Mobilising Support from Stakeholder

Mobilising Support From Stakeholders

Mobilising Support from Stakeholder

Presented at the Workshop for

Strategies for Reducing Census Costs

Held in

Pretoria - South Africa

On

26 – 29th November 2001

By

Motale Phirwa (Statistics South Africa)

1.Summary

The purpose of this paper is to identify stakeholders involved in an information gathering activity and the role each one has regarding improvement the quality of the information. Experiences of the South African Housing and Population Census of 2001 are presented as a case study. The Census 2001 was conducted in the period 10 – 31st October 2001.

2.Introduction

In any one country there is need to collect information about its inhabitants. One or more of the inhabitants will share some physical geographic space and this space can be defined as a suburb or village. This group can also be regarded as a community. The responsibility to collect information is usually conferred on one or more organisation by law that is passed by the lawmaking body in that country. This body is commonly the National Statistics Office. However, in some countries it could be other organisations such as the Tax Office, Department of Immigration or Department of Labour

The tool used for the collection of information is usually a form (questionnaire), wherein the individual[1] provides her or his particulars for example date of birth, occupation, highest education attained. If this was a business enterprise then attributes such economic activity, the total value of production or the total value of salaries are the subject of collection. This form is then input into a system of registers.

There are organisations that are responsible for delivery of services to the communities. The service can be a hospital/clinic, a school, houses, piped water, employment, poverty alleviation program or the determination of political representation from the community. In order for these organisations to plan for the provision of the service, they need to identify the extent of the need for a service by each community. This can only be achieved by analysing the information contained in the registers.

The collection of information for register may be done in one of the two ways. Firstly, members of the community may go to an office to complete a form or submit a completed form through the post or electronically. This method demands a well-developed communications infrastructure. The other method is when interviewers are deployed to visit communities in order to provide assistance in to completing the paper forms. The requirement of completing the collection within the shortest possible time, usually 20 to 30 days, demands that a large number of persons be deployed. This in turn requires a large amount of financial resources to provide for items such as salaries, transport, allowances and printing of forms over a short period. Funding for the latter method can be sourced entirely from the respective government or can be co-sourced from the government and donor agencies.

It is in this context that any measurement or survey work has got four (4) major categories of role player each of whom holds a stake in the success of data collection effort. Communities have to be measured to establish their needs for a service. Service providers carry the mandate to deliver a service. Sponsors provide resources for the measurement and the delivery of a service. Lastly the designated organisation needs to co-ordinate the measurement of the extent of a need for a service. It is this organisation that should cultivate and nurture the relationships amongst the community, the service providers and the sponsors. The diagram below depicts the four stakeholders and the relationship amongst them.

3.A Case for South Africa

1.Legal Framework

Statistics South Africa, the national statistics office in the Republic of South Africa, conducts a Population and Housing Census (Population Census) every five years. This is a requirement of the Statistics Act of 1999. Quoted, the act states that:

‘The Statistician-General must cause a population census to be taken in the year 2001 and every five years thereafter, on a date determined by the Minister by notice in Gazette, unless the Minister, on advice of the Statistician-General and by notice in the gazette, determines otherwise”

2.Objectives

The project team responsible for the development of the census methodology, at Statistics South Africa, held a series of workshops in November 1999 to determine the activities to be carried out in order to achieve the goal of the Census 2001. The goal of Census 2001 is to “Provide accurate small area statistical information that meets user needs”.

In order to meet the goal the subprojects were identified. Each subproject has a goal as well. Table 1 below lists these subprojects and their associated goals.

