11 Jul 2019

Population census ensures the country continues in its trajectory of evidence-based decision making.

Statistician general, Dr Burton Mguni, said this in Gaborone at a stakeholders consultative workshop aimed at preparing for the 2021 population and housing census.

Dr Mguni said consultative processes gave statistics users and producers an opportunity to suggest possible topics to include in the census.

“Such consultations have proved to be an efficient and transparent way of determining the demand for census topics required to provide information in achieving national development goals as well as national and international development agendas,” he said.

He indicated that topics discussed at the workshop would feed into the process of questionnaire development to be used in creating baseline indicators for the census.

He underscored the importance of consultation, explaining that indicators for national, regional and international development agendas provided a basis for including new topics or expanding those that were already on the list.

“Thereafter, the final agreement on the draft list of topics for the 2021 population and housing census will undergo approval processes by government,” he added.

Furthermore, Dr Mguni stated that Botswana had conducted five censuses since independence, showing government’s commitment and that of affiliated organisations such as the United Nations Populations Fund Agency (UNFPA).

He said government, as a major user of statistical data, benefited more from censuses by gaining an upper-hand in policy and programme formulation as well as monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes with the aim to improve people’s living standards.

He also acknowledged that the magnitude of the exercise meant that the census collected information on many topics thus baseline data provided was limited in its depth of inquiry.

He, however, revealed that many of the salient features and emerging developmental issues were followed up through the Statistics Botswana inter-censal programme of both household and research surveys by different institutions and individuals.

“These surveys and researches provide a platform for further and deeper inquiries on issues arising from the census data,” he said.

Dr Mguni also said Botswana was following suit in the global technological trend of utilising technology advancements to enhance the quality of data and the speed towards disseminating results.

“We are already utilising the Smart Client software for cartographic mapping and the preparations to use Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) for enumeration,” he said. ENDS