Presented By ‘Matsotang Tsietsi

1. Lesotho 2006 Census Data Processing4th Africa Symposium on Statistical Development, 09 – 13 February, 2009, Luanda, Angola Presented By ‘Matsotang Tsietsi

2. Objectives of This Presentation Sharing Lesotho’s experience in processing data for the 2006 census. For Africa to decide on the proper methods to be adopted on processing of the census data. That is choosing between the manual data processing and the use of the modern technology, scanner.

3. The Outline of the Presentation This presentation is divided into five sections Background information Methods of processing the Lesotho 2006 census data Challenges Where we are now Summary

4. Background Information Lesotho conducted Population and Housing Census on the 13th April 2006. The enumeration covered the whole country, the ten districts, 80 constituencies, 120 community councils, 4 agro -ecological zones and the urban and rural areas. The constituencies were also divided into enumeration areas, and those were 4,250 and the same figure represented the number of the enumerators engaged.

5. Background Information Con.. After data collection for census had been completed, and all the census materials had been retrieved from the field, manual compilation of data for the production of the census preliminary results commenced. Although this process was hindered by different post census activities, the process was completed in July 2007.

6. Methods of Data Processing There were two methods Lesotho had to choose from when entering the 2006 census data, that is the scanning and the manual data entry. The use of scanning method was the first choice as Lesotho had used it successfully, with minimal problems, for processing data for the 2002 Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire Survey (CWIQ), for which we got funding and technical assistant from the World Bank. We also used the scanner during the 2006 census Pilot. During CWIQ survey, the questionnaires were retrieved from the field and scanned as soon as they reach the headquarters. Hence this reduced the problem of damaged Questionnaires.

7. Methods of Data Processing… CWIQ however was a sample survey and had covered only 6,780 households, as such it was manageable data. During the main census data entry, the questionnaires were not as clean as they were handled by many hands, eg. While preparing for the release of the census preliminary results, extracting the population 17 years and above for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and during the editing and coding exercise. Two scanners were purchased from the Republic of South Africa (RSA), and processing of the census data commenced in September 2006 after the release of the census preliminary results.

8. Methods of Data Processing (Cont.) The two softwares of CSpro and Teleform were used during the scanning exercise, and four of our IT personnel were trained for these softwares in RSA. For the questionnaires which were not visible for the scanner, because of its sensitivity, or were band at the corners during packaging, the manual data entry method was adopted. In February 2008,realising the problems encountered with the scanning method, the BOS resorted to the manual data entry in march, and this activity was completed in July 2008. At that time three of the ten districts had been completely scanned, while two were partially scanned.

9. Challenges Scanning of the census data was chosen by Lesotho because it was known to be faster than the manual data entry, as such, it speeds up the process of releasing the census results. It took Lesotho five years to release the 1976 and 1986 census results. However, the results of the 1996 census were released within two years. Since the scanners were bought from RSA, it follows that its maintenance also was not within the country. Thus, they took much time to get back to us. In the Meantime the processing of data was not in progress.

10. Challenges (cont) The methods of purchasing the consumables took a long time because of the bureaucratic procedures, and they could only be bought from RSA. At the beginning of the data entry, the data processing activity was not treated like a project activity ,whereby the data processing staff worked within the normal working hours, and yet they were also responsible for support.

11. Where we are now In August 2008, data cleaning commenced, and it had engaged an international consultant from UNFPA. However, this activity continued until the first week of January 2009 when the first set of census tables was produced. The census data analyses team (CDAT) was invited during the second week of January 2008 to review the census tables, and the following problems were discovered:

12. Where we are now (Cont) There were some inconsistencies among the tables, whereby the figures for most topics did not correspond. The census data was collected from the constituencies within the districts, and there are some constituencies which overlap. It was realized that this had created a lot of problems with this structure, and to relocate the population of the two districts was a big problem. It was also discovered that during scanning of the data, some figures had shifted.

13. Summary • Poor Questionnaire handling by Enumerators resulted in the delay in scanning exercise • Frequent handling of questionnaires for different purposes before scanning was also a problem (extraction of 17+ yrs population for IEC, preparation for the production of the of total population for the preliminary results) • Faint bubbles of responses resulted in some of the response bubbles being too faint to be picked by the scanner hence required a lot of verification.

14. Summary (Cont) • Printing errors, some of the pages of the questionnaires were twisted during printing and some responses could not be picked up by the scanner. • Unavailability of consumables in the local market hampered the scanning process, because all consumables had to be ordered from RSA and it usually took more than two weeks to be delivered. • Electric Power Load shading was also a problem in Lesotho during the months of April to July

15. That’s the EndKhotso Pula Nala