The Sunday Mail
Government amended the Census and Statistics Act last year, to bring forward the Population and Housing Census by a year to July this year. The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) has been undertaking preparatory work for the census since 2019 and is now finalising preparations for the exercise. The Sunday Mail’s Deputy News Editor, Lincoln Towindo (LT), interviewed ZimStat director general Mr Taguma Mahonde (TM) on ZimStat’s preparedness for the exercise.
LT: Could you outline the core functions and duties of the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat)?
TM: ZimStat is a corporate body responsible for conducting the National Population and Housing Census or any other censuses and surveys.
We collect, compile, analyse, interpret, publish and disseminate statistical information on our own or in co-operation with other Government Ministries or institutions.
ZimStat also co-ordinates and supervises the National Statistical System (NSS).
We constantly develop and promote the use of statistical standards and appropriate methodologies in the National Statistical System.
As ZimStat, we are responsible for the development and maintenance of a comprehensive national statistics database.
We maintain a central business register in relation to establishments, containing such particulars as may be prescribed by the Census and Statistics Act.
Over and above these duties, we are the focal point of contact for international agencies on statistical matters and we advise the Government on all matters related to statistics.
LT: Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world, is battling the Covid-19 pandemic. How have the measures imposed to curtail the spread of the coronavirus affected the operations of ZimStat?
TM: In the past, ZimStat, was conducting face-to-face interviews when undertaking censuses and surveys on households and business establishments.
This mode of data collection has advantages in that high contact and response rates are obtained.
Alternative methods that include the postal, telephone, email and web-based interviewing, tend to have low response rates.
Some of the methods outside telephone interviewing, have no provision of prompt elaboration and clarification of questions.
With the coming of Covid-19, the face -to-face method of data collection that we have relied on since time immemorial is now under threat.
Face-to-face interview data collection methods are associated with sampling designs based on area sampling frames as opposed to alternative frames such as telephone list frames.
Currently, ZimStat is in the process of developing alternative sampling frames that suit other methods of data collection alluded to earlier.
As ZimStat, we temporarily shelved data collection and processing for a number of censuses and surveys due to the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
As a matter of fact, we lost ten months’ worth of statistics production before being granted essential service status.
LT: So how has the essential service status helped improve your operations during the lockdown period?
TM: The granting of essential service status by the Government last year was a huge relief to our operations.
We were able to resume major operations such as the 2021 Census Mapping exercise and some data processing backlogs were cleared as staff members were able to come to the office although in reduced numbers.
LT: ZimStat this year will undertake the National Population and Housing Census, can you briefly outline how far you have gone in preparing for the exercise?
TM: The Population Census exercise comprises the pre-enumeration, enumeration and post-enumeration phases.
The pre-enumeration phase is the preparatory phase, which determines the success or lack thereof of a credible census.
This is a mammoth task that requires substantial financial resources.
One of the major components of the pre-enumeration phase is the Census Mapping exercise. This entails dividing Zimbabwe into smaller geographic areas comprised of 80 to 120 households and business establishments.
It is estimated that plus or minus 40 000 such geographic units will be produced.
Currently, the Census mapping is ongoing amidst the lost time in 2020 before being granted essential service status.
Despite the current heavy rains which are affecting mobility in rural areas, the fuel shortages in early 2020 and the Covid-19 second wave, we have managed to map 45 percent of the wards in Zimbabwe.
Further, on the administrative side, we managed to set up the Inter-Ministerial Technical Census Committee (ITCC). This committee met twice in 2020.
The census questionnaire and enumerator manual are now in place. These were adopted and approved by stakeholders.
We are now finalising the development of the data collection system.
This year we will be migrating from Paper Assisted Personal Interviewing to Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing.
This entails use of tablets instead of paper questionnaires during the census enumeration. So we are in the process of installing our IT infrastructure.
LT: The census was initially scheduled to take place in 2022 before the Census Act was amended to allow for it to take place this year. Has this in any way affected your preparedness for the exercise?
TM: The change of dates has affected the key preparatory census activities.
However, we have re-strategised to ensure the attainment of a successful and credible census.
LT: In the 2021 National Budget, Treasury allocated $3,8 billion to ZimStat specifically for the census. Will this funding be adequate? If not how much additional funding is required and how will ZimStat cover the shortfall?
TM: The 2021 Population and Housing Census requires US$97 million. This amount includes the cost of personal protective equipment for our enumerators and staff.
Treasury started financing the census in 2019 when we commenced the pre-enumeration phase of the census.
More resources were availed in 2020. The $3,8 billion are additional resources. Should shortfalls be encountered then Treasury will be required to assist.
LT: For the benefit of our readers, what exactly is the purpose of a national census and how does the exercise help in furthering Zimbabwe’s development agenda?
TM: A Census provides the demographic profile of the country and seeks to answer the following three questions:
- How many are we? The Census provides the number of males and females in the country and the total population
- Who are we? The Census provides the structure of our population — distribution in terms of age and sex, educational attainment, labour force status, occupation and other critical characteristics.
- Where do we live? The census provides data on housing, access to electricity, water and other essential services.
In addition, Census data provides the facts essential to national policy making, planning and administration.
Further, it provides benchmark data for housing statistics and policies, electoral boundary delimitation, sampling frames for future surveys and data for further research among others.
The answers to these questions provide a numerical profile of a nation, that is a sine-qua-non (an essential condition) of evidence-based decision making at all levels and are indispensable for monitoring universally recognised and internationally adopted development agenda goals.
Indicators derived from the census will also help in the monitoring and evaluation process of the National Development Strategy 1, Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals.
LT: What else should we look forward to from ZimStat this year?
TM: 2021 is a year in which ZimStat commenced embarking on a modernisation agenda. Since the establishment of the then Central Statistical Office, data collection was paper-based. Results for censuses and surveys would take long to publish due to the need for coding, editing and data capturing.
For example, results for a National Census would be published 24 months after data collection. Similarly, results for a Consumer Price Survey would be published 30 days after data collection. This scenario is unsustainable especially in an environment where big data and high-frequency data are ubiquitous.
As such, ZimStat is going digital in 2021.
For the first time, inflation figures will be published in the same month of data collection. Further Census results should be available within six months.
The same applies to all other censuses and surveys. In this regard, we remain committed to transforming ZimStat into a world-class producer of official information and services in a timely fashion.
