-Caricom urges region

Caricom is urging the region’s populace to “stand up and be counted” as the 2010 Census exercises start across the Caribbean Community as the data informs policy-makers about  how to plan social services.

Barbados and The Bahamas started their 2010 Population and Housing Census in the first week this month, with six other member states expected to begin their nationwide surveys shortly. Barbados marked its Census date, May 1, with a street parade to inform residents about the exercise and to galvanise them to become fully involved, Caricom said in a press release. Census activities in The Bahamas started with the swearing-in of field workers last Monday. Canvassing of households started the following day.

Caricom said member states have taken a regionally-coordinated approach to the 2010 Census and have agreed to common elements on the Census forms to be used by enumerators. “Harmonised training, common methodologies and common dissemination tools are also part of the Regional Census Strategy,” it added. The rationale behind the use of a regionally-coordinated Census is to enable uniformity and comparability in the data collected and to have a common platform for monitoring and evaluating developments across countries, the release said. The common approach would also result in greater cost effectiveness.

The Regional Census Strategy has benefited from the financial and technical support from international development partners such as the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).  In New Providence, The Bahamas, last week UNSD Director-General Paul Cheung, Caricom Project Director, Regional Statistics Dr Philomen Harrison, Director-General, Statistical Institute of Jamaica Sonia Jackson, Director, Statistics Department of Suriname Iwan Sno, Director, Statistics Department, Trinidad and Tobago Dave Clement, Director, Statistics Department, Saint Lucia Edwin St. Catherine all joined Director, of The Bahamas Department of Statistics Kelsie Dorrsett to rally the  Community to cooperate during the exercise.

In his address at a media briefing Cheung said about 70 countries were conducting censuses this year and another 60 would do theirs in 2011, covering some three billion people. By 2014, he said, the majority of the world’s population should be counted.

Dr Harrison told the media that the Census would provide the data necessary for the accelerated and sustained growth of the Region, one of the overarching goals of the integration movement. The Census, she said, was a critical source of information that would direct policy-makers on how to design social services to cater to the needs of the populace, for example, where to build a school or construct a road.
Challenges

The Census is not without its challenges.  Sonia Jackson, Director General Statistics Institute of Jamaica, pointed out that there was usually a level of apathy associated with the exercise, and that matters of trust and confidentiality were among the concerns of the populace, the release said. Jackson assured the public that field workers were well trained to collect the information and were easily recognized by identification cards and, in the case of The Bahamas, clearly marked vests and paraphernalia, including satchels. She also advised that the information gathered was for use of the Census only and that the Statistics Act in each country made provision for punishment for the release of Census information to unauthorized sources.

Access to communities, including gated ones which had mushroomed in the Region, was also another challenge that field workers must deal with. Solutions include making appointments to visit those locations.

Population and Housing Censuses are conducted every ten years. All Caricom member states should complete the exercise by 2011 except Haiti, which will have its count done in 2013.