Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pilot mapping exercise in preparation for the 2020 Census of Population and Housing has started

Share

Minister of National Development Planning, Honourable Alexander Chiteme addressing Member States at the ongoing United Nations (UN) High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development themed: “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies.” Picture courtesy of Zambia Mission/WALLEN SIMWAKA
Minister of National Development Planning, Honourable Alexander
Chiteme addressing Member States at the ongoing United Nations (UN)
High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development themed:
“Transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies.” Picture
courtesy of Zambia Mission/WALLEN SIMWAKA

The Ministry of National Development Planning, through the Central Statistical Office has commenced a pilot mapping exercise throughout Lusaka and Chongwe districts, for a month in preparation for the 2020 Census of Population and Housing.

The Central Statistical Office is currently preparing to conduct the next round of the Census of Population and Housing, in August 2020. The previous Census of Population and Housing was conducted in October 2010.

The purpose of the Census is to provide a full, reliable picture of Zambia’s population and housing which includes various characteristics, i.e. demographic, social and economic data about each locality in the country.

National Development Planning Minister Alexander Chiteme said the Census of Population and housing is unique in that, it can be used to investigate small and special population groups, and provide information about small geographic units.

He said a pilot mapping exercise is a ‘dress rehearsal’ which serves to confirm the suitability of a new methodology, the introduction of innovative procedures such as Tablet-Aided geo-tagging of buildings and national infrastructure, and office delineation of Enumeration Area boundaries using satellite imagery.

Mr. Chiteme said after the pilot mapping, a thorough review of the entire mapping process will be conducted, and a full scale national mapping exercise will be rolled out to cover each and every corner of Zambia adding that the mapping exercise seeks to update the 2010 Census enumeration areas.

He explained that the exercise is basically a geographic listing process where a frame of all housing units including vacant ones, all non-residential buildings, buildings under construction, schools, health facilities, municipal water systems, wastewater treatment facilities public transit stations, warehouses and boreholes, other structures and prominent features in an area will be compiled.

“Other than the traditional administrative boundaries of Province, District, Constituency and Ward, during this exercise, the country is further subdivided into areas called Enumeration Areas (EA) for purposes of efficiently conducting surveys and censuses. To this end, it is important to know and identify the boundaries of these areas as well as the number of people and households before the main census in 2020”, He added.

Mr. Chiteme said the objectives of the Census Mapping are to compile a frame or list of all Housing Units and other structures within an enumeration area, to determine the size of the enumeration area (number of, households and persons), to enable enumerators during census to find their way within the enumeration area more easily, so that they can actually visit all Housing Units in their enumeration area and to identify all residential and non-residential structures including unoccupied, vacant and new housing units under construction.

He said other objectives are to use the gathered information to update the base maps and the geo-spatial database, to ensure that enumerators have a uniform work load in terms of households to cover during enumeration. Urban enumeration areas will range from 150-200 while rural areas will have 80-120 households and to provide the basis to estimate resources required at each administrative level e.g. personnel, materials and transport.

Mr. Chiteme said during Census Mapping exercise, the Map Data Collector will have a tablet loaded with an enumeration area map and application for capturing location and attributes data for housing units, other structures and prominent features of national interest within the enumeration area.
He added that all Map Data Collectors will wear a T-Shirt branded with a 2020 Census Logo and carry an ID card and a letter of introduction.

Mr. Chiteme has since appealed to the general public to co-operate with the map data collectors and provide them the required information when they are visited and accord them all the necessary support.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading