The South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Thursday received over one hundred tablets from the International Organization for Migration, IOM, for the upcoming Population Estimation Survey (PES), a hybrid census that will provide updated data on the country’s population.
According to IOM, the tablets will be used for the collection and transmission of field data to a central database for further processing reducing intensive manual data entry during the survey.
The Survey, to be conducted in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is the initial step in the preparation for conducting the national population and housing census.
The census will provide an update to the 2008-census population estimates including basic demographic statistics to support the government’s planning, development interventions, and humanitarian service delivery.
The Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, Isaiah Chol Aruai, expressed his gratitude saying the donation will enable them to carry out the PES exercise efficiently.
"As a government, we wholeheartedly appreciate the role of IOM as a longstanding partner and for their generosity,” said Mr. Chol Aruai. “This donation demonstrates IOM’s commitment to the Population Estimation Survey exercise which will lay the foundation for the national census that will follow.”
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Peter Van der Auweraert, IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission said, “With this donation, we are moving one step forward towards strengthening the collaboration and partnership while pursuing a joint goal towards improving availability and quality of administrative and operational data on South Sudan, for the benefit of all citizens – ensuring that no man, woman or a child is left behind.”
As a member of the National Technical Committee, IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has also provided extensive technical support to NBS and UNFPA, particularly with the delineation of enumeration areas using high-resolution satellite imagery, a process essential for the design of survey’s sampling frame.
IOM and NBS have been working closely on various aspects of the data management and data collection process, within an existing Cooperation Agreement between the two organizations.