Victor EzejaAs the National Population Commission (NPC) prepares for the 2023 national population and housing census, the Commission recently launched a mobile application called ‘CensusPad’ to facilitate the training of enumerators and facilitators on the tasks to perform during the exercise.
According to the Commission, the 2023 census will be Nigeria’s first digital census, promising that it would change how the exercise was being conducted in the country before now.
Explaining how it designed the exercise to work out digitally, NPC stated in its website thus: “The 2023 Census will be Nigeria’s first Digital Census and will change how the Census is being conducted in before now. This approach started with the demarcation of enumeration areas covering the entire territorial space of Nigeria using a mobile handheld device and geographic information systems (GIS) and satellite imageries to create digital census maps. The digital frame produced is a major tool for the planning of human and material resources for the census.
“This determines the enumerators’ assignment areas and forms a basis for distribution of materials during the Census.”
The CensusPad which is available on Google Playstore, aims to improve the quality of data collection during the census exercise by helping the enumerators and supervisors gain deeper knowledge on digital means of gathering data during the training.
The app version is a demo strictly for practice purposes. A click on the “OPEN CENSUS PAD” icon, takes the user to a range of user-friendly interface with interactive modules that covers various aspects of the census operations including ethics, interviewing techniques, and data management.
The app also features audio-visual content, quiz questions, and feedback mechanisms to ensure that trainees understand the census procedures and protocols.
The CensusPad application enables real-time monitoring and evaluation of the training process by NPC officials, allowing them to identify knowledge gaps and provide timely support to trainees.
With the app, NPC can train a large number of enumerators and supervisors at once, reducing the cost and time required for in-person training.
Under the provisioning module, the app contains the following demo functions:
- Profile Activation: This option gives the ad-hoc trainee staff access to confirm and activate their profile
- Fetch Enumeration Area and Building: This option shows the list of all your enumeration areas and access to download required datasets such as building points, special geo-point, etc., within an enumeration area.
- Fetch Basemap: This function gives you access to download your basemap offline in preparation for field activities. It works by clicking on the “Proceed” icon and zooming in to the blue polygon area and panning around until all basemap around your Enumeration Area is well loaded.
- Tablet Profiling and Tagging: this menu profiles and authenticates your device in order to generate and approve the device tag for this exercise.
- CS Entry Status Check: This option checks if CS Entry has been properly installed in your device in preparation for persons enumeration.
- Oath of Secrecy: Click on the take “Oath of Secrecy” button to read and Consent to the Census enumeration Oath of Secrecy. Note that: Here you must read and consent to the census oath of secrecy and privacy policies before commencing your activities.
The second module tagged “Census Task and Goals” shows all required post-census tasks and progress across household listings, census night and census enumeration.
Other modules in the app are “Team Coverage/Progress” and “System Configuration.”
To gain more insight and be able to use it as an ad-hoc trainee, download the demo app on Google Playstore.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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