Subproject / Goal
Operational
Census Mapping / To divide the country into physically identifiable small units without gaps and overlaps
Questionnaire Design / To design and produce a relevant, user friendly, concise and unambiguous form that will facilitate the effective and accurate collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of Census 2001 information
Enumeration / To enumerate each and every person within the well defined boundaries without duplication and omission.
Data Conversion / To accurately process Census 2001 for the purposes of establishing an electronic census 2001 data holding
Post Enumeration Survey / To establish the quality of Census 2001 and estimate the extent of the undercount
Dissemination / To announce accurate Census 2001 results to the nation
Support[2]
Publicity / To ensure that everybody is positively aware, understands and wants to participate in the Census 2001

3.Winning the stakeholder

The primary method of collection for the population census in South Africa through an interview conducted by an enumerator. One factor that influences the quality of the census is the number of members of communities willing to provide information to the Census takers or enumerators. Out of necessity, enumerators should be able to establish a good relationship the first time meet so as to minimise the likelihood of refusals. There are various channels that can be used to reach stakeholders in order to promote willingness to participate

Media relations and advertisement

Members of the media (electronic and print, regional and national) do phone the designated spokespeople seeking information on the progress of the census. All efforts have been made to respond such that they meet their deadlines, which are usually extremely tight. It is the timely response that has build a cordial relationship between the census 2001 team and the media. The downside of this efficiency also led to more demand on the time of the spokespersons. On the whole this channel of communication as a means of raising awareness was effective.

Radio is the most cost-effective medium for the rural communities as access to other mediums is limited by lack of resources and infrastructure. In South Africa the rural communities is 49% of the population

Partnerships

There are government department at both national and provincial level, Non-governmental organisation that utilise the census to formulate and monitor progress relating to intervention programs that have been implemented in communities. It is necessary that discussion, or even the publication, of the uses to which the census information be made public. The forums could be phone-in radio programs in the indigenous languages so as to enable listeners to participate in the discussion. This will, then, persuade respondents to provide correct information.For Census 2001 this medium of communication occurred in only about 5 radio programs. In the future there will be increased features.

When individuals realise that organisation support the Census, it become easy for those individuals to willingly participate in a program.

Companies and municipalities have provided for census messages to be printed on payslips to employees and accounts invoices for services such as electricity and water. The key messages in this medium were the dates when the census will be conducted and a plea to give full co-operation to the enumerators. In addition, there were articles published in newsletters.

There have been companies like Coca-Cola and Big (manufacturers of the ball point pens) that had offered to include on the brand labels, information about the Census 2001. Time constraints regarding production of the labels, packaging would not have allowed for distribution of the products well before census day. As a result this was not taken up. For Census 2006, this will certainly be pursued.

Endorsement by Stakeholders

Each of the nine premiers of the provincial government has hosted a launch of Census 2001 in their respective province. At each of the launches the premiers urged their constituencies to collaborate with the census fieldworkers so to enable the various service provider in their government to make informed policy formulation.

There are personalities in society whose opinions are held in high esteem. The endorsement of the census by these personalities goes a long way in swaying the battle in favour of the Census. These personalities have been drawn from in sports, media and other popular activities.

Call Centre

This infrastructure was provided so that the public can phone in, free of charge, in order for them to obtain information relating to the Census 2001. The information included the following

• contact details of the nearest census regional office for those seeking temporary employment in the census,
• When is the census being conducted?
• Who is going to be counted?
• The census is nearing an end, what do I do with the census form that the enumerator has not collected from my household?
• I have not been enumerated and the census dates have gone by?

There are 24 operators manning the services from 06h00 t0 22h00 seven days a week.

One to one interactions

Statistics South is given a 15 –30 minutes to do a presentation on the Census 2001 to a meeting of the members of executive council and that of head of departments in the Provincial government. These presentations are usually followed by questions seeking clarity Census issues such as recruitment policies. The councillors of municipalities extended a similar invitation to Statistics South Africa as well. The presentations were geared to deliver the message that the political representatives should urge their constituencies to give full co-operation to the Census fieldworkers. The benefit borne out of co-operation is realisation the individuals can influence the budgetary allocation to the provincial and local authorities. The higher the need, the higher the allocation. Other groups covered by presentations are the indigenous leaders (Amakhosi/Dikgosi) and the commercial farming communities.

User consultation

Workshops were conducted in each of the nine provincial capitals. The attendees were representatives from the national, the provincial and the local governments. Other organisations such educational institutions, non-governmental and the private sector were represented. The objective of the workshop was to determine what information to collect in Census 2001. The service provider had an opportunity to make input into what needs of the community is to be measured.

