Joint UN Project for Census Data Dissemination CensusInfo: Joint UN Project for Census Data Dissemination Keiko Osaki-Tomita United Nations Statistics Division 1

What is CensusInfo ? CensusInfo is a software tool to disseminate census data on the web and CD-ROM Developed by UNSD in partnership with UNICEF and UNFPA to disseminate census results in easy and effective ways. Officially launched in February 2009 at the 40th session of the UN Statistical Commission SC: an apex entity of the stat. community, where heads of NSOs get together.

Background Dissemination has been the weakest point of population and housing censuses Census Data Dissemination as one of three main goals of the “2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme” Assist countries in their efforts to disseminate census results in a timely manner * Dissemination has been the weakest point of population and housing censuses - Enumeration is the major focus - Dissemination is not give a priority; Dissemination costs are not included in the initial budget plan. 2010 World P&H Census Programme Have a census once between 2005-2014 Have an international principles and guidelines Disseminate timely

Objectives Develop a software solution to facilitate the dissemination of census results fulfilling following minimum criteria: Easy to implement and easy to use Free to use Dissemination of census data at any geographical level Able to generate census-specific outputs Customization for country-specific requirements Dissemination on the web and CD-ROM Paid particular attention to……

www.censusinfo.net CensusInfo website 1) offers download of the software for free. 2)presents manuals, training materials, national and global applications of the software.

Training Activities : Regional level Regional CensusInfo capacity building workshops Duration: 3-5 days Target group: Senior government officers, census managers Format: A general orientation and hand-on exercise Workshops held/planned West Africa (Mali, 2009) South & East Africa, (Mozambique, 2009) CARICOM countries (2009) Latin America (2011) Asia (2011) Middle East (2012)

Training Activities : Country Level National Training on site Duration: 1week - 10 days Target group: Data managers, monitoring officers At national statistics office Format: Extensive hands-on exercise Basic Training and/or Advanced Training to develop national census database, customized country-specific the adaptation of the CensusInfo.

National CensusInfo Application Countries/areas which developed national CensusInfo through technical assistance Egypt India Mexico Malawi Indonesia Aruba Kenya Sri Lanka Cameroon Thailand Liberia Palestine More to come…. Uganda China

Lessons Learned Participants come from diverse fields (demographers, IT, statisticians, etc), but technical knowledge of participants is generally good at the national level of training. When NSO is already familiar with DevInfo, participants are more engaged and productive. When commitment of senior managers is strong, training runs smoothly, participants are more motivated.

Lessons Learned After training, no strong mechanisms for follow-up. How can we maintain continuous commitment? Lack of technical self-confidence. Reliance on seemingly (free) continued assistance and trainings. Overwhelmed by a number of software produced/promoted by international organizations (DevInfo, CsPro, Redatam, etc.)

Now, Sabrina will tell you about key features of CensusInfo….

Main features of CensusInfo CensusInfo is user and administrator friendly software Disseminates census results at any geographical level and for multiple censuses Provides a suggested list of census topics, data and indicators with accompanying metadata (based on UN recommendations) Easy to customize to meet country-specific needs Supports to disseminate census data with multiple languages Generates user-defined tables, maps, graphs and reports Provides standard profile reports by geographic units Allows importing data from other software applications such as CSPro, Redatam, SAS and SPSS