Even small improvements in technology deployed during a national census can result in important gains in the quality and cost-effectiveness of the whole process. It is in this context that the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) deployed advanced technology in the ongoing national and population census that started on August 16.The census which will end on August 30 is the fifth to be conducted in Rwanda and the first to embrace higher use of technology.Deploying technology in mappingCensus mapping has made great strides in the last few decades, from an activity requiring extensive fieldwork and manual drawing to one using remote sensing and computer-assisted map production.According to Venant Habarugira, the Director of the Census Department at NISR, during census mapping, the institution used satellite images that provided georeference of the country’s infrastructure — something he said they built on to map the entire country and count households in every village.He said that they also mapped schools, hospitals, government offices, among other infrastructures that are important for growth of the country.Tackling the reason why they also took Global Positioning System(GPS) coordinates of households, he said it helped them to display density of population in Rwanda.Considering buildings that are in a particular area, the population density number can now be displayed unlike before when we used to shade a particular part of the country on a map and indicate that it is densely populated, he said. Today, we have georeference points that show areas that are densely populated, and one can even count them because the satellite image we have is in high resolution.Enumerators monitoringGeographic information system (GIS) technology is being used in population and housing census to generate maps for enumeration and data presentation purposes.According to Habarugira, a person in charge can now monitor the movements of enumerators, the households they have so far enumerated and those they hadn't enumerated yet, while at NISR headquarters.It no longer requires one to be on the field to follow enumerators. When you use this technology, you can see how they are working, he said. “We can monitor the discipline of enumerators; those who worked or didn't and the households that they enumerate daily.Data collectionHabarugira said that enumerators use an android application named CS Pro during data collection.He noted that according to an answer an enumerator enters, the application leads them to the next question linked to it while before, when they were using hard questionnaires, an enumerator had to first understand the logic behind the question, who had to reply to it and a question that would follow next.“There are mistakes that were made by enumerators when they were using papers that cannot be done today with the use of technology. This has reduced the time they take to interview a family and has improved data quality because if, for example, a child is not going to be asked questions related to fertility, the system won’t let an enumerator make such an error,” he said.Habarugira also noted that the time it would take NISR to manually enter collected data in computers was much, declaring that today, data is automatically saved to NISR after being submitted which he said will help the institution to announce provision results from the census by December 2022 instead of waiting for a year or two like they used to.He added: We only announced the number of population but this time, we will also share numbers regarding other indicators such as education, work, housing characteristics, among others so that they can start being used in national planning.Habarugira also mentioned that technology reduced cost in terms of printing questionnaires, using less workers as well as time, adding that even though smartphone enumerators are using are expensive, they have been used for three months now and will continue being used for other public interests.He noted that to submit data, an enumerator has to be connected to the internet but can enter data while offline and connect to the internet later. Someone can work the whole day and at night go to a place with the internet and send, he said.Listing and enumerators selectionAccording to Habarugira, technology was also embraced in listing phase of the census where enumerators updated information regarding new households in a certain area.He declared that technology was also used in recruiting enumerators where an application would automatically mark them and display their results, adding that it was also used in Human Resources to prepare payrolls and for collecting different information of census employees.Online questionnaire for Rwandans in diasporaNISR is also enumerating the Rwandan community living abroad including diplomats and Rwandans in diaspora.Habarugira said they have worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations (MINAFFET) to prepare an online web-based questionnaire with basic questions which they are filing.Information they are providing reflect their family members, age, sex and education and according to Habarugira, they will help NISR to know a small profile about Rwandans in diaspora to inform national planning so that all Rwandans can be involved in the development of the country.
