Thursday 25 April 2024
Southern Region Census workshop attendees at Koitaki Country club in Sogeri Central Province.
The National Population Census 2024 through the Office of the National Statistics, has begun hosting regional population census workshops across the country.
The first workshop was held in Jiwaka Province from 22 – 26 April 2024 for the Highlands region at the Jiwaka Mission Resort in North Waghi district.
Participants came from Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Jiwaka, Western Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands and Hela Provinces.
Provincial Administrator for Jiwaka Rick Kogen was grateful to the National Statistical Office for conducting the workshop in Jiwaka.
“Jiwaka was the first province in the Highlands to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the National Statistical Office few months ago and we are ready to conduct the Census in our province.”
” The current figures of our population that is used by the Government is outdated and obsolete and so we need the exact population figures for our development planning, therefore we must support this years Census,” he said.
” It will help the government to plan wisely, and to help with the budgetary process and resource allocation for our people,” said Mr Kogen.
National Statistician John Igitoi said the main reasons for bringing the Provincial officers to the workshops will help them understand various preparatory activities and process.
“This will also guide, coordinate and synchronized the operations in the province in a more coherent and synergistic way, keep them abreast of what is expected from them and how best they can respond to challenges and issues and send same publicity messages across to everyone on the purposes of the Census.”
The participants in the region comprised, Provincial planners, HR managers, finance and ICT officers.
Mr. Igitoi said the census operation will be conducted in the provinces , adding, it is therefore critical, that the provinces must at the beginning be involved in the preparatory activities lead-up to the actual enumeration in June.
The outline of the Census preparatory activities are as follows:
– Coordination structure and protocols with respective guiding TORs
– Delineation and mapping of the Enumeration Areas( EAs) and identifying accessible vs inaccessible units attached with costs and logistics.
– Recruitment and training strategies
– Data capture and transfer.
– Financial plan, strategy and management
– Memorandum of Agreement with NSO and provinces.
– Publicity and awareness.
Mr. Igitoi has appealed to everyone to cooperate, be responsible, be knowledgeable of what the Census number is for and must be part of the exercise.
” It is about you, me and all of us across the country.” he added.
Regional workshop for Census in Southern and New Guinea Islands (NGI) regions have been successfully completed, while the Momase regional workshop is currently in progress.
Deputy Director for Census Josiah Joseph said that the 2024 National Population Census is a National Government sanction event that requires collective collaboration of all Provincial Government including all stakeholders to conduct a successful Census in June this year.
Jiwaka Provincial Administrator Rick Kogen and National Statistician John Igitoi at the opening of the Highlands region Census workshop in Jiwaka Province.