Laptops and their accessories worth $333,562 have been donated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to the National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda, on Friday, January 21. 

They are set to be used in the National Population and Housing Census slated in August this year, and support the remote engagements of field operations using ICT tools and keeping the enumerators and respondents protected from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Conducted for the fifth time, this edition will employ more digital tools, hence these ICT equipments were long overdue, according to Yussuf Murangwa, the Director General of NISR. 

"This year’s census is going to be unique, and we are conducting it in a very difficult situation of the pandemic. So we are going to use digital tools, unlike pens, papers and pencils that we used before,” he exemplified. 

We are going to use laptops, tablets, soft wares and other digital tools that are cost-effective to collect data from respondents, therefore this support from UNFPA is of a crucial role, he noted during the ceremony. 

In previous interviews with The New Times, the statistics body had indicated that digital tools will be used replacing paper questionnaires so as to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, and avail the results in a shorter period of time. 

Kwabena Asamte-Ntiamoah, the UNFPA Country Representative in Rwanda also highlighted the importance of an effective census in the country’s economy. 

The size of the population is a critical and core aspect for the development of a country, he said, adding that it is a fundamental framework for decision making and policy planning. 

"Hence, I don’t understand why we shouldn’t be part of such a proven solution,” he replied when asked why they chose to donate the laptops. 

Apart from the Population and Housing Census, UNFPA also supports the Demographic and Health Survey, also conducted by the statistics body. 

The Population and Housing Census is the process of systematically obtaining and recording demographic, economic and social data of the country’s population at a specified time.

Unlike other data sources in which information is collected from a small sample of the residents, the Population and Housing census gets data from the entire population. 

Population and Housing Census is conducted in Rwanda every ten years.

Kwabena Asamte-Ntiamoah UNFPA Representative delivers remarks during the handover ceremony in Kigali on January 21, 2022.

Laptops and their accessories worth $333,562 have been donated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to the National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda, on Friday, January 21.

Yussuf  Murangwa Director General of NISR and Kwabena Asamte-Ntiamoah UNFPA Representative  during the handover ceremony in Kigali on January 21, 2022.