Two weeks of intense training for 54 persons who will function as Area Coordinators during the upcoming 2022 Population and Housing Census has commenced, the Bureau of Statistics said in a press release yesterday.
This Area Coordinators’ exercise is the commencement of what will be a larger programme that will include supervisors and enumerators. Upon completion of their training, these Area Coordinators, under the supervision of Bureau personnel, will return to their respective regions to train the supervisors. The Bureau said in its release that a training-of-trainers approach will be utilized, with the supervisors then being integrally involved in the training of enumerators.
Chief Statistician, Errol La Cruez, in his address to the Area Coordinators, stressed the important role they will play in ensuring the success of this vast exercise, which is being planned for commencement in mid-September. He explained that the Census, Guyana’s largest data collection exercise, provides not only an accurate count of the population, but also other critical information on its demographics, including gender, age structure, educational attainment and fertility.
This information, the Bureau’s press release said, is in high demand by a range of persons, including policy makers, the private sector and students. Even as the training of Area Coordinators is underway at the Bureau’s Head office in Georgetown, there is continued screening of applicants from across all regions for the supervisor and enumerator positions.
The Census is conducted every 10 years. La Cruez emphasized the need for accurate, unbiased, reliable, timely, quality information which will guide decision making for the development of the country over the next 10 years. Positing that data is as valuable if not more valuable than gold, the release also stated that the Chief Statistician pointed out that the Census will see every occupied community in Guyana being visited. Guyana’s population count in 2012 stood at 746,955, a decline from the previous census in 2002 which saw a count of 751,223.
La Cruez encouraged the Area Coordinators to ensure that the Census Personnel under their supervision understand the importance of the Census and the value of the data which it will produce.
