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Towards a Census Resource and Training Centre (CR&TC)

Sathyanarayana K.M., UNFPA India

Presented at the NAACA ConferenceBali, Indonesia

November 23-25, 2011

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Preliminary considerations

Elements of diagnosis provided here are preliminary observations based on initial dialogue

“Census” is used here as a shortcut to refer to all activities under the purview of the ORGI: Population census, regular and other surveys, data compilation, etc.

Preliminary document by US Census Bureau

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Elements for a preliminary diagnosis

Changing staff composition and anticipated training needs

Growing technical expertise in census tasks to be shared with foreign statistical agencies

Wealth of data produced, all not easily available to end users

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The nodal position of the CRTC

Internal Training

International Training Dissemination

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Comparing Census Organizations and ResourcesParent

statistical institution

Main non population activities

Dissemination Training

USA Department of

commerce

Socio-economic indicators

Data, spatial data, maps on demand, reports, briefs,

newsroom

Modules offered

JAPAN Statistical institute

Socio-economic indicators

Data, reports, brief, school materials

Attached school

BRAZIL Geo-demographic institute

Geographic surveys

Data, spatial data, maps on demand, reports, briefs,

newsroom, school materials

Attached school

FRANCE Statistical institute

Socio-economic indicators

Journals, data, reports, briefs Attached school

INDIA NoneMinistry of

Home Affairs

Ethnography, Linguistics

Data, thematic maps on demand at different

administrative levels, reports

Ad hoc

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Rapid diagnosis: internal training needsThe changing demography of the Census office– Regular flow of new recruits in the Census

organization (National Office and State directorates)– Gradual attrition of senior staff and limited inter-

division mobilityUndocumented individual expertise of senior staff

and limited mobility across divisions– Accumulated experience may be lost with the

departure of senior staff – Absence of dedicated training division– Little incentive towards teaching activities

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Rapid diagnosis: internal training needs

Anticipated changes in census technology and focal activities– ICR, hand-held devices, GPS, growing availability

of spatial informationGreater staff availability during inter-censal periods

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Rapid diagnosis: international exchanges Regular visits by foreign delegations with ad hoc

presentations– Interest expressed in specific areas of census expertise such

as GIS, ICR, PES, etc. Accumulation of undocumented experience in data

collection and processing Limited international exposures of the staff – Consultancies, study tours, international meetings

Absence of training modules of international standards

Limited cross-institutional learning (within and outside country) and sharing

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Rapid diagnosis: data dissemination

Growing need for basic, detailed and customized data– Linking of housing data with population enumeration data– Facilitating historical analysis by adjusting jurisdictional

changes/redistricting of administrative areas– Need for an integrated storage and retrieval system for

historical census data

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Rapid diagnosis: data dissemination

Growing diversity of users and needs: – academics and students: micro-data, basic tables, historical

reports etc. – decision makers, NGOs: basic tables, rapid analysis, census

documentation, thematic maps linked to GIS– School children and educationists : teaching materials

(mathematics, geography, economics etc.), child-friendly tables and analysis

– Newspersons: press-room, rapid analysis, briefs, census documentation

– Local authorities, NGOs: local data and rapid analysis, PCA data– Use of social media (Facebook/Twitter etc)

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Areas of further investigations

Comparative review of census resources

Staff structures and evolution

Demand for international training

Priorities for expanding data dissemination

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Evaluation tools: Comparative review Countries covered– Large and rich countries: USA, Brazil, Russia, China,

Indonesia, France, Japan– Main demographic data providers: UN Population

Division, UNFPA, PRB, Eurostats– SAARC countries

Domains covered– Census organization and training resources– Nature, formats and quantity of resources, data, maps

and other population-related materials shared online– Categories of data users targeted

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Evaluation tools: internal training needs Survey of the census staff

– Age and sex structure of the Census office by category and division

– Recent and anticipated recruitment flows: gains and losses Survey of needs and competencies

– Mobility of census staff (within and outside) and training programmes attended in the past three years

– Training capacities and gaps: present staff, former staff, external trainers

– Career development, progression avenues and sense of ownership

Major training modules to be developed: census tasks (present and emerging), analysis and dissemination

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Evaluation tools: international exchanges

Number of recent visits, composition of delegation, nature of specific requests and exchanges (technological watch)

Potential needs among Asian/S-S and other statistical agencies – Survey of needs

Experiences of other national institutions conducting international programmes

Training modules and organizational linkages to be developed

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Evaluation tools: data dissemination Cataloguing the existing documentation and on-line access of historical

and current data: – e-archiving of old census reports and maps– Materials already distributed on the websites – Other documentation (available with the census or outside) to be scanned or

digitized– Institutional memory

Identifying needs– Website statistics (most demanded pages and files)

Identifying formats and platforms– Usual tables, reports (PDF, XLS) and maps on websites– Micro data (anonymized) in data centers– Quick tabs, census briefs and monographs– Press materials– Educational materials for school teachers– Data for local users

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Training

International Relations

Dissemination and Communication

CRTC

Identifying synergies in capacity building

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Road map Priority areas for capacity building-enhancement

and reinforcement– Internal capacity building towards training,

dissemination, and communication Modalities for identifying experts and institutions

for training purposes– Institutional adjustment (if internal resources are to be

used) Priority domains and formats for increased

dissemination– Work stations for research on micro-data

Priority areas for international training

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Present Status

International assessment for potential demand has been completed with the help of APRO– Nine countries in the region have responded

Internal assessment and data analysis completed Draft report is being put together and will be

available by the mid of December, 2011

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Potential Demand from International Assessment

Networking of census organizations Forum for knowledge sharing Thematic areas for training:

– Post-Enumeration Survey (PES)– Cartography and GIS Mapping– Data processing – Training on demographic analysis– Training on population projections and – Training on gender tabulation and analysis– Data dissemination and development of products including

thematic mapping using GIS

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Next Steps

Finalizing the CRTC technical report Initiating the management aspects of the study Supporting the e-archiving of census documents,

micro-films and micro-fiches already initiated by IIPS, Mumbai (completed up to 1941 census)

Feasibility study on data warehousing and mining Helping ORGI in developing a basic and advanced

training module on demography and data interpretation for enhancing capacity of staff members

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Thank you

Acknowledgement

Christophe GuilmotoEna SinghChinmoy ChakravortySuman Parshar