The proposals gathered from the user consultation workshops were collated and submitted the Census Advisory committee and the Statistics Council. The former is temporary committee set-up to provide input towards development of the methodology, particularly, for Census 2001. The latter is a statutory council established under the Statistics Act of 1999 and its responsibility is to advice the Minister responsible, the Statistician General or an organ of State on matters regarding collection, processing analysis, documentation storage and dissemination of statistics. It was through these structures that census form, a measuring tool, was ratified.

Project Sponsor

The Statistician-general briefs the minister responsible on a regular basis on status of the Census regarding budget, expenditure, potential problems and progress achieved. The Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, the minister responsible for Statistics South Africa has given support to the Census 2001 to the extent that he was personally involved the national launch. He also urged members of national assembly to persuade their constituencies to be counted. The message here is that the census is should transcend all ideological boundaries.

4.Interests raised

Gay and Lesbian Support Groups

There was a statement in our training manual that excluded the recording of same sex relationships in the population census form. This group that lobbied the Human Rights Commission for an apology from Statistics South Africa as this exclusion infringed on their members freedoms of choice and association. Also this was against the goal of the census, which is seen as an all-embracing project.

Remonstration against recruitment policy

The guideline for recruitment of fieldworkers to be deployed in Census 2001 was that individuals were to be recruited from communities in which they will be working. Secondly, the minimum educational requirement for employment in the census is successful completion of high school. Thirdly, to qualify for fieldwork an individual has to be unemployed. These guidelines were, in some instances, not adhered to during recruitment. The communities in which this non-adherence occurred came up to seek the situation to be corrected. In spite of this causing a delay to the progress of operations, this is to be seen as a positive input to ensure that guidelines are met.

Guaranteed confidentiality

There are individuals who feel that information such income, full names and the residential address are not relevant for census taking. This is in spite of formulating the income question so that a respondent indicates their income group instead of the actual amount. A reply to this query is that all fieldworkers have signed an undertaking to retain confidentiality of information they have collected from respondents. It is a requirement of the Statistics Act that individual information cannot be used for other purpose except for compilation of aggregated data. In some of the cases, the individuals change their attitude and indicate the willingness to give accurate information. In other cases, though in the minority, it is a case of a lost cause.

Population Group

South Africa has seen the dawn of post apartheid democracy in May 1994. This brought with it the constitution. One of the rights that the constitution protects individuals against is discrimination based on race. On the other hand there are policies, such affirmative action black economic empowerment. The policies are formulated to empower the individuals who were disadvantaged in the previous dispensation, the basis of which was race. Individuals have challenged the inclusion of the race classification in the Census on the basis that this is violation of the provisions of the constitution.

Sale of Information

Service providers use Census information as input to policy formulation. The census information at geographical levels below province is provided at fee. It is at these levels that the service providers need the information and thus the displeasure at having to pay for the information. This, in spite of Statistics South Africa making no profit at all. The debate will continue for a while.

Level of undercount

Members of the media have started to speculate on the level of undercount, now that the fieldwork is complete. The debate attempts to cast doubt on the coverage of census. Statistics South is conducting a Post Enumeration Survey (PES) the outcome of which are the adjustment factors. The position is that we cannot enter into the debate until the evaluation of the census by PES is completed. The current policy of Statistics South Africa is to publish only the adjusted figures with the exception being the 10% sample of unit records

Conclusion

The various Stakeholder have needs for information relating to their role within the Census, The sponsors need to be convinced that funds are well managed and spent. Service providers need to be informed that the information collected is relevant to the work they perform in that they can plan and monitor service delivery and that it is also accessible. Providers want to be assured that their privacy is not encroached upon and be convinced of the reasons behind any collection.

The challenge is for the co-ordinating organisation, which in most instances is the National Statistics Office, to cultivate the relationships amongst the stakeholders. What can be more convincing than quality information?

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[1]The term individual should be taken to include legal bodies such as enterprises companies.

[2]Other support projects such Finance, Recruitment, Training and Information Technology are not listed