Brazil continues to share its expertise with African countries through the use of new census technologies. After Cape Verde and Senegal, Uganda enters Brazil’s list of partners in this regard. Representatives from various institutions met in Entebbe to discuss the project involving trilateral South-South cooperation to share expertise in electronic data collection for censuses.
On the occasion, the trajectory of the “Reference Centers” project was discussed, which has a partnership between the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), institutions from Senegal and Cape Verde and with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The idea of the event was to bring perspective to the 2020 census round in Africa.
“In 2014, ABC, UNFPA, and IBGE began to think of a strategy that could meet data collection demands. Considering the number of substantive requests received from African countries, observing the 2020 census round, it was considered to devise an initiative that would reach a larger number of countries. This is how this innovative project was born, ”explains Luciana Prazeres, IBGE’s representative in the Reference Centers project.
“Cape Verde was the first African country to perform a fully digital data collection. We use a mobile collection device at all stages of the operation, “recalls Maria de Lurdes Lopes, representative of the National Institute of Statistics of Cape Verde (INECV).” It was a risk because it required extra effort from all parties involved and a very important investment in the capacity of INECV technicians. Thanks to the cooperation with our partners, the collection was a success. ”
The cooperation project with Brazil and Cape Verde also allowed the holding of the General Census of Population and Habitat, Agriculture and Livestock in Senegal. “It was possible to do electronic data collection because of Brazil’s loan of 20,000 mobile devices. This was especially possible thanks to the technical support provided by IBGE and INECV, ”said Mamadou Niang, director of Senegal’s National Statistical and Demographic Agency.
Developed in 2016, the Reference Centers for Electronic Data Collection in Africa project has the role of strengthening national statistical agencies through innovative approaches that prioritize the exchange of experience and the collaborative construction of technical knowledge.
“A country is able to spread to others the ability to perform electronic data collection, just as Brazil has done,” says Guilherme Nogueira, ABC’s representative for the initiative.
According to him, the project wants to bring the Brazilian expertise in the electronic realization of the censuses to more African countries and, in return, to gain knowledge about the dynamics of the statistical centers of the continent. “Not only Brazil, but other reference centers can also cooperate in the area of electronic data collection, and this work for development can be done by everyone, creating a positive wave in this direction,” he concludes.