09 Feb 2022

Training of supervisors for the population and housing census scheduled for next month is one of the most critical milestones in the implementation of the exercise.

“It signals the materialisation of the long awaited third field implementation of the project after the first, which was the cartographic exercise and the second, being the pilot census,” says Francistown District Commissioner Ms Chabongwa Matseka.

Speaking during the training, Ms Matseka said the cartographic exercise was from 2019 to 2021 while the pilot phase was conducted in October 2021.

The main census was initially scheduled for 2021 but was postponed to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Matseka explained that census taking was enshrined in the Constitution of Botswana under Section 64 and 65 as an important project for facilitating a foundation for democratic representation.

The census, she said,  was one of the inputs into the delimitation commission responsible for demarcating constituency  and council ward boundaries.

 A 10-yearly excercise,  the last census was conducted in 2011.

The aspiring supervisors were informed that they would undergo two weeks of intensive training following which a test would be administered to select suitable candidates.

Numbering 384, they heard that regional requirements totalled 322 who would be selected based on best performance.

Requirements per region are Francistown 64, Masunga 50, Tonota 45, Sowa four, Tutume 74, Bobonong 57 and Selebi Phikwe 28.

She advised participants  to be attentive  during training sessions, attend to exercises and assignments, read the enumerators manual and seek clarification where necessary.

In addition, she said, from the number selected as supervisors, some would be appointed trainers for  enumerators while the rest would serve as support staff.

Ms Matseka said a supervisor would be assigned 4-5 enumerators while supervisors would be working under the direct supervision of census technical and district officers.

The supervisor, she said, would be responsible for ensuring that all dwellings in the assigned enumeration area were visited, all households interviewed and all people counted.BOPA