Sierra Leone Gears Up for Census 2015

Peter Bangura, census field operations coordinator
More than 13,000 enumerators for Sierra Leone’s Population and Housing Census begin a week’s training Monday, November 23rd, Statistics Sierra Leone has announced.

The army of temporary workers across Sierra Leone will be trained on the use of census instruments like the household questionnaire, manuals, GIS, and digitization. Each enumerator is assigned to one enumeration area of about 100 households to complete in two weeks.

Deployment will start shortly after training for the head count of all Sierra Leoneans, which will run December 5th to 18th, according to a statement from the Census Bureau.

In the districts, training will be done at chiefdom level whilst centers in various zones within the Western Area will be used for the same purpose.

The provinces of Sierra Leone are divided into 14 districts. The Western Area is divided into two districts. Sierra Leone's capital Freetown is located in the Western Area of the country and it makes up the Western Area Urban District.

The 2015 Census is the 5th modern census ever conducted in Sierra Leone. Ninety-eight percent of mapping data has been digitized and ready for enumeration area maps preparation and printing, the census field operation officer said.

Peter Bangura, a director of demographics and social statistics, who is also census field operations coordinator, said the 2015 census is designed to provide information for planning and monitoring government’s development framework.

The questionnaire comprise seven sections of household identification, population characteristics, housing facilities, ownership of durables, agriculture, deaths and the socio-economic impacts of the Ebola outbreak.

Bangura noted that anyone who spent Census Night (December 4) in the country will be counted.

After the data collection slated to take place 5th – 18th December, a post enumeration survey will be conducted to measure coverage rates and data quality, Bangura said.

The release of provisional and final results of the census will be in March and December 2016 respectively.

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