Enumerators begin door-to-door exercise as national census begins

Different enumerators deployed by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) are collecting information from Rwandans across the country as part of the ongoing national population and housing census. Among the initial families to be enumerated on Tuesday, August 16, included the First Family, where President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame received in their enumerators and answered a set of questions that have been designed for the census. The enumerators of the First Family were led by Yusuf Murangwa, the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), which is spearheading the process. The census which will run until August 30 is the fifth to be conducted in Rwanda the since first one was conducted in 1978. The government usually conducts this kind of census every decade to update demographic, social, economic and cultural characteristics of the population. Dressed in a khaki half jacket whose front side is emblazoned with the national Coat of Arms and the NISR logo, Phillippe Nzambazimana, an enumerator working in Rukiri I, Remera Sector in Gasabo District, was welcomed by Marie Louise Uwicyeza at her home at around 2:52 p.m. Uwicyeza led him to her living room, and they sat on the couches. Nzambazimana introduced himself, declared that he was sent by NISR to collect information in the ongoing population and housing census before sharing with Uwicyeza the benefits of the exercise and a brief about the kind of information he was looking for. Uwicyeza nodded with ease before Nzambazimana started asking her different questions of which she replied to. The questions reflected household location, characteristics of household members, health and housing as well as farming activities. They referred to the census night of August 15 leading to 16 as expected. Nzambazimana recorded all the responses via a system that is installed in his smartphone and submitted them to the NISR server. The interaction between him and Uwicyeza lasted about 30 minutes. After the activity, Uwicyeza said that she freely and accurately provided information about her household, saying that it will help NISR get enough as well as updated information about the Rwandan population for proper planning. She urged Rwandans to provide accurate and complete information, declaring that it will also help enumerators to deliver correct information reflecting different households in Rwanda. Nzambazimana, the enumerator, was tasked to enumerate the part of Gisimenti in Remera Sector which he said contains over 110 households. When he last spoke to The New Times at around 3:00p.m, he had enumerated six households. He said it is taking him between 10 to 40 minutes to enumerate a household depending on the number of family members. The challenges include people who take long to open the gate when he knocks or do not open at all – given that Tuesday is a workday and some had gone to work. He said that what he does is call them and schedule appointment at night when they are available. Nzambazimana also urged Rwandans to welcome enumerators and make them feel at home. “When you hear someone knocking, go and check because it might be an enumerator. To those who go to work early in the morning; they can give us an appointment to meet them some time after,” he said. When he finished enumerating Uwicyeza’s family, he approached a wall of her house and captured its GPS coordinates by using a specific program installed in his phone. “That is how I confirm that I arrived here and did my job,” he said.

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Enumerators begin door-to-door exercise as national census begins