GSS Is Ready For The Conduct Of The 2021 PHC in Ghana: You Count, Get Counted – Prof S. K. Annim

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The government statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim has revealed the preparedness of the Ghana Statistical Service to conduct the 2021 Population and Housing Census.

Delivering his speech today at Alisa Hotel at the launch of the upcoming census, he revealed the status of the institution and their readiness to conduct a credible census.

He therefore urged all Ghanaians to get involved with the slogan; You Count, Get Counted!

Below is a speech delivered by the experienced government statistician;

CENSUS IMPLEMENTATION: STATUS AND UPCOMING KEY ACTIVITIES

SAMUEL KOBINA ANNIM – GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN

His Excellency, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Honourable Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah,
Honourable Ministers and Members of Parliament,
Chairman and members of the Ghana Statistical Service Governing Board,
Directors and Staff of the Ghana Statistical Service,
Development Partners,
Civil Society Organizations,
Private Sector Stakeholders,
Representatives of the Religious Communities
Representatives of MMDAs and other Public Sector Stakeholders,
Our Partners from the Media Fraternity,
Distinguished Invited Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and kindly accept my deepest appreciation for making time to join the Launch of the 100 days to the 2021 Population and Housing Census Night. My role in this event is to provide the status of the Census implementation and highlight some key upcoming activities.

By the time, this year’s Census Night arrives, census implementation activities would have been ongoing for almost three years. In this three-year period, GSS with support from census partners, has been building systems, pooling together diverse expertise, mobilising resources, and testing and documenting strategies for the conduct of a successful census. These engagements have ensued with the guidance of the National Census Steering Committee, National Committee for Publicity, Education and Advocacy, National Census Technical Advisory Committee and the Board of the Ghana Statistical Service. For the day-to-day undertaking of the census preparatory activities, seven workstreams comprising Census Mapping; Census Methodology; Information Technology and Data Processing; Logistics and Finance; Monitoring and Evaluation; Post Enumeration Survey; and Publicity, Education and Advocacy were constituted.
Ladies and Gentlemen, until recent times, preparations towards the conduct of Ghana’s 2020-round of Population and Housing Census (PHC) have been characterised by multifaceted and deep internal and external uncertainties leading to a shift in the decennial programme. Following a process audit of the census preparation at different times, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) have had justifying reasons for postponements. While the postponements rendered frustrations and doubts about the commitment of Government to undertake the Census, the period indeed, offered immeasurable opportunities to further build and inject census-related technological systems, integrate wide range of data resources both in-country and abroad and co-live with the demands of COVID-19.

The presentation on the status of the Census implementation will initially focus on the key accomplishments that are directly linked to the dual goals of a census undertaking which are complete coverage and quality data. This will be followed by a status presentation on the achievements of the indispensable role of publicity, education and advocacy and quality assurance.

The first overarching objective of complete coverage, which aligns perfectly with the leave no one behind agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals, necessitated the demarcation of the country into small areas to facilitate the identification of all structures and other places where people sleep at night. Today, we have completed this assignment leading to the development of the Census Geography of Ghana where we have identified 131,739 localities, 51,921 enumeration areas, 11,020 supervisory areas in our 260 districts and 16 regions. Further to ensuring complete coverage, I will only articulate six other key milestones in the interest of time:

Established working partnerships at the Census production units by inaugurating and sensitizing Regional and District Census Implementation Committees.
Recruited District Census Officers in all the 272 Statistical Districts.
Received over 170,000 applications with representation for the 131,739 localities for the position of field enumerators and supervisors.
Developed the Census slogan which strives to achieve inclusivity and collective ownership of the census, hence the phrase You Count, Get Counted.
Integrated external data resources specifically area geometry, accessibility, population and building footprints to provide benchmark assessment of completeness.
Developed, tested an integrated dynamic geo-spatial resources specifically interactive maps and overlaying of google maps to ensure near real-time identification of gaps during field data collection.

Ladies and gentlemen, the second principal objective – quality data – has received tremendous attention as it further engenders the complete coverage and remains fundamental in reaping the expected returns of the evidence-based decision making. Technological injection, digitalization and enhanced training have anchored the reach of the intended key milestones needed to ensure the production of quality data. Six of such key milestones are as follows:

Developed and tested an online multi-tier system for checking accuracy of data during data collection. These are use of in-built consistency checks in the computer assisted programme for interview; introduction of a system of downloading data during the data collection and running checks for accuracy, use of dashboard to match data with expected values and permissible thresholds and generaion of reports on a comparison between interviews than by enumerators and supervisors.
Introduced three levels of complementary training at the levels of trainers and two at the level of enumerators and supervisors. These are self-learning, live virtual and face-to-face training.
Improved, increased access and broadened the scope of training resources through the involvement of academics from four of our public universities and practitioners to produce the finalized questionnaires, field officers’ manual, trainers guide, power point presentations, videos and audios.
Increased the number, widened the scope and automated the modes of assessment to ensure selection of both knowledgeable and committed field staff for data collection.
Completed training of Master Trainers
Conducted three Trial Censuses.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the past three years, we have endeavoured to create awareness, engaged to ensure clarity on the processes and relevance, worked towards the building of partnerships and established protocols for achieving ownership and participation. Our work in the domain of publicity, education and advocacy have led to the following milestones:

Developed the 100 uses of the census data as a results advocacy strategy
Institutionalized the regular production of the quarterly newsletter series
Conducted Census Seminar to showcase the innovations and the expected outputs of the 2021 PHC.
Sensitized media across all three ecological zones using our Census Media Kit
Engaged kids during the Christmas festivity
Held a development partners forum to share importance of the census data and solicit for strategic partnerships.

Lastly on the status of the census implementation is the milestones for quality assuring the products that are and will emerge from the conduct of the 2021 PHC. The Census undertaking includes a Post Enumeration Survey which occurs just after the main Census data collection to offer a check on the reliability of the exercise. The GSS has successfully undertaken two Trial Post Enumeration Surveys in preparation for the main exercise.

His Excellency, the Vice President of the Republic, Hon. Minister for Information, Ladies and Gentlemen, permit me to turn to the next steps, where in the interest of time, I highlight only five major activities, as these upcoming undertakings are expressly stated in the documents shared and on our various online platforms.

Loading of applications and census materials on the tablets will begin Monday, 22nd March 2021. This activity is pivotal to the census undertaking and it is expected to be completed by end of April 2021.

The next major activity is the screening of the 170,000 enumerators and supervisors, which will go through a four-step process. Telephone screening which will entail calling all the over 170,000 applicants; verifying authenticity of certificates to be done by our District Census Officers; in-person interviews to be conducted by the District Census Implementation Committee and on-site selection based on basic knowledge of the census instruments and operations from the self-learning exercise. These steps eliminate on-site recruitment of field enumerators and officers. Management of GSS seizes this opportunity to expressly advise applicants to desist from the payment of any fees to persons purporting to work for the Service and requesting for funds to facilitate their engagement in the 2021 PHC. To state categorically, registration and selection of field officers for the 2021 PHC does not require the payment of money to any person.

Ladies and Gentlemen, following completion of the self-learning and live virtual training of the National Trainers, the in-person engagement is expected to commence in the first week of April, followed by live virtual training and subsequently face-to-face training of the Regional Trainers. The engagement of the Regional Trainers will run concurrently with the self-learning of the 75,000+ field enumerators and supervisors as they prepare for the in-person training ahead of the listing of structures and enumeration.

The fourth major activity is to consciously move the census preparation to the ground operatives, this involves handing over roles and responsibilities to the Regional and District Census Implementation Committees and deploying and distributing logistics. In the case of the former, Management of GSS in collaboration of the Office of the Head of Local Government Services, will be organizing a webinar session for all Regional Coordinating Directors exactly a week from today. The Service has initiated the process to collaborate with the Ghana Armed Forces and the Electoral Commission for the deployment and distribution of the logistics to all the 272 statistical districts.

The fifth key activity is intensification of publicity, education and advocacy as being witnessed today. In the document to be launched by His Excellency, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, in the next few minutes, daily publicity, education and advocacy activities have been earmarked to ensure that every person in Ghana is aware of the basics of the census as shared with and is committed to participate to ensure a successful conduct of the 2021 PHC. I start the process by providing an exposition of the concepts census night, census reference data and census data which are used interchangeable. Technically, it is the specific point in time to which all enumeration refers. However, practically, a Census Night – a 12-hour duration comprising the six (6) hours before and after the Census Night date – will be used to approximate the Census date in order to provide a ‘snapshot’ of Ghana’s population on this date. Thus, all enumeration will refer to the Census Night. The scheduled fourteen-day duration of data collection which starts the evening of the Census Night date is referred to as the Census period. The enumeration will be preceded with the listing of all structures which has been scheduled to start two weeks before the Census Night date.

His Excellency, the Vice President of the Republic, Hon. Minister for Information, Ladies and Gentlemen, with the securing of all logistics and finalization of all systems and trial censuses, GSS is ready for the conduct of the 2021 PHC and says to every person in Ghana: You Count, Get Counted. I conclude by reiterating the appreciation of the entire Census operational team and humbly request for your sustained engagement through the offering of your ambassadorial services for the Census campaign and strategic partnership for resource mobilization.

Thank you.

By: Nana Gyasi | Radio 1 | Ghana