3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3-7 December 2007

The theme of the Symposium was “Best Practice & Exchanging Experience: Africa 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses”. The main focus of the Symposium was the 2010 round of population and housing censuses.

The symposium provided an opportunity to take stock of progress made since the first symposium with regard to the resolutions and recommendations of the two previous symposia. The Symposium was also an occasion for the sharing of experiences particularly for countries that have already undertaken a census during the 2010 census decade, and to also hear the experience of countries that have recently emerged from conflict and that are preparing to carry out a census.

The discussions covered a wide range of topics such as methods used in planning and carrying out national censuses during the 2010 census decade; use of contemporary technology, such as the use of GIS and scanning; major technical challenges; examples of statistical packages for data analysis; advocacy strategies for the 2010 round of population and housing censuses; core and non-core questions for Africa’s 2010 round of population and housing censuses; emerging issues, such as managing political will and public opinion in census taking as well as enumerating nomadic populations. There was also a discussion on whether Africa on track to meeting the MDGs by 2015; and also on engendering the 2010 round of population and housing censuses, including on improving the count of female economic activities in the 2010 round of population and housing censuses and international standards for presenting statistics on women and men.

There were also presentations on the s tatus of the 2010 World Program on Population & Housing Censuses; salient issues in the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2; and the African Addendum to the global recommendations. The latter two documents provide methodological guidelines for census taking in the 2010 round of population and housing censuses.

The Symposium came up with a series of recommendations aimed at ensuring that all countries conduct a census and that Africa achieves a complete count in the 2010 round. These recommendations are addressed to three categories of audiences: (i) African Governments which are called upon, among other things, to prioritize the provision of adequate resources for undertaking censuses in there countries; (ii) the United Nations and the African Development Bank which are requested, among other things, to maintain and strengthen support to African countries undertaking a census in the 2010 round; and (iii) the Africa Symposium on Statistical Development to, among other things, support countries’ adherence to international standards in census-taking, drawing from the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, in particular the Africa addendum to these global recommendations.

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