ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA AND
THE CARIBBEAN
Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean
Some Experiences
with the Planning and
Management of PHCs
GIS/Management Workshop for
2010 Round of PHCs
Port of Spain October 22-26, 2007
Planning
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Initiate Planning Activities
Updating Census Legislation
Budgeting
Sensitizing Local Authorities
Sensitizing Grassroots People
Setting up Census Committee
Census Subcommittees (questionnaire,
publicity, training, field work, data
processing etc.)
Mapping
FINAL QUESTIONNAIRE
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Be reminded it is a Population
Census i.e. Fertility, Migration &
Mortality;
Discuss urgent National data needs;
Consult the UN Manual;
Test individual questions and entire
questionnaire for smooth flow of
questions, clarity and completion
time
FINAL QUESTIONNAIRE
(cont’d)
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Most important instrument since it is
main source of data capture;
Must be user friendly and in
language that respondent
understands;
Very important that the interviewer
fully understands ALL questions in
order to explain to respondent;
Short as possible.
PUBLICITY
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Extremely essential to the conduct of a
good PHC;
However, strike correct balance – too
much could be counterproductive;
Capture essence of census in theme
song/jingle and video;
The frequency of playing and showing
jingle and video should be gradually
increased until peaks;
Aim for something ‘hot and spicy’ i.e. an
infectious rhythm that encourages dancing
PUBLICITY (cont’d)
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Census Slogan;
Town and Village Meetings;
TV and radio appearances;
Census Giveaways (T-Shirts, Pens,
Pencils, Writing Pads, Prizes for radio and
newspaper quizzes etc.)
Sensitization of Public and Private
officials;
Sensitization of Politicians (Junior and
Senior);
Appeal on Radio and TV at appropriate
time by Census Officer.
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
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Recruitment plan and policy should be
transparent;
Expect strong political pressures to
recruit ‘cronies’ but respond by having
objective process and procedures;
A training PLAN should be designed to
ensure proper training of all staff involved
in the PHC – existing, new, senior, junior,
coders/editors, supervisors, enumerators
etc.
Use different modalities of training;
Standardize training as far as possible;
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING (cont’d)
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For Fieldstaff, Training of Trainers should
first be done;
A standard training manual is
recommended and should be adapted to
suit supervisors or enumerators;
Training of both supervisors and
enumerators should be decentralized;
At least one full week of training will be
necessary – maybe even an extra day;
Training should be as interactive as
possible – trainers should be fully
conversant with process and motivating
but never boring;
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING
(cont’d)
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Develop comprehensive training
manuals;
Emphasis should be placed on the
conduct of several “Practice
Interviews”;
Emphasize the need for staff to be
fully knowledgeable of the questions
on the questionnaire and WHY they
are being asked?
Ensure tests on theory and practice;
DATA PROCESSING
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Manual editing/checking in
accordance with a written manual;
Computer editing (consistency
checks, range checks etc.);
Post data capture editing;
Data Capture: data entry or scanning
(OMR or OCR);
Data Evaluation – need for
procedural manual;
DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS
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Early dissemination promotes good
public relations;
Headcount by sex should be released
early after completion of fieldwork;
Basic descriptive report should be
done shortly after data cleaning and
evaluation;
Thematic reports should be planned
for early after enumeration phase;
Thank You