladesh Malaysia Mongolia
34	National practice on procedures for compiling international migration statistics	Bangladesh Malaysia Mongolia

Specific Population

No.	Topics	Countries
35	Enumerating nomadic populations	Mongolia
36	Development of criminal justice statistics	Indonesia Mongolia

No.

Topics

Countries

Enumerating nomadic populations

Mongolia

Development of criminal justice statistics

Indonesia

Mongolia

Cooperation

No.	Topics	Countries
37	Ways to strengthen regional cooperation in establishing joint ventures during various stages of population and housing census	Bangladesh Mongolia Nepal Sri Lanka
38	Strengthen technical cooperation between countries	Bangladesh Mongolia Nepal Sri Lanka
39	Design mechanisms for sharing best practices	Bangladesh Mongolia Nepal Sri Lanka

Advocacy

No.	Topics	Countries
40	Managing political will and public opinion in census taking	Mongolia Nepal Thailand
41	Advocacy and communication skills as a key need and a means to promote better data collection	China Nepal Philippines Thailand

No.

Topics

Countries

Managing political will and public opinion in census taking

Mongolia

Nepal

Thailand

Advocacy and communication skills as a key need and a means to promote better data collection

China

Nepal

Philippines

Thailand

Countries Related

No.	Topics	Countries
42	Countries improving in their statistical capacity in census taking	Nepal Sri Lanka
43	From census to surveys: national needs for support	Nepal
44	Participation in on-line group of experts set up by ESCAP	Bangladesh Mongolia Sri Lanka

Others

No.	Topics	Countries
45	Major commercial suppliers for data capture	Bangladesh Sri Lanka
46	Dialogue between data users and producers: understanding the mismatch	Mongolia Nepal Sri Lanka
47	Major technical challenges (e.g., electronic equipments, trained manpower, dust free environment, financial constraints)	Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka

Experts of Various Areas in Census

The main sources for obtaining possible South-South experts are recommendations from (i) UNFPA country offices, (ii) countries head/personnel in-charge of censuses, and (iii) UN ESCAP as well as list of participants attending various UN Statistical Division/UN ESCAP workshops.

Apart from South-South experts, resumes from some international experts were also obtained. The rational is that since experts in census comprised a small group of very specialized professionals, hence, the search for census experts should not be limited by geographical locations.

The list is not exhaustive, and more experts could be added to it in the future.

Countries recommended experts:

Bangladesh

1. Mr Ashim Kumar Dey [CV]

India

1. Mr Madhav Shyam [CV]

2. Mr S P Sharma [CV]

3. Dr Shiv Rai Puri [CV]

4. Ms Suman Prashar [CV]

Indonesia

1. Mr M Sairi Hasbullah [CV]

2. Mr Uzair Suhaimi [CV]