IPNEWS: Fifty news editors from various media institutions, including the Independent Probe newspaper, on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, concluded a one-day forum organized by the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services, LIGIS, and partners, with 36 more days to the fifth national population and housing census.
LIGIS Acting Director General, Wilmot Smith, said the one-day media forum was intended to build the capacity of journalists for statistical reporting as the Agency prepares to conduct its first digital census.
He conferred on the editors the title of ambassadors of LISGIS to help support the Agency and guide the public against negative publications and criticisms that he said may have the tendency to undermine the census.
“News editors, you are uniquely positioned to help create awareness, advocacy, and support in guiding against negative propaganda and publications about the census,” the LISGIS acting director general told the news editors or media gatekeepers.
He disclosed that preparations are under way to transport census materials across the Country while the recruitment process is in progress. “Over 29 thousand Liberians, most of them high school graduates, have applied to be enumerators”, the LIGIS acting Director General said.
According to the LISGIS acting Director General, the enumeration will start from October 24 to November 7, 2022.
He said since the signing of the census project document by LISGIS and partners in October 2019, key activities, including delineating of the entire Country into smaller areas otherwise known as enumerating areas for counting purposes, have been completed.
Smith also said LIGIS has concluded a pretest to test all materials, such as tablets, questionnaires, methodology and others that will used for the main enumeration.
“The 2022 national populations and housing census is the first digital census to be carried out in the Republic of Liberia,” he further said.
The LIGIS acting Boss noted that the 2022 census will determine the current demographic, social, economic and cultural characteristics of the population of the country, provide small area data, create sustainability of data collection and analysis in the future through strengthened national capacity with the provision of a new master sampling frame for future surveys, quality maps and geographic information system.
Population and housing census, according to acting Director General Smith, is amongst the most complex and massive peacetime exercises a nation can undertake.
He said that is why LISGIS and its partner, the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, have organized the media forum to update news editors of radios, televisions and newspapers and online media on the ongoing 2022 national population and housing census project for the sole purpose to solicit support in propagating the enumeration activities and messages to strengthen media engagement and help raise awareness about the count.
The Liberian Government, the LISGIS acting DG also disclosed, has already put in the census basket a staggering sum of 3.7 million Dollars to ensure the success of the exercise.
