Over 20,000 recruited for national census

The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) has recruited 24,426 officials, including computer experts, statisticians, specialists and trainers to ensure the smooth running of the forthcoming National Populations and Housing Census.The officials will be teamed in groups and dispersed countrywide to conduct door-to-door counting in the nationwide survey that will kick off on August 15, 2012.The United Nations dictates that a national census should be carried out at least every ten years; Rwanda’s first general housing and population census was conducted in 1970, and this will be the fourth time it is carried out, the latest having taken place in 2002.“We have high hopes in the forthcoming survey and want everything to run as smoothly and as professional as we want to be. Every Rwandan will be counted and their iving conditions understood, so us to guide national policies on welfare,” Yusuf Murangwa the Director General of NISR said yesterday during a press conference.“With less than 30 days to go before we kick-off, we call upon all people to be ready to be counted. We need to get the clearest picture of the Rwanda’s achievements against challenges and find out which communities need more reinforcement.”The Coordinator of General Population and Housing Census, Prosper Mutijima, added that the findings will give the institute capacity to guide both the public and private sector on initiatives aimed at raising people’s living standards.“Data quality is paramount to NISR and therefore, we have trained officials on how to efficiently use the modern survey tools to collect data and supervise fieldwork operations. The house-to-house census will generate crucial data for measuring socio-economic progress and guide national policymaking,” Mutijima said.“450 of the recruits are trained in ICT skills to computerize the findings of the survey, a process that will take up to eight months. We also have specialized teams which will focus on special-need groups like orphans, widows and people with disabilities.”The census has a budget of Rwf16.5 billion and its final results are expected to be announced by the institute in 2014.