Status of Census in Region in focus at special meeting
With just a year left to complete the 2020 Round of Population and Housing Census, a special meeting of the Regional Census Coordinating Committee (RCCC) is underway in Trinidad and Tobago.
The second special meeting of the RCCC on 12 and 13 July, will take account of the challenges that countries are facing to complete the census; consider best practices, lessons learned; and how efforts could be consolidated to expedite the processes. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start of the census in the Caribbean with the Region launching its census exercises on 3 August 2021. To offset the realities of the pandemic, the Region initiated the use of Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing or a hybrid, including paper questionnaires, Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing and Computer Assisted Web Interviewing.
In remarks at the opening of the meeting, Officer in Charge of Statistics at the CARICOM Secretariat, Mr. Halim Brizan, highlighted the more than four decades of a regionally-coordinated approach to census-taking in CARICOM, and said the meeting has added significance as the Region seeks to “finish census strong”.
He noted that a census of a country’s population and housing provides a full count and gives a comprehensive account of everyone who lives there and the homes they reside in. It is the cornerstone of every country’s National Statistical System. For most countries, especially in the CARICOM region, a census is one of the biggest, most expensive, most complex and most important statistical operation executed by the National Statistical Offices.
“… our meetings of the RCCC ensure greater harmonisation of the census results and that we all benefit from the sharing of knowledge, challenges, lessons-learnt and best practices. In light of the prevailing challenges with the Population and Housing Census, this 2nd (special) RCCC meeting takes on added significance as we seek to finish census-strong in the Region. Hence, in giving status updates countries are expected to clearly highlight challenges encountered, those that were resolved and how they were resolved, as well as detailing the support required for successful completion among other things,” he said.
Mr. Brizan used the opportunity to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
“This meeting is very symbolic coming on the heels of the 45th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM and the celebration of our Golden Jubilee as a Community. The role of the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statistician, of which the Regional Census Coordinating Committee is a part, embodies the spirit of CARICOM and supports its four pillars of economic integration, foreign policy coordination, human and social development, and security,” he told statisticians and other stakeholders at the meeting.
He encouraged participants to go forward in the true spirit of CARICOM, as articulated in the words of one of our founding fathers, Dr. Eric Williams, “All our strength is in union, All our danger is in discord.”
The Thirtieth Meeting of the CARICOM Advisory Group on Statistics (AGS) preceded the special RCCC Meeting
Source: CARICOM TODAY