By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE 2020 national census is set to begin this September at a cost of at least $3m and involve hiring 1,700 data collectors.

This census is different in that it will use a completely digital platform, veering away from the time consuming and tedious method of data collection using paper and pencil.

Officials have also taken into account challenges that may be encountered in Abaco and Grand Bahama, as the islands remain destroyed following Hurricane Dorian.

However, they have assured that no matter the issues that may arise, data will be collected from the hurricane affected areas. There have also been some extra questions added to the census to accommodate shifts that came about because of the deadly hurricane.

Kim Saunders, chief census officer, said as enumerators use tablets to collect information with real time data uploading, the process is expected to be cut from two years to a matter of months before the first set of preliminary information is released.

However, before the exercise begins, 50 enumerators have gone into constituencies in New Providence and Grand Bahama to test the system. The data collected in this pretesting phase will not be used for any purpose except for a trial of the new platform.

On its own, that digital system cost $150,000.

The census will be conducted in September, October and November with 1,700 workers hired to collect information.

“We have looked at how long it took us to produce the census data based on when we used paper and pencil,” Mrs Saunders told The Tribune yesterday at a press conference at the Department of Statistics. “The census will be conducted during the months of September, October and November. So by the end of December we could have some kind of preliminary data.

“Thereafter, every month or between every month and two months we intend to release data. I think within six to eight months our aim is to have a full report on the census data.

“When we used paper, the census was in May of 2010 (and) our first release came out in October of 2012 so approximately about two years.”

The exercise will cost “less than $10m”, according to an official.

“I think we probably will end up spending probably close to $3m to $3.5m for the census exercise,” Financial Secretary Marlon Johnson also said yesterday.

Asked about protecting enumerators from crime and exposure to the novel coronavirus, officials said yesterday necessary steps would be taken to safeguard workers as they go into every inhabited area of the country. There have been no reported or confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to date.

“In terms of the crime, we will alert the police commissioner and the police stations of which areas we are surveying and also we instruct the field supervisor to make contact with the station in their area and so if they feel particularly in danger, then they would ask the police would come and help. What we found with our labour force survey is that if it’s a particular area they would increase the surveillance of the area. We know that is a challenge particularly in New Providence,” said Leona Wilson, Department of Statistics’ director.

The new system will also feature data encryption among its security measures to safeguard individuals’ data.

Lecily Hunter, Statistics Canada technical consultant to the Department of Statistics, said this means there is also protection on each tablet when it comes to login access, adding the servers themselves are locked down so that only authorised users can access the data.

The Department of Statistics has been conducting the census since 1970; it is conducted every ten years.

The information provided for the census is used for important planning and policy decisions in government and in the private sector.

Census data helps to determine school zones, the location of housing developments, and helps the government to make decisions about the allocation of public resources.