This is important because the quality of data is superior when using tablets for data collection. There are built-in edits that stop an enumerator [a person who collects census data] from entering information incorrectly. For instance, if a household has said early in the interview that they have a child who is 9 years old, and then when answering questions on education of household members, the parents say the person is in college, the enumerator will be stopped from entering that information by the census application—they will be forced to go back and verify the age of the child and until they correct it, they cannot proceed. Similarly, enumerators do not have to remember the skip patterns on the questions once the household roster is complete. The census application will automatically display questions appropriate for the age or sex universe. So, for example for all women between ages 15-49 the census application will guide enumerators to ask fertility questions. Similarly, the literacy question may be displayed for all people 5 years of age and above.
Malawian NSO experts worked with the U.S. Census Bureau team to provide actionable lessons-learned retrospectives that have already been applied in other censuses, including the Zambia 2020 Census pilot. U.S. Census Bureau staff worked with the Zambian team to improve enumerator tablet training exercises based on the Malawian experience. This retrospective also allowed the Zambian NSO to design tablet data export procedures to avoid specific challenges that the Malawians had already encountered and solved.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s International Programs helps build the capacity of NSOs across all census operations—planning and management, mapping, questionnaire design and testing, publicity, field operations, data capture, data processing, data analysis, dissemination and sampling, and post-census evaluation.
Question: What is the extent of support by the U.S. Census Bureau to the countries you work with?
Answer: Our engagement with countries depends on the support (funds) we receive, since our work is entirely reimbursable. Our scope of assistance depends on the request by the country for training and the availability of resources to support our technical assistance. USAID country missions are one of our major sponsors, especially in USAID global health priority countries.
Question: Any final thoughts on the work of the U.S. Census Bureau in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mali, and Namibia?
Answer: All these countries can build their capacity to collect high quality data with case-specific tailored support and technical assistance that considers their strengths and the areas where there are opportunities for growth. The importance of “soft” skills including program management, institutional knowledge building, and training are all just as important as highly technical statistical techniques. Along with those skills, acknowledgement of governance issues—and transparently addressing any issues—is critical to the success of a census. The Malawi census worked well because of strong leadership at the NSO and commitment from the government in the face of the myriad normal challenges that will always appear during an undertaking as massive as a national census.