TZ asked to share noteworthy census experience      

TANZANIA has been advised to share its experience of the sixth National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) with other African countries in promoting South South Cooperation.

South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity among peoples and countries of the South that contributes to their national well-being, their national and collective self-reliance and the attainment of internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Director at the African Centre for Statistics – United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Mr Oliver Chinganya issued the call during the launch of the Volume I results of the 2022 NPHC in Dodoma, on Monday, indicating that major success has been recorded.

Mr Chinganya noted that Tanzania was among the leading African countries in transforming the statistical operations by undertaking a digital population and housing census, which has demonstrated the benefits of enhancing technology.

“Based on the experience, Tanzania is best placed to take the leadership role on the continent. We think that you should be the champion of statistics in the continent as you might appreciate that 2015 to 2024 has been placed in the changing global landscape of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“There is added demand for demographic and socio-economic data as countries pursue a range of global and regional commitments including agenda 2030 and agenda 2063,” said Mr Chingaya.

He pointed out that the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa will support bilateral arrangements between Tanzania and other African countries and provides technical support and transfer of technology expertise.

According to him, the move will greatly enhance knowledge sharing and minimize cost through the sharing of resources among countries, noting that experts in the statistical offices in Tanzania can be used in other African countries to be able to do their own census.

He was of the view that for the digital census to gain traction in the continent there is a need for strong advocates to reach out to other African leaders especially those who are yet to take their census.

On her part, the Director General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr Albina Chuwa, disclosed that the implementation of the guidelines for using the census results will provide answers to the many questions by the public, stressing that the results were official data which will be used in planning for the development of the country.

“The goal is to oversee the development of the country, while slowing down the poverty level for every Tanzanian,” noted Dr Chuwa revealing that enough capacity will be built in all levels of administration from the national to the hamlet level in the everyday plans.

She indicated that the preliminary results reflect the various sectors citing an example of how the data will be used to the benefit of women entrepreneurs to access loans away from the conventional system of using collaterals.

Dr commended all parties including all development partners in successful conducting the exercise.

The UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Zlatan Milisic, expressed the importance of census in the era of emerging development issues and non-traditional data sources enshrined in the context of big data, which is considered very responding to the development agenda.

He pointed out that the census is the backbone of the national planning systems providing information essential to inform policy planning, decision making, budgeting and accountability.

“As Tanzania is in the process of taking stock of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, which is a voluntary national review, the census is a crucial input for tracking the agenda 2030.

“Implementation, quality, accessible, timely disaggregated data is critical for sustainable implementation of SDGs and for ensuring that no one is left behind,” he said noting that UN through the United Nations Development Programme (UNFPA) is proud to be part of the census process which will bring huge dividends to the country.