STATIN Seeks Partners To Deliver Census Message

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is seeking support to deliver the 15th National Population and Housing Census message through its Census Partnership Programme.

The programme provides an opportunity for new and existing partners to work with STATIN to improve the response rate for the 2022 Census, scheduled to begin September 12.

Director-General at STATIN, Carol Coy, told JIS News that persons are being encouraged to come on board as partners “to ensure that the census is a success” and the required information is collected.

Census partners may include individuals, local and international entities, civil society groups, faith-based organisations, media, educational institutions and businesses.

Interested parties can access the partnership application form on STATIN’s website at www.statinja.gov.jm or contact the office at 876-630-1600 for assistance.

“What we want are persons to help us to encourage persons around them and who they are in contact with to participate in the census,” said Ms. Coy.

She pointed out that the methods used to get the information out depend on a partner’s area of focus, available time, resources and core audience.

“What partners are required to do is to use the resources available to deliver the 2022 census message at all appropriate occasions. So, they can include the information on the census in correspondence with customers such as emails, bills and websites,” said Ms. Coy.

Other suggested activities include launching text messages or social media campaigns, Twitter chats, question and answer sessions and inviting a representative from STATIN to speak with staff at a company event.

“So, things like this can help us to reach and target audiences that maybe we won’t be able to on our own,” Ms. Coy added, noting that STATIN will provide all partners with information for use, having already developed several messages.

The Director-General further emphasised the importance of the census and why partnership is important.

“The census is one of the most important sources of statistics to us. It provides a guide to decision-makers. Whether you are in the private sector [or] faith-based, you can get information from this, and as our tagline says, ‘yuh count, mi count, all a wi count’,” she said.

The Population and Housing Census is conducted once every 10 years and allows the country to take a snapshot of its population to determine how many people reside within its borders, who they are, and where they live. It counts everyone in the country.

Jamaica’s census was initially scheduled for 2021 but was delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The last census was done in 2011.