THE National Census Office through its National Statistics Office has recruited about 3,000 people to conduct the countrywide National Population and Housing Census starting next week on November 4th.
This is the biggest ever recruitment the office has undertaken compared to previous censuses, and in a short period of time, a statement from the Census office said.
Census Commissioner Douglas Kimi said he is pleased to see many unemployed youths are given the opportunity as part of their work experience.
He said the short-term job opportunity will be beneficial to individuals as it sharpens their knowledge and skills and prepare them for future undertakings or statistical surveys or future employment.
“Having unemployed youths busy in such national undertaking is significant and the experience gained by the youths would be a useful pre-requisite for future long term employment.
“This is where they can build their confidence and life time work experience that will surely help them in future responsibilities and career quest.
“Also, there are a lot of young mothers who also recruited in this census exercise and I believe with this part time job they will earn money to sustain them and help their family afford basic needs and meet their children school fees,” Mr. Kimi stressed.
At the same time, Mr. Kimi calls on everyone to cooperate with census field officers who will be visiting homes and institutions to collect data or information from 4th November to 8th December.
“Please welcome and assist our officers (census workers) who will be visiting your homes/residents during the census period. It is also important that we work together to ensure we have a successful census that will yield credible and quality information for government future planning.”
Solomon Islands have its first census count in 1970, the second was in 1976, and again in 1986, 1999 and the latest and the fifth one in the series was in 2009.
Census is the official count of how many people and dwellings there are in the country (SI).
It gives a unique snapshot of our communities. Information from the census helps determine how government funding is spent in the community.
The government uses the data collected during the exercise for planning of development programmes.
It is also important for the budget allocation process for the national government, and will be used in future planning, as well as monitor the progress of government development programs.
The data is also used by National and International agencies to inform critical decisions on diverse issues.
This year’s census will be conducted from 4th November to 8th December, 2019.
