Addressing the Global Census Funding Crisis: Strategies for Sustainable Support

1. United Nations Population Fund Funding Crisis in the 2000 Round of Population Censuses Richard Leete, Chief a.i. Population and Development Branch Technical Support Division November 2001

2. International Expert Group Meeting on CensusesAims of Presentation • Case for adequate and timely national and international support for censuses • Outline of constraints experienced in 2000 census round • Ways to avoid a funding crisis in next census round

3. International Expert Group Meeting on CensusesFoundation for Good Governance • Censuses a unique data source for • Wide range of policy and planning purposes, including delineation of administrative boundaries and regional resource allocation • Population-based indicators for tracking progress towards Millennium Development Goals

4. International Expert Group Meeting on CensusesValue of Censuses • Strengths and distinctiveness • Complete stocktaking; continuity of national, local area and subgroup data; base for population projections • Without a recent census planning will be based on unreliable data with possible serious policy and resource allocation distortions

5. International Expert Group Meeting on Censuses2000 Census Round • Funding crisis - rising costs, shrinking public sector budgets, cut-backs in ODA • Several countries postponed census increasing interval since previous census beyond 10 years • Some secured funding at late stage forcing compromises in census decision-making • Others have funding gaps that have slowed post-enumeration activities, including dissemination of results • Complex crises also affected census-taking

6. International Expert Group Meeting on Censuses Census Intervals Exceeding 10 Years sub-Saharan Africa • Interval 11-12 years – actual or expected • Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda • Interval 13+ years – actual or expected • Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tanzania

7. Symposium on Population and Housing Censuses National and International Support • Sometimes unrealistic amounts allocated – donors’ expected to provide balance. But donors’ meetings not always successful - fatigue in funding yet another census • Financial and technical assistance key factor in success of past censuses. • UNFPA’s policy to limit support to countries taking first or second census and to mobilise donor support • UNFPA, in partnerships esp. with UNSD, leadership role in supporting censuses • Continuing need for technical assistance esp. in poorest countries

8. Symposium on Population and Housing Censuses Rising Costs of Censuses • Why is most costly data collection activity getting even more expensive? • High population growth, increasing by at least one third over 10 year period – more enumerators and higher honorarium • Imported labour and time-saving census data processing technology comes with high price tag • Even in industrialised countries per-capita census costs rising despite low population growth, sophisticated technology and use of other modern census methods – high advertising costs

9. Symposium on Population and Housing Censuses Main Census Costs • Census Mapsprovide basis for enumerator assignments: multiple use of maps across departments can spread costs • Population Enumeration of each individual. Costs depend on enumeration method, source of enumerators and number of questions. Sampling can reduce costs • Data Processing electronic scanning increases speed and reliability. But skills to handle it in short supply. Use of PCs for data entry can upgrade post-census capacity of NSOs

10. International Expert Group Meeting on Censuses Cost Saving Strategies • Sharing experiences between countries.Sharing activities with neighbouring countries: common census year, core questionnaire, sharing manuals, training, processing and dissemination • Supported by UNFPA in Pacific, Central Asia, and Southern Africa. Success requires political commitment and donor support • From a supply and demand perspective, census data a public good – but could exploit potential of private sector and foundation support

11. International Expert Group Meeting on Censuses A Way Forward i • Need for Census Advocacy • Assist countries advocate need for conducting censuses and securing funding within countries and donor community • Line ministries need to support efforts of NSOs in making the case to finance ministries for supporting censuses • International agencies who use census data should support UNFPA to convince donors to provide support for censuses

12. International Expert Group Meeting on Censuses A Way Forward ii • Need for Census Assessment • Assess funding issues in current round from developing countries and donors perspective • Research census costs to determine measures to reduce them • Demonstrate how to maximise timely dissemination and use of census results • UNFPA-led PARIS 21 Census Task Force as a modality for moving this agenda forward