United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the

United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses New York, 29 October- 1 November 2013 2010 Round of Censuses - SPC assistance to Pacific Island NSOs Arthur JORARI Demographer Statistics for Development Division Secretariat of the Pacific Community Noumea, New Caledonia (Arthur. J@spc. int)

Purpose of presentation • Historical context: technical assistance to NSO since the 1990 world census round • Summary of activities in the 2010 round • Preparation for the 2020 round

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacific island NSOs since the 1990 world census round 1990 round of censuses – various TA providers Regional: • SPC Demography and Population and Development program o 1985 – 1988 (3 Demographers : 1 SPC, 2 UNFPA funded) o 1989 – 1991 (UNFPA Census TA project with SPC: 2 Demographers and Data processing (IMPS) specialist o 1993 (1 Demographer, SPC funded) o 1994 -1995 (3 Demographers, 2 of which Aus. AID Funded) International: • ESCAP (1 inter-regional Advisor, moved to UNFPA CST/Suva in 1994/1995 • Limited data processing (IMPS) support from 1 ESCAP based DP specialist Bilateral: • US Census Bureau/IPC (various staff, ) US Pacific Territories, FSM, Palau, RMI • France (French Pacific Territories) • ABS/Statistics NZ supported a number of PICs (subject to funding)

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacific island NSOs since the 1990 world census round 2000 round of censuses – declining UNFPA census support worldwide (post Cairo ICPD 1994) Regional: • SPC Demography and Population and Development program o 1996 – 1998 (3 Demographers, 2 Aus. AID funded) o 1999 – 2005 (2 Demographers, 1 Aus. AID funded) International: • UNFPA (no further CST technical census support from around 1996/1997 • No ESCAP based TA support Bilateral: • US Census Bureau/IPC (various staff: US Pacific Territories + FSM, Palau, RMI) • France (French Pacific Territories) • ABS/Statistics NZ supported a number of PICs (subject to funding)

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacific island NSOs since the 1990 world census round 2010 round of censuses – significant step-up in TA support Various catalyst • Perception by countries, development partners, analysts that 2000 census coverage and data quality noticeably declined compared to 1990 round (Note: this experience not limited to Pacific region – International Census EG, 2004 -2007) • Community conflicts in PNG, Solomon Islands in late 1990 s, had serious impacts on coverage (undercounts), on their respective censuses in 2000 and 1999; • NSOs experiencing decline in TA (main focus from SPC at the time: demographic analysis, projections, population profiling/census reports) • New and less experienced census managers in place in some countries => Many of these issues discussed at 2003 HOS in Noumea, requesting SPC to broaden scope of activities

Historical context: technical assistance to Pacific island NSOs since the 1990 world census round 2010 round of censuses – significant step-up in TA support by SPC / UNFPA / Partners Regional: • SPC Demography and Population program/Statistics for Development Div. o 2005 – 2008 (4 Demographer, 2 GIS programmers, 1 Data Processing Advisor, 1 Census Planning Advisor – all but 1 Aus. AID funded) o 2009 – (3 Demographers, 2 GIS programmers, 2 Data Processing Advisers, 1 Household survey specialist) International: • UNFPA (back in business) o (1 advisor + generous financial support to PICs for specific TA + regional training support) Bilateral: • US Census Bureau/IPC (substantial decline in support to FSM, RMI, Palau) • France (French Pacific Territories) • ABS/Statistics NZ supported a number of PICs (subject to funding)

Summary of activities in the 2010 round Biggest change to 1990 and 2010 round of census activities • Comprehensive census TA approach: addressing country/NSO requirements, aim to cover all critical components of census process 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Census planning (with ABS on census planning/management) Census preparation (Cartography, listing, pilot, scanning, field staff training) Managing census enumeration Data processing Data analysis and reporting Dissemination NO PES in the 2010 round of censuses in the Pacific • Following slides give you an overview of the time dedicated by SPC census team staff in-country (TA, training)

Total Weeks Technical Assistance 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Solomon Islands Van Kiribati Marshall Islands Census Planning FSM Samoa Cartography Cook Islands Scanning Nauru Papua New Guinea Data Processsing Tuvalu Tonga Field Staff Training Niue Fiji Analysis/Report Palau Tokelau

Total Weeks Technical Assistance – 302 weeks, since 2008 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Solomon Islands Van Kiribati Marshall Islands FSM Samoa Cook Islands Nauru Papua New Guinea Tuvalu Tonga Niue Fiji Palau Tokelau

Key achievements – 2010 census round • Except for Palau, all PICTS have conducted a Population and Housing Census at least once in the 2010 round, with some countries (Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga) having conducted two censuses. o Palau very recently (December 2012) conducted a mini census 11

Key achievements – 2010 census round • Only Samoa had successfully engaged with data users (parliamentarians and key sectors) during the 2010 round; • While several countries (Samoa, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands) have successfully used the scanning technology; • Only two continued to use this technology for processing other statistical collections (Vanuatu, Cook Islands). 12

Key achievements – 2010 census round • Almost all countries used GPS and related Digitised maps to identify dwelling locations; • The 2010 round of population and housing census review took place in May 2012 in collaboration with UNFPA and other partners in a regional workshop environment in Noumea; • The census review workshop was followed by FAO/UNFPA/SPC Workshop on integrating agriculture questions into the 2020 round of population and housing censuses. 13

Key achievements – 2010 census round • PDA was successfully tested for data collection in Tuvalu November 2012 census. • Some agriculture questions which were presented by FAO in May 2012 were integrated into the census questionnaire in the Tuvalu census - the results are currently analysed. 14

Preparations for the 2020 round • Planning for the 2020 round census in the Pacific will commence with a regional workshop planned for the first half of 2014 • we propose to discuss solutions to common reoccurring census issues/problems, rather than remain stuck on problems. • SPC wish all of us in this meeting, a constructive review next few days

Thank you for your